معرفی
Dr. Melissa Dickson is a Senior Lecturer in Literature at the School of Communication and Arts, Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Queensland. She joined UQ in July 2023, bringing extensive experience from her previous position as a Senior Lecturer in Victorian Literature at the University of Birmingham in the UK.
Her educational background includes a PhD in English from King's College, London, and an MPhil, BA, and University Medal from the University of Queensland.
Dr. Dickson's research focuses on the intricate relationships between Victorian literature, science, medicine, and material culture. Her work spans several key areas including:
- Nineteenth-Century Literature and Culture
- Literature and Science interdisciplinary studies
- Literature and Medicine/ Medical Humanities
- Sound Studies and acoustic history
- Narrative and Consciousness studies
Over the past decade, Dr. Dickson's publications have consistently explored the intersections of literature with scientific and medical discourse in the Victorian era. Her recent work shows a growing emphasis on sound studies, particularly examining new ways of listening and thinking about sound in the nineteenth century, as evidenced by her 2024 monograph "Acoustics in nineteenth-century literature and science: listening at the threshold." She has also been actively engaged with contemporary health issues, particularly through her Co-Investigator role in the "Media and Epidemics" project examining science communication during pandemics.
Dr. Dickson is currently Co-Investigator of a three-year project funded by the Collaboration of Humanities and Social Sciences in Europe, entitled "Media and Epidemics: Technologies of Science Communication and Public Health," which documents the role of media in epidemic management from historical and contemporary perspectives.
As an experienced supervisor, Dr. Dickson has overseen research projects on diverse topics including:
- Child loss in Victorian supernatural fiction
- Thomas Hardy and music
- Animals and the environment in the works of the Brontës
- The condition of women in modernist fiction
She is passionate about equal opportunities in education and regularly engages with galleries, libraries, schools, archives, and museums to share knowledge beyond academia.
