Melissah’s research centres on understanding how ecology and evolution shape the reproductive biology and behaviour of individuals and the consequences of variation in sexual traits for fitness. She is particularly interested in the evolution and functional significance of animal ejaculates, and in how biotic and abiotic factors shape variation in fertility. Her current work focuses on reproductive microbiomes in house sparrows, including the in ovo transfer of microbes from parent to offspring and the interactions between microbes and antimicrobial proteins in male ejaculates. Melissah completed her undergraduate studies at Macquarie University in Australia before moving to the United States as a Fulbright Scholar to pursue her MSc and PhD at the University of Chicago. She subsequently held postdoctoral positions at Arizona State University (USA) and the University of Oslo (Norway), and later served as a junior group leader at the University of Oslo. She then joined the Netherlands Institute of Ecology, where she now is a senior researcher and group leader.
