Melanie Knieps is a researcher with a background in psychology who focuses on the social aspects of cybersecurity at the Digital Society Initiative of the University of Zurich. She is leading the "Cyber Resilience Network for the Canton of Zurich" (CYREN ZH), which aims to protect the self-determination of Zurich as a business location and its population by establishing a task force of civilian first responders for the digital space. The project also seeks to strengthen cooperation between various actors in the canton of Zurich and provide new training and education opportunities in the field of cybersecurity.

Melanie is also a postdoctoral researcher in the NRP-77 project "Promoting trust in cybersecurity through ethics and law," which aims to provide valuable data, insights, and recommendations regarding the non-technical aspects of cybersecurity. Her particular interest lies in identifying the factors that can promote knowledge exchange among cybersecurity experts, such as trust and other organizational components.