Jessica Melbourne-Thomas

Jessica Melbourne-Thomas is a marine ecologist and ecosystem modeler with Australian Antarctic Division and Antarctic Climate and Ecosystems CRC, Australia. Her research includes a focus on climate change and its affects on conservation and sustainable utilization of marine biota.
Early life and education
Melbourne-Thomas completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Tasmania in 2002. She then moved to the UK to the University of Oxford to undertake her Rhodes Scholarship from 2002-2003 working on coral community dynamics. In 2010 she completed her PhD, which developed modeling tools to assisted managers in their management of corals reefs, at the University of Tasmania.
Career and impact
Melbourne-Thomas is an ecosystem modeler and a former Rhodes Scholar at the University of Oxford. Her research focuses on the development of ecological models to facilitate strategic studies of ecosystem dynamics and methods for achieving conservation and sustainable utilization of marine biota. She is project leader for the ACE CRC project on status and trends in ecosystems. She was named Tasmania’s Young Tall Poppy of the Year in 2015.
Melbourne-Thomas is a driving force in the first Homeward Bound Voyage, which is an Australian-led, global initiative to foster women’s leadership in Science.
Awards and honors
In 2003 Melbourne-Thomas became a Rhodes Scholar. Beginning 2014, she became involved with the Tasmanian Ambassador for Compass Women in Leadership Program and in 2015 was awarded Tasmania’s Tall Poppy of the Year.

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