Dr Charlotte Grech-Madin

Dr Charlotte Grech-Madin is a Research Fellow and Lecturer in the Department of International Relations at the Coral Bell School, College of Asia and the Pacific. As a peace and conflict researcher, Charlotte utilises qualitative, interview and fieldwork methodologies to uncover experiences of violence, and the many ways we seek to prevent it. Through a social norm lens, her research looks at the confluence of international humanitarian and environmental norms, in particular around water as indispensible to civilians. Her research on an evolving “water taboo” against using water as a weapon, based on fieldwork in India and the United States, has won two international awards and is published in International Security. 

 

Alongside research on water, Charlotte is working with Professor Bina D’Costa on an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship ‘Humanitarian Emergencies and Global South Responses to Children’s and Young People’s Displacement’. The project aims to enhance the protection of children in protracted crises and when faced with challenges of environmental degradation, trafficking, forced labour, child marriage, and sexual violence. The most complex humanitarian emergencies in Asia, the Horn of Africa, and Europe are in focus, including the mass displacement of Rohingya and enduring protection challenges.

 

Charlotte holds experience working for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on peace and security related to the Indo-Pacific and beyond. She has also worked for the research school of the UNESCO International Centre for Water Cooperation in Stockholm, and is committed to bridging research and policy to inform evidence-based policymaking.

 

She is currently the Program Convenor for Peace and Conflict Studies at ANU, teaching courses on key analytical and negotiation skills, conflict resolution and peacebuilding, and was awarded the College of Asia and the Pacific Excellence in Education Award 2025.