International Small Islands Studies Association

ISISA Awards

ISISA Honorary Life Membership Awards

From time to time, the International Small Islands Studies Association celebrates members who provide exemplary service to the organization through the awarding of an Honorary Life Membership. The designation is extended to deserving individuals who, in the eyes of the ISISA Executive, have made a significant and notable contribution to island studies scholarship, policy, and/or practice.

So far, ISISA has honoured four such individuals:

Dr. Peter Meincke (1936- )former President of the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada; founder of the Small Islands Information Network (SIIN) and member of the first Executive Committee of ISISA.

Dr. Grant McCall (1943-2003) - professor of Pacific anthropology at the University of New South Wales, Australia; Vice-President of the Australian Association for the Advancement of Pacific Studies (AAAPS); and President of ISISA from 1998 to 2014. Obituary here

Dr. Huei-Min Tsai - island geographer, sustainability scholar and professor at the Graduate Institute of Environmental Education, National Taiwan Normal University, Taiwan.

Dr Godfrey Baldacchino (1960- ) - professor of sociology at the University of Malta, Malta; former Canada Research Chair and UNESCO co-Chair in Island Studies at the University of Prince Edward Island, Canada; Malta Ambassador-at-Large for Islands and Small States (2021-2024); and President of ISISA from 2014 to 2022.

Peter Meincke (2012) Grant McCall (2014) Huei-Min Tsai (2018) Godfrey Baldacchino (2024)

ISISA Student Scholarship Awards

ISISA collaborates with the organisers of its 'Islands of the World' conferences by offering a number of scholarships of 500 euros each (or equivalent) to bona fide students whose abstract has been submitted and accepted for the conference. The funds support students with their costs in attending the conference and are presented in cash. This ensures a community of lively and energetic young scholars at our events.

At the 16th 'Islands of the World' conference in Leeuwarden & Terschelling, The Netherlands (June 2018), Scholarship Awards were presented to the following students: Oliver Antczak, Nathan Bond, Christina Maria dos Santos Paulino, Therra Edenhart-Pepe, James Ellsmoor, Pantelina Emmanouilidou, Tabitha Espina, Sietze Norder, Ourania Papasozomenou, Fleur Ward.

At the 17th 'Islands of the World' (virtual) conference, these students were exempted from conference fees: Kearney Coupland, Maggie Henry, Bobby McCauley, Shiva Mohan, Izumi Nonaka, Alicia Noreiga, Brady Podloski, Fleur Ward.

At the 18th 'Islands of the World' conference, in Zadar, Croatia, Scholarship Awards were presented to 12 students.