Rate My Professor Viliamu Iese

Dr Viliamu Iese is a Senior Lecturer in Drought and Climate Studies at the School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences within the Faculty of Science at the University of Melbourne. He serves as Academic Lead for the Drought and Innovation Hub and Associate Director of the Victoria Drought Hub. His research focuses on risk resilience in agriculture, the impacts of droughts and extreme events on food security and livelihoods, climate-change loss and damage, and the evaluation of climate-change adaptations, with particular emphasis on Pacific Island countries and Small Island Developing States.

Prior to joining the University of Melbourne, Dr Iese worked for 14 years at the University of the South Pacific, where he held the position of Senior Lecturer in Disaster Risk Reduction, Disaster Response and Recovery, and Climate Change and Food Security in the Postgraduate Diploma in Climate Change Program at the Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development. He holds a PhD in Climate Change from the Pacific Centre for Environment and Sustainable Development, with a focus on transforming Pacific Island agriculture in response to climate change, and has authored over 52 peer-reviewed publications. Dr Iese has led and coordinated multiple international research projects and stakeholder engagements across the Pacific involving governments, communities, NGOs, and UN agencies. He has held roles including coordinator for the Pacific Regional Centre and Hub for Technology Needs Assessment for Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation, chairperson of the research pillar of the Pacific Soil Partnership, alternative representative of academia to the Pacific Resilience Partnership, and coordinating lead author for chapters in the Pacific Ocean and Climate Crisis Assessment.