Biography

Dr Tess Parker completed a PhD in Atmospheric Science at Monash University, before holding postdoctoral positions at the University of Oxford and Monash University. Dr Parker’s expertise lies in the science of weather producing systems, with a particular focus on heat waves and drought, through the examination of the large-scale atmospheric conditions and processes underlying these extremes and the connection to mechanisms such as tropical-extratropical and stratosphere-troposphere interactions. An understanding of the processes underlying extreme weather underpins the prediction of likely changes in the regional frequency of occurrence or the severity of such events in the future. Dr Parker is currently undertaking research into the development of drought, and the process of recovery from drought. This work will include an evaluation of the synoptic systems responsible for descent into drought and recovery from drought, both in Australia and globally. She is a Member of the National Council (and past Treasurer) of the Australian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society.