Dr Melissa Phillips

Dr Melissa Phillips is a consultant and academic with almost 20 years' experience working with migrants and refugees in Australia and overseas. She is currently a Lecturer in Humanitarian and Development Studies at Western Sydney University. Melissa commenced her working life as a volunteer visiting people in immigration detention in Villawood in south-west Sydney and went on to work for Australian Red Cross Tracing and Refugee Services in detention. She was also on the Board of Refugee Advice and Casework Service where she undertook a mission to support legal staff in immigration detention in Western Australia. These early experiences have been formative in her career and she considers herself to be a practitioner-academic. She was formerly a Senior Regional Advisor on refugee protection and migration for Danish Refugee Council based in the Middle East and North Africa and has academic expertise on issues related to migration, multiculturalism and displacement. Melissa has worked for the United Nations in South Sudan and for international NGOs in Libya, the Horn of Africa and South Sudan in the areas of protection of civilians and humanitarian coordination. Melissa is currently a Board Member of Australian Red Cross, Regional Advisor for the International Detention Coalition, was formerly Chair of the Advisory Board of Urban Refugees and is an Assistant Editor for the Journal of Intercultural Studies. She became Secretary of IDC's Governance and Finance Committee in 2020.