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