
My Expertise
The use of the media and other communication channels to promote peace and social change in realities affected by poverty, conflict and displacement
The use of communication for community and social development
How participation of young people in media-making, content-production, or face to face dialogue can be crucial to achieve change
Meeting the information needs to displaced people - Information as Aid
Keywords
Fields of Research (FoR)
International and development communication, Humanitarian disasters, conflict and peacebuilding, Development studies, Peace studies, Communication and media studies, Social change, Organisational, interpersonal and intercultural communication, Social program evaluationSEO tags
Biography
I am a Senior Research Fellow at Western Sydney University, Institute for Culture and Society. I am also an Honorary Senior Lecturer at UNSW. I conduct research on the application of Communication for Development in Peacebuilding with a focus on realities affected by violent conflict and forced displacement. I explore and evaluate new communication for development approaches that employ different media and communication channels to contribute...view more
I am a Senior Research Fellow at Western Sydney University, Institute for Culture and Society. I am also an Honorary Senior Lecturer at UNSW. I conduct research on the application of Communication for Development in Peacebuilding with a focus on realities affected by violent conflict and forced displacement. I explore and evaluate new communication for development approaches that employ different media and communication channels to contribute to social change and sustainable peace in the aftermath of (or during) violence. I also look at the application of communication for development for citizen engagement and youth participation in governance and peacebuilding. My more recent work has begun to explore the use of Communication for Development in the context of crisis response interventions, with the aim of developing new frameworks that can link the implementation of applied research with the production of theoretical knowledge, whose translation can inform practice. I am currently Chief Investigator on an Australia Research Council Discovery Award on Development Communication, Media and Peace in Protracted Displacement. This three year project (2022-2024) investigates the use of media and communication from humanitarian organisations in promoting peace and social cohesion among young refugees living in camps; the aim is to develop a new a approach that brings together C4D and CwC in complex settings of protracted encampment.
My PhD has looked at the ways in which participatory media can be used as storytelling tools to share experiences of war among hostile communities in the aftermath of a civil war, and how sharing stories through the media can facilitate healing and reconciliation. As part of my doctorate project, I worked on the evaluation of two participatory media activities implemented in Kenya in the aftermath of the 2007/2008 Post-Election Violence. I assessed the impact of these projects in relation to ethnic reconciliation between and among communities in specific areas of the Rift Valley, where I spent three months interviewing both victims and perpetrators of the 2007/2008 conflict who have been in contact with these media productions.
More generally, I am also interested in looking at the different ways communication can be used in development contexts (particularly in post-conflict settings), as well as in understanding the impact that an introduction to the use of the media has on communities living in extreme poverty. I collaborate with UNICEF and other international NGOs on different projects related to Communication for Development and media for peace.
Prior to the start of my academic career, I have worked as an international development professional for various non-governmental organisations, government departments and the United Nations, both in Head Offices and in Country Offices in African settings.
To find out more about my research and publications, visit my research profile page on Academia.edu.au or my website www.c4dpeace.com.
My Grants
- 2021 ARC DECRA Fellowship
- 2020 IPRA Peace Research Grant
My Qualifications
PhD International Communication: Communication for Development in Peacebuilding (Macquarie University, Australia)
MSc Communication for Development (University of Reading, UK)
MA Public Relations (Bournemouth University, UK)
BA (Hons) Media & Communication Studies (University of Perugia, Italy)
My Awards
2018: undertaken a five-month Visiting Senior Research Fellowship at UNICEF Innocenti Office of Research in Florence, Italy
2012: selected for fully funded participation in the ‘Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries & Innovation’ Winter School at Queensland University of Technology in Australia
2011: recipient of the Macquarie University Research Excellence Scholarship for PhD programme in Australia
2010: selected for the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) Fellowship for international cooperation and development in Angola
2006: selected for the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs & CRUI Foundation Apprenticeship Programme for international cooperation and development in Mozambique
My Research Supervision
Supervision keywords
Areas of supervision
I am available to supervise PhD projects in the following areas:
- Communication for Development
- Communication for Social and Behaviour Change
- Communication and Media for Peace
- Community Engagement in humanitarian contexts (Communicating with Communities)
- Community and Alternative Media
- the Media in the Global South
- Health Communication.
Currently supervising
Bhupesh Joshi - Exploring new public relations approaches to address international development communication challenges
Enock Mac'Ouma - The use of community radio to promote climate change adaptation technologies among rural farmers in Migori county, Kenya
My Engagement
Board of Directors Member of Great Lakes Agency for Peace and Development International (GLAPD Int.), Sydney
Member of the Development Studies Association of Australia (DSAA)
Convenor of DSAA Creative Approaches and Practices in Development Studies Research Group
Member of Waverley Council Multicultural Advisory Committee
Member of UNSW Forced Migration Research Network
Member of the Hub for the Study of Hybrid Communication in Peacebuilding (HCPB)
Member of the International Association for Media & Communication Research (IAMCR)
My Teaching
- MDIA2011 Media Design for Change, Level 2 elective course in B.Media PR & Advertising, UNSW School of the Arts and Media
- MDIA3012 Communication in Action, Level 3 elective course in B.Media PR & Advertising, UNSW School of the Arts and Media
Location
Institute for Culture & Society (ICS)
Building EM - G05
Locked Bag 1797
Penrith NSW 2751
Australia
Contact
Publications
ORCID as entered in ROS
