Rate My Professor Elissa Waters

Dr. Elissa Waters is a political geographer and Lecturer in Human Geography, Anthropology and Development Studies in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University. She earned her PhD in Human Geography from the University of Melbourne in July 2019, with her doctoral research focusing on disaster governance in small island states. From 2019 to 2022, she served as a Research Fellow in Climate Change Adaptation Governance at the University of Melbourne, working on the ARC Laureate Fellowship project 'Future Islands: Catalysing Solutions to Climate Change in Low Lying States'. Since 2022, she has held her current position at Monash University, where she coordinates units including 'Power, politics and development in a changing environment' and 'The geography of global challenges'. Over 15 years, Waters has provided research and policy advice to state, national, and Pacific governments on climate change adaptation, particularly sea-level rise and coastal management.

Her research examines the social and political dimensions of climate change adaptation and disaster governance in Australia and the Pacific, emphasizing policy development for adaptation and vulnerability in atoll states. She is a Chief Investigator on the National Environmental Science Program Climate Systems Hub project 'Enabling Best Practice Adaptation in Australia'. Key publications include 'Local observations of impacts and responses to climate change in the Marshall Islands' (Climatic Change, 2025), 'The enablers of adaptation: a systematic review' (npj Climate Action, 2024), 'Current extent and future opportunities for living shorelines in Australia' (Science of the Total Environment, 2024), 'Reimagining climate change research and policy from the Australian adaptation impasse' (Environmental Science & Policy, 2023), 'Climate change and migration from atolls? No evidence yet' (Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability, 2023), and 'Nature-based solutions for atoll habitability' (2022). Waters' research interests include climate change adaptation, governance, political geography, small island states, and international development. Her contributions inform adaptation strategies in vulnerable regions.