Melanie Finch

Dr Melanie Finch is a structural and metamorphic geologist at James Cook University, Australia. She completed her PhD at Monash University in 2016 on the tectono-metamorphic evolution of a hot back arc and its thick shear zones. She was then awarded an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Tuebingen, Germany. Melanie returned to Australia in 2018 in a teaching-research position at Monash University and then moved to JCU in 2022.

Melanie's research focuses on understanding how viscous shear zones accommodate strain and fluid flow. She works on fluid transport from subduction slabs, into the subduction channel shear zone and through the mantle wedge. She is also interested in the role of shear zones in forming critical mineral ore deposits.

Melanie is a 2021-2022 STA ‘Superstar of STEM’ and the President of Women in Earth and Environmental Sciences Australasia (WOMEESA).