Dr Melanie McGrath helps make people’s interaction with AI and other digital technologies safer and more effective.

Melanie began her research career in social psychology, where she was drawn to questions about how people perceive harm and ethics and what this means for how we interact with one another. This led to a Research Fellowship with the CSIRO, investigating how humans develop trust in machines, and what effect that might have on the way people and AI work together. In her research, Melanie developed new ways of measuring trust and new approaches to predicting trust in AI applications. She also conducted experiments to determine whether people trust ChatGPT more than traditional AI, and whether generative AI agents make good team-mates.

Today, Melanie combines her expertise in digital technologies, human behaviour, and responsible innovation in a governance role with eSafety, Australia’s independent online safety regulator. The first agency of its kind in the world, the purpose of eSafety is to help safeguard Australians at risk of online harms and to promote safer, more positive online experiences.

Back in 2009 when all this began, Melanie had two kids, two dogs and no STEM qualification. By the time she started working for eSafety in 2025 she had two (different) dogs, a third child, and three degrees in psychology, including a PhD from the University of Melbourne. She thinks that's enough degrees, kids, and dogs, but is still holding out for a pony.