Deakin University’s Professor Kristy Hess is an international expert on local media and digital journalism research. She examines information ecologies, people’s everyday mediated practices in regional settings and the role of news media in shaping perceptions of issues, people and places. Since 2018 she has been involved in four Australian Research Council grants and other national projects that draw on her expertise on local media, digital journalism, rural and disaster communication.

Dr Alison McAdam is a Senior Lecturer at Deakin University whose research focuses on local journalism and information ecologies in rural and regional areas. Using research methods such as mapping, interviews and surveys, Alison investigates the social, cultural, political, economic, geographic and digital dimensions of local news sustainability. She is the course director of the Community Journalism Program and an executive member of the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia. Alison draws on 20 years’ experience working in local newsrooms to inform her teaching and research.

Matthew Ricketson is Professor of Communication at Deakin University and before that was inaugural Professor of Journalism at the University of Canberra. He has worked on staff at The Age, The Australian, The Sunday Herald and Time Australia magazine. He has won several awards, including the George Munster national prize for freelance journalism. He is the author or editor of seven books, most recently Who Needs the ABC? Why taking it for granted is no longer an option, co-authored with Patrick Mullins. He has been a chief investigator on five Australian Research Council grants about journalism and the media.

Kirsten Diprose is a podcaster and award-winning researcher based on a sheep and cropping farm in south-west Victoria. She is a PhD candidate at Deakin University, studying podcasting and local news sustainability. Kirsten founded and hosts a podcast for rural women, Ducks on the Pond, and has a podcasting production business, Rural Podcasting Co. She is a committee member of the Rural Press Club of Victoria and as a Deakin University researcher, facilitates the Public Service Media Local News Partnership Network, bringing together media professionals from all over the world to share best practice on supporting local news. 

Brigid O’Connell is a PhD candidate at Deakin University whose research focuses on local and alternative media within regional news ecologies. She has been a tutor in journalism studies and a research assistant on projects examining local news sustainability and ‘news deserts’.

Angela Blakston is a PhD candidate and works as an Associate Research Fellow at Deakin University on projects relating to local news.