Mel is the Head of the Knowledge, Impact and Policy cluster at IDS, a multidisciplinary cluster that enables science-policy-praxis interactions.

She is a risk and behavioural scientist specialized in international development. She has managed development projects in the area of agriculture and rural development, specifically in food system transformation and crop diversification to address climate change challenges, biodiversity loss, the reduction of natural resources as well as the triple burden of malnutrition by introducing and scaling sustainable practices such as agroecological, climate-smart and conservation agriculture practices.

Her project and programme activities enable science-policy-practice interactions to increase policy dialogue and to provide technical expertise to stakeholders. Her interests primarily lie in understanding human decision-making processes, perception of risks, and attitude formation to find avenues for behaviour change.

Previously, Mel held roles at the International Rice Research Institute, Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) and the University of Lugano, Switzerland. Mel conducted her PhD research at the Institute for Environmental Decisions, ETH Zurich, Switzerland.