Associate Professor Melissa Parsons
Associate Professor in Physical Geography - School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences
Biography
Melissa Parsons is a resilience scientist with interdisciplinary research interests in disaster resilience, environmental resilience, large flood disturbances, river science and management, and environmental psychology. Melissa works at the interface between theory and practice and examines the ways that constructs such as resilience, scale and adaptive management can advance disaster management, disaster risk reduction, community resilience and environmental management.
Melissa contributes to large-scale programs of national significance. She led the development of the Australian Disaster Resilience Index, and conducted the first national-level assessment of disaster resilience in Australia (https://www.adri.naturalhazards.com.au/). Melissa is also part of the Equip program (www.une.edu.au/equip), a community-based mental health and well-being program helping rural communities prepare for disasters.
Previous research has contributed to the National Carbon Accounting System, the Sustainable Rivers Audit and the AUSRIVAS river health assessment. Her post-doctoral research examined the ecological effects of the February 2000 floods across southern Africa on the rivers of Kruger National Park.
Melissa teaches courses in natural hazards, urban and regional planning, and environmental management, and supervises PhD students in areas of river and floodplain science, environmental psychology and natural hazards.
Melissa is the Editor in Chief of the Australian Journal of Emergency Management.
