Professor Mel Dodd

Professor Mel Dodd is the Dean of Monash Art, Design and Architecture.

Mel is an award-winning architect, urban practitioner and academic leader undertaking practice and research that critically engages with the city. Motivated by an acute awareness of the role of people and place in social, cultural and economic transformation, her practice is underpinned by productive collaborations with industry, government and communities, contributing to inclusive and sustainable urban environments.

Mel has a track record of strategic leadership and management of architecture departments at a range of international institutions including Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London (UAL), London Metropolitan University, RMIT University and MADA. Mel joined MADA as Head, Department of Architecture in 2021. In this capacity she advanced architecture research capabilities, built relationships and engagement with industry and government and further established the University’s reputation as a leader in architecture education and research nationally and globally.

Her practice-based research critically engages with urban placemaking. Mel is the Director of Monash Urban Lab where she curated Ground Melbourne, an exhibition representing Melbourne on the international stage at the 2023 Seoul Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism. In addition, Mel is the Research Lead for ‘Co-Design for Placemaking’ for Monash University’s Fire to Flourish program, working to reimagine public spaces for bushfire-affected communities. She served as principal on the Prefab Housing Solutions for Bushfire & Disaster Relief for Building 4.0 CRC, sits on the advisory committee for Living Cities Forum and is an adjunct professor at Central Saint Martins in London.

Educated at University of Cambridge and with a PhD by Practice from RMIT University (2011), her publications include Spatial Practices: Modes of Action and Engagement with the City (Routledge 2019) and Live Projects: Designing with People (RMIT Press, 2012). Mel has been a collaborator with muf architecture/art and was a contributory author to the practice publication This is What We Do: A Muf Manual (Ellipsis, 2002). Beyond her academic career, Professor Dodd has practised as an architect in the UK contributing to inclusive urban environments through constructed urban landscapes and public realm strategies.

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