Background
With 20+
years of experience in volcanology and geophysics, Victoria’s interest in
natural hazards has focused on the applied use of scientific knowledge to
facilitate effective decision making in order to reduce loss of life and
detrimental impacts from volcanoes. From developing and applying volcano
monitoring techniques and disaster plans through to effective communication,
capability building and training encompassing a range of natural hazards to
enable international agencies, national / local governments, community leaders,
educational centres and members of the community to better inform and prepare
for natural hazard events.
Following her
B.Sc. (Hons) in Environmental Geology at Plymouth University, UK (geodetic
analysis of Mount Etna volcano, Sicily), Victoria spent time at the Hawaii
Volcano Observatory as a volunteer in the ground deformation group before
moving to New Zealand. Victoria completed a Masters in Geophysics at the
Victoria University of Wellington, NZ, focused on the development and
implementation of new volcano monitoring techniques (seismic and deformation),
before working as an Emergency Management Officer for Upper Hutt City.
Victoria’s role included developing and maintaining the city’s emergency
response capability for natural hazard events as well as her contribution to
the Wellington region’s incident management team. During this time, she
obtained a Graduate Diploma focused on applied natural hazard management that
included working with government officials in Vanuatu to develop a provincial
disaster plan for Penama province. Victoria’s Ph.D. research at the
Pennsylvania State University, US, focused on developing and implementing
seismic methods to examine volcanic and crustal processes at the Soufrière Hills volcano, Montserrat, along with multiple fieldwork stints including the
SEA-CALIPSO experiment on Montserrat. Upon completing her Ph.D., Victoria spent
six years working at Geoscience Australia, the national geoscience agency in
Australia, as a volcanologist with a focus on natural hazard and risk modelling.
This role included the development and application of hazard and risk analysis
for volcano, earthquake, and tsunami, together with a specialization in
knowledge transfer to colleagues at partner government agencies (Papua New
Guinea, Indonesia, the Philippines) to assist with building their national
capability for natural hazard and risk monitoring and modelling as part of the
Australian Aid program.
Research Interests
Research
interests encompass the reduction of losses from natural hazard events through
applied volcanology and the effective communication and support to decision
makers for disaster risk reduction.
Including:
- Development
and application of natural hazard and risk assessment methods to inform hazard
management planning
- Effective
planning and communication of natural hazard analysis to facilitate the uptake
of science into evidence-based decision making
- Use of
contextual learning and innovative delivery methods for mainstreaming hazard
and risk education in both educational and professional settings
- Disaster
risk reduction for sustainable development
- Development
and use of geophysical volcano monitoring techniques; evaluation of
volcano-monitoring methods and networks; innovative volcano monitoring
instrumentation and data processing for a resource-constrained context
- Applying
geophysical techniques to better understand magma-crustal interactions and the
interplay between local and regional stress response
Publications
Peer-reviewed journal articles:
Griffin, J.D., Pranantyo, I.R., Kongko, W., Haunan, A., Rahayu, R., Miller, V., Davies, G., Horspool, N.,
Maemunah, I., Widjaja, W.B., Natawidjaja, D.H., and Latief, H. (2017) Assessing
tsunami hazard using heterogeneous slip models in the Mentawai Islands,
Indonesia. Geological Society of London Special Publication: Geohazards in
Indonesia, 441, doi:10.1144/SP441.3
Miller, V., Bear-Crozier, A.N., Newey, V., Horspool,
N., Weber, R., (2016) Probabilistic Volcanic Ash Hazard Analysis (PVAHA) II:
Assessment of the Asia-Pacific region using VAPAHR. Journal of Applied Volcanology, 5:4. doi: 10.1186/s13617-016-0044-3
Bear-Crozier, A.N., Miller, V., Newey, V., Horspool, N., Weber, R., (2016)
Probabilistic Volcanic Ash Hazard Analysis (PVAHA) I: Development of the VAPAHR tool for emulating multi-scale volcanic ash fall analysis. Journal of Applied Volcanology, 5:
3, doi:10.1186/s13617-016-0043-4
Davies, G., Horspool, N., Miller, V., (2015), Tsunami inundation
from heterogeneous earthquake slip distributions: Evaluation of synthetic
source models, J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth, 120, 6431–6451, doi:10.1002/2015JB012272
Miller, V., Voight, B., Ammon,
C.J., Shalev, E., Thompson, G., (2010), Seismic expression of
magma-induced crustal strains and localized fluid pressures during initial
eruptive stages, Soufrière Hills volcano, Montserrat, Geophysical Research Letters, 37, L00E21, doi:10.1029/2010GL043997
Shalev,
E., Kenedi, C.L., Malin, P., Voight, B.,
Miller, V., Hidayat, D., Sparks, R.S.J., Minshull, T., Paulatto, M., Brown,
L., Mattioli, G., (2010), Three-dimensional seismic
velocity tomography of Montserrat from the SEA-CALIPSO offshore/onshore
experiment, Geophysical Research Letters, 37,
L00E17, doi:10.1029/2010GL042498
Byerly,
K., Brown, L., Voight, B., Miller, V.,
(2010), Reflection imaging of deep structure beneath
Montserrat using microearthquake sources, Geophysical Research
Letters, 37, L00E20,
doi:10.1029/2009GL041995
Miller, V., Hurst, T., Beavan, J., (2003), Feasibility study for geodetic
monitoring of Mt Ruapehu volcano, New Zealand using GPS. New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics, 46, 1
Miller, V., Savage, M., (2001), Changes in seismic
anisotropy after volcanic eruptions: evidence from Mount Ruapehu. Science,
293,5538, p2231-2233
Book chapters
Jenkins, S., Wilson, T.M., Magill, C.R., Miller, V., Stewart, C., Blong, R.,
Marzocchi, W., Boulton, M., Bonadonna, C., Costa, A., (2015) Volcanic ash fall
hazard and risk, in Global Volcanic
Hazards and Risk, edited by S.C. Loughlin, S. Sparks, S.K. Brown, S.F. Jenkins,
C. Vye-Brown, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Voight, B., Sparks, R.S.J., Shalev, E., Minshull,
T., Paulatto, M., Annen, C., Kenedi, C., Hammond, J., Henstock, T., Brown, L.,
Kiddle, E., Malin, P., Mattioli, G., Carothers, L., Belousov, A., Clarke,
A., Ellett, L., Elsworth, D., Hidayat,
D., Herd, R., Johnson, M., Lee, A., Miller,
V., Murphy, B., Pierce, C., Ryan, G., Saldana, S., Snelson, C., Stewart,
R., Syers, R., Widiwijayanti, C., Young, S.R., Zamora, W., (2014), The
SEA-CALIPSO volcano imaging experiment 1 at Montserrat: plans, campaigns at sea
and on land, scientific results, and lessons learned, in The Eruption of Soufrière Hills Volcano, Montserrat from 2000 to 2010,
edited by G. Wadge, R. Robertson, and B. Voight, Geological Society Memoirs, London
Technical reports and conference abstracts
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Victoria_Miller3