Dr Melinda Waterman - Research Fellow SAEF

Affiliation with Antarctic Science Foundation

Ambassador for ASF on Antarctica Flights Season 2022/23

More About Melinda

Melinda is a research fellow with the ARC Securing Antarctica's Environmental Future program at the University of Wollongong. Her role is to examine secondary metabolites, chemical signatures and protective mechanisms of temperate and polar mosses; with the overall aim to develop ancient mosses as proxies for past Antarctic climates, in particular how they cope in different stressful situations, e.g. UV radiation, water stress and high light. She completed her PhD in 2015 (awarded in 2016) on the biology and chemistry of Antarctic moss species, with a focus on their natural protective mechanisms and how old living moss shoots from Antarctica can be. Melinda continues researching the amazing abilities of Antarctic moss as part of her postdoctoral projects. This has involved collecting and analysing moss beds both in the field in Antarctica and in the laboratory at UOW and at ANSTO. Collaborations with researchers from around Australia and internationally have been a crucial part of achieving the project’s aims. Her Antarctic fieldwork over 5 seasons (2015-2019) has helped strengthen partnerships with national (ANSTO) and international institutions (Universidad de Santiago de Chile, Auckland University of Technology, Chilean Antarctic Institute). As an enthusiastic science communicator, Melinda has competed in science communication competitions, been interviewed for news and radio, written blog articles and presented in National Science Week events in 2020 and 2022. She has also presented at various international conferences. One of her most ambitious science engagement events was held in 2022 called 'Antarctic Futures', which showcased an art exhibition, seminar series and children's activities.

Current Role

2020 - present

Research Fellow, School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences (SEALS), University of Wollongong, Australia.

Selected Publication

Jasmine R Lee, Melinda Waterman, Justine D. Shaw, Dana Bergstrom et all, Islands in the ice: Potential impacts of habitat transformation on Antarctic biodiversity, July 2022, Global Change Biology 28(20), DOI:10.1111/gcb.16331 .