Pacific, Climate & Environment Profile Series: Dr Olivier Galy
- 13 hours ago
- 2 min read
Over the past ten years, AFRAN has brought together researchers, educators and innovators committed to strengthening collaboration between France, Australia and the Pacific. As we celebrate our 10th anniversary, we are proud to showcase the people whose work is helping build a more sustainable, resilient and connected region.
Today, we are pleased to feature Dr Olivier Galy, Associate Professor at the School of Education at the Université de la Nouvelle-Calédonie (UNC), whose interdisciplinary research sits at the intersection of health sciences, education and public health.
Looking beyond health
Originally trained in sports sciences, Olivier's research has evolved over the past two decades to address one of the Pacific's most pressing public health challenges: the health and wellbeing of children, adolescents and communities facing rapid environmental and social change.
Based in New Caledonia for more than 20 years, he works across several Pacific Island countries and territories—including Wallis and Futuna, Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea—seeking to understand both the shared challenges and the unique realities of each context.
His research focuses on lifestyles, physical activity, nutrition and obesity prevention, while recognising that these issues cannot be separated from broader questions such as climate change, food security, education and socio-economic transitions.
Building solutions with communities
For Olivier, tackling today's complex challenges requires moving beyond traditional disciplinary boundaries.
Rather than developing solutions in isolation, his work emphasises collaboration between researchers, local communities, educators and decision-makers. Scientific recommendations, he believes, must be co-developed with local populations and adapted to the realities of each Pacific community. Public authorities also play a crucial role in translating evidence into effective action.
This philosophy underpins much of his research.
Strengthening resilient food systems through FALAH
One of Olivier's flagship initiatives is FALAH (Family Farming, Lifestyle and Health), an international Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions project bringing together researchers, institutions and Pacific communities to better understand the links between family farming, nutrition, health and sustainable lifestyles.
The project explores how resilient food systems can contribute simultaneously to healthier populations, stronger local agriculture and greater resilience to climate change and socio-economic transitions.
🔗 Learn more: https://falah.unc.nc/en
Improving youth wellbeing across the Pacific
Olivier has also contributed to the YHEAP (Youth Health and Well-being in the Pacific) network, strengthening regional collaboration on adolescent health and wellbeing across Pacific Island countries.
More recently, he has become involved in the YES (Yarning for Resilient and Healthy Communities in Oceania) initiative, supported by the Embassy of France in Australia. The project aims to bring Pacific perspectives into regional policy discussions by contributing recommendations for upcoming pre-COP meetings in Fiji and ultimately COP31.
These initiatives demonstrate how health, food systems and climate resilience are deeply interconnected—and why collaborative research is essential to developing practical, locally relevant solutions.
Why collaboration matters
International partnerships remain central to Olivier's work. Alongside collaborations across the Pacific, he highlights the importance of working with Australian institutions, including the University of Sydney, whose research on children's and adolescents' health complements many of these regional efforts.
For Olivier, the future of Pacific research depends on connecting expertise across disciplines, countries and communities.
As he simply puts it:
"Societal problems require interdisciplinary approaches and community-specific solutions."
It is a philosophy that perfectly reflects AFRAN's mission over the past decade: creating connections that enable research to deliver meaningful impact across France, Australia and the Pacific.