I am a communication researcher with over two decades of experience advancing strategic communication and public relations for social change and community development. My career spans two complementary phases: applied research undertaken through professional leadership and academic research developed during and after my doctoral training.

Phase 1: Applied Research and Professional Practice
After completing my MA in Communication Management at UTS in 2001, I founded a communication research and strategy agency in 2003. As founder‑director for fifteen years, I secured, designed, and led communication research projects for major development organisations including Australia Aid, the Global Sanitation Fund, the George Institute for Global Health, and the European Union. These projects involved community workshops, field research, media analyses, journalist training, strategic communication planning, and stakeholder engagement.

I oversaw a wide range of research outputs, including reports on immunisation, disability rights, the environment, and safe sanitation (2006–2015); a film series on small entrepreneurs (2015–2016); a feasibility report for the EU–India culture fund (2007); and a field study on iodine deficiency disorders (2015). These outputs informed donor program strategies and contributed to national‑level discussions on social development issues. My practice‑based insights also led to peer‑reviewed conference papers presented at leading public relations conferences in Barcelona (2014, 2015), strengthening my pathway into academic research.

Phase 2: Academic Research and Theoretical Development 
My academic trajectory began at UNSW Sydney, where I pursued a PhD examining intersections of public relations and communication for social change. Under the mentorship of my supervisors, I deepened my engagement with dialogic and participatory communication, power, and postcolonial perspectives. Collaborations across UNSW and RMIT supported explorations of Freirean dialogue through workshops and Foucauldian analyses of development and public relations. During my candidature, I undertook structured research training in qualitative interviewing, NVivo analysis, academic writing, and research ethics (2020–2022). I also contributed to documenting and publishing the 2019 communication for development conclave.

Through this work, I developed the Collaborative Communication Approach, a theoretical framework that explains the complexity of communication for social change and identifies pathways for improving practice. I examined this framework through qualitative research published in Public Relations Review, the Journal of Communication Management, and Development in Practice and have since expanded my research into strategic communication for social change, publishing in top communication and development journals. I am currently finishing a book chapter on critical public relations and a research article on how culture overlaps with communication across complex global contexts. 

I bring both theoretical and practical insights into my teaching at UNSW and UTS, across subjects such as Strategic Communication in Society, Culture Experience and Change, Strategic Communication Planning and Management, and Communication Strategies. My approach integrates academic theory, qualitative research practice, and lived experience from development contexts to enrich student learning.

Across both phases, strong mentorship, diverse research environments, and extensive field experience have shaped my commitment to producing socially engaged, theoretically grounded research that reflects the voices and cultural nuances central to communication for social change.