Mélanie A. HAMEL

Mel grew up in a fishing town situated between limestone cliffs in upper Normandy in France. She undertook her MSc (Ecology) at Paris 11 University and did her research project at Charles Darwin University, where she examined the diving behaviour of nesting Olive Ridley Turtles in northern Australia. The extraordinary diversity of people, landscapes and species in the Pacific led her to spend more than four years in the region to expand her knowledge and gain experience in conservation science. She worked on various research projects in terrestrial and marine science in Australia for the School for Environmental Research (Charles Darwin University), in New Zealand for the Leigh Marine Laboratory (Auckland University), and in New Caledonia for the French Research Institute for Development (IRD) before she felt ready for the next step. Mel is currently undertaking a PhD under the supervision of Prof. Bob Pressey (JCU) and Dr. Serge Andrefouet (IRD). She will be evaluating, for Solomon Islands, the potential of coral reef habitat maps to serve as proxies for information on socio-economic variables and biodiversity, for use in conservation planning.