Fairbairn-Dunlop lived in Samoa from 1981 to 2005, where she worked for aid organisations based in the Pacific such as UNDP, UNIFEM and UNESCO.[5]
On her return to New Zealand, she was appointed the inaugural director of Va’aomanu Pasifika, the Pacific Studies department at Victoria University of Wellington.[6]
Fairbairn-Dunlop was the founding Professor of Pacific Studies at Auckland University of Technology. She is also chair of the Health Research Council Pacific team and sits on a number of Ministry of Education and Ministry of Health committees, the Social Sciences committee of the Royal Society Te Apārangi and the UNESCO Social Sciences Committee.[5]
In 2013 she was appointed president of PACIFICA, an organisation that aims to help Pacific Island women to participate in and contribute to public life in New Zealand.[7]
In the 2008 New Year Honours, Fairbairn-Dunlop was appointed an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to research on families.[6][8] In the 2015 Queen's Birthday Honours, she was promoted to Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to education and the Pacific community.[9][10]
Fairbairn-Dunlop won the Ministry of Education (New Zealand) Pacific Education Award at the SunPix Awards 2022.[11] She said, "“I hope the young people coming through have watched and learned from our generation and seen what they can do and what they should do for our people.”[12]
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