Professor Yvonne is a feminist human geographer who has published on maternities, mobilities and markets in Pacific development. She was the lead author of Gender Research in the Pacific 1994-2014: Beginnings. Suva: Pacific Women Support Unit;  Labour mobility in the Pacific: A Systematic Literature Review of Development Impacts. 2017 Auckland: New Zealand Institute for Pacific Research and Are there only winners? Labour mobility for sustainable development in the Pacific. 2018. She currently teaches Pacific Studies and Development Studies at the University of Auckland with a particular focus on gender and development, and Pacific development. 

Over the last 35 years Yvonne has worked in the field of development for universities (Auckland, University of Papua New Guinea and Australian National University), for global South NGOs (DAWN), for global North NGOs, (Oxfam Aotearoa), and for the Africa Caribbean Pacific Secretariat in Brussels. More recently, Yvonne has been closely involved in strategic work to elevate and enrich Pacific gender research in the Pacific region and in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

Yvonne was appointed as a Trustee of the OiP Board of Trustees in November 2021.