Dr Melissa Jardine

Dr Melissa Jardine is a policing and public health expert and an Honorary Fellow at the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health at The University of Melbourne. She has a long-term interest in the development of policing and security in Asia and has a PhD from the UNSW Law School on policing in Vietnam. She has been an invited speaker and lecturer for Vietnam National University’s Law School on gender equality and violence against women, as well as in relation to criminological research methods and ethics for staff and students from the Law School, the Ministry of Public Security and the Ministry of Justice.

Dr Jardine is an Australia (Endeavour) Award scholar and completed a master’s degree on HIV prevention in Vietnam and the role of policing in protecting public health at the Nossal Institute for Global Health. She has published academically on both the HIV epidemic and COVID-19 pandemic in relation to Vietnam. She also holds a Master of Asian Studies from Monash University.

In 2005, Melissa was awarded a scholarship to study Vietnamese in Ho Chi Minh City from the Victorian Multicultural Commission while working for Victoria Police. It is noted as a ‘Major Event’ of 100 years of women in policing in Victoria. She currently serves on the Strategic Planning Committee for the International Association of Women Police and has worked towards advancing women’s meaningful participation in policing across ASEAN, Afghanistan and Central Asia.

Dr Jardine consults for a range of agencies, including: the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Border Management and the Global Maritime Crime Programme), UN Women, INTERPOL, the Australian Human Rights Institute (UNSW) and the Centre for Law Enforcement and Public Health. She is passionate about creating opportunities for education, advancing gender equality, exploring innovative ways to achieve public safety and enhancing community health and wellbeing.