Dr Melanie Lowe

Dr Melanie Lowe joined MSSI in 2021 as Research Fellow in Urban Resilience and Innovation. Melanie’s research investigates how to plan healthy and resilient cities, the use of indicators to monitor and inform policy, and integrated planning across sectors. Integrating knowledge from the urban planning and public health fields, her work highlights the co-benefits that can be achieved for human health, sustainable development and urban resilience. She has expertise in a range of qualitative research methods, including interviews, document analysis, and literature reviews.

Melanie works collaboratively with researchers and policymakers across a range of disciplines to strengthen consideration of health in city planning. Her research has been included in local, state and federal planning and public health policy documents in Australia. She was a lead collaborator on research that won the 2019 Planning Institute of Australia National Award for Cutting Edge Research and Teaching. She has published in highly ranked academic journals, including The Lancet, Social Science and Medicine and Planning Theory and Practice.

Melanie is also an Honorary Associate in the School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT University, Melbourne. She obtained her PhD in 2016 from The University of Melbourne and also holds a Master of Public Health and Bachelor of Physiotherapy (Honours). She previously worked as a lecturer at the Australian Catholic University and postdoctoral research fellow at The University of Melbourne and RMIT University.