Dr Mel Taylor is an Occupational Psychologist working in the area of risk communication, preparedness, and psychosocial response to a wide range of threats, disasters, and emergencies. Her specific research interests are in risk perception, protection motivation, and preparedness and response to low probability/high consequence events; such as chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear (CBRN) terrorism and emerging infectious diseases and zoonoses, such as Hendra virus. Mel has explored the use of social media in recent emergencies and disasters, and has recently been investigating the disaster preparedness of pet owners and the experiences of pet owners in natural disasters. Many of her projects are interdisciplinary and are systems-based, and her human-animal research is grounded in concept of One Health. Mel is currently lead researcher for a National Hendra Virus Research Program project focussed on understanding the risk mitigation practices of horse owners (HHALTER) and she is a chief investigator on an ARC grant investigating the resilience of Brisbane communities after the 2011 floods. Prior to her academic research career at the University of Western Sydney Mel worked for 17 years in Human Factors and Occupational Psychology research with the UK Ministry of Defence.