Professor John Handmer leads RMIT University?s Risk and Community Safety research group, and is Deputy Head of the School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences.  He is a member of the Australian National Flood Risk Advisory Group, and the national committee revising the Australian Emergency Risk Assessment Guide.  He has undertaken research on warning systems and risk communication in Australia and Europe.  He co-authored the first two editions of the Australian Flood Warning Guide, and retained by the 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission to provide advice on warnings.  He works on the human dimensions of emergency management and disasters.