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 five Australian Research Council grants and other national projects that draw on her expertise in local media, digital journalism, and 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.

Angela Ross is an honorary research fellow at Deakin University. She is a researcher and innovator with a background working as a multiplatform journalist across public and commercial news media in metropolitan and regional Australia. In her current role as ABC News Research Lead, Dr Ross leads the implementation of strategic projects for the public broadcaster. Her work centres on fostering academic action research partnerships that tackle challenges facing the news industry and society more broadly, with a particular focus on the sustainability of local journalism in rural and regional Australia.

Julie Freeman is Senior Lecturer in Communication in the School of Communication & Creative Arts at Deakin University. Julie's research examines the intersections of (hyper)local news media, rural connectivity and democratic participation, considering how these dynamics affect civic life, community identity, and political power. Her work contributes to evolving understandings of rural communication contexts and highlights considerations for supporting public interest journalism, digital equity, and local democratic engagement.

Erin is an expert in environmental communication for young audiences, including in the local news sector. She has made unique scholarly contributions to the field of environmental communication through her interest in children’s environmental media as a configuration of cultural meanings about ‘childhood’ and ‘nature’. Her work also explores children’s media as a facilitator of environmental literacy in troubled times. Erin is currently Deakin University’s Associate Head of School, Teaching and Learning (Operations) for the School of Communication and Creative Arts.

Angela Blakston is a former journalist, research fellow at Deakin University and PhD candidate. Her work sits at the intersection of local journalism and news access and is united by a concern for how people encounter, engage with and make sense of news in rapidly changing media environments. As a research fellow, Angela contributes to applied research on the sustainability and future of Australian local journalism. Her doctoral research complements this by examining how people navigate today’s algorithmically driven news landscape.

Brigid O’Connell is an Associate Research Fellow and PhD candidate at Deakin University, whose research examines local media, regional news ecologies, and Australia’s changing information landscape. She has taught journalism studies at Deakin since 2016 and has contributed to research exploring the rise of news deserts and questions of media accountability. Before entering academia, she spent 14 years as a health journalist at a metropolitan daily newspaper.

Kirsten Diprose is a PhD candidate at Deakin University, researching podcasting and local news sustainability. As a Deakin researcher, she also 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. Prior to this, Kirsten was an ABC journalist in regional and metropolitan newsrooms. She also founded and hosts a podcast for rural women, Ducks on the Pond, and is a regular radio presenter on ABC Radio Melbourne’s The Conversation Hour.