Synteche Collins from Te Whanganui-a-Tara, Aotearoa New Zealand, will research Indigenous and survivor-led approaches to combatting human trafficking at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa in Honolulu, Hawai‘i.

Synteche is the founder of the Pacific Survivor Collective, a member of the Lived Experience Panel of the Global Commission on Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking and intends to undertake her PhD at Auckland University of Technology (AUT).