Merewalesi Yee

I am a Fijian woman pursuing a PhD at The University of Queensland, in Brisbane, Australia. My project seeks to advance understanding of opportunities and challenges for transformative mobilities where mobility contributes to climate change adaptation and positive development outcomes across multiple scales, places of origin, destination and transition. My research site is Fiji. Standing on the shoulders of three Giants that form my advisory team A/Prof Karen McNamara (UQ), A/Prof Celia McMichael (Unimelb) and Dr Annah Piggott-McKellar (QUT). Prior to my PhD journey, I have worked at USP as a regional teaching assistant/facilitator for students around the Pacific. During my PhD , I have been privileged to be part of several projects funded by the Australian Research Council as a research assistant and project officer using Talanoa research method to investigate climate change and adaptation, voluntary immobility, planned relocation, place-belongingness and gender food security and disaster resilience in the context of climate-related risks. I have conducted fieldwork in 8 communities in Fiji from 2021 to 2022. I am also a fellow with Australia Climate for Change organisation whose main aim is to help everyday Australians to have a better conversation about climate change and to take action.