Media, Communication and Culture experts

Leo Murray

Sound for film and TV, audio technology, music production, forensic audio

Leo Murray’s research interests include sound for film and television, audio technology and music production, sound design and forensic audio.

He comes from an industry background working as a recording engineer and a radio engineer with the BBC.

As the Academic Chair of Sound and Radio, Leo combines theory and practice teaching units in Sound Studies, Popular Music, Sound Production and Film Post Production.

His current research into film sound is concerned with the theory embedded in practice in fiction and non-fiction film and television.

Simon Order

Radio, sound production and music technology

Simon’s current research focuses on notions of value for community radio in Western Australia and compositional processes of music technology.

He is a Senior Lecturer in Audio Production and Radio Broadcasting. His professional background includes audio production roles in the U.K. television and music industry, radio station manager and professional photographer.

As former Academic Director of Media and Mass Communications for Murdoch University in Dubai, Simon developed the United Arab Emirates’ premiere tertiary media education centre. Simon now teaches units in radio broadcasting, sound production and music technology.

Simon Allen

Art and animation

Simon Allen is teaching Art and Animation at Murdoch University in the School of Media, Communication and Culture.

Mr Allen has more than 20 years’ experience in the film and games industry. For the past 17 years he has worked with the world’s best animators and innovators at Disney/Pixar, Peter Jackson’s Weta Digital and George Lucas’s LucasArts.

He has worked on the last five Academy Award winning animated feature films as a 3D animator and was Animation Supervisor on Hollywood films such as Matrix – Revolutions and Constantine. He has worked on numerous games titles including the award winning game Grim Fandango and Star Wars Titles such as The Phantom Menace.

Mr Allen has produced and delivered animation master classes in Australia, has taught at the Academy of Arts in San Francisco and presented in Moscow, France, and Australia.

Associate Professor David Maguire

Development of journalism and media in China, media management

Veteran newspaper executive and editor Dr David Maguire has a wealth of experience gathered over more than 30 years in daily and Sunday newspapers and radio in Australia, Hong Kong and China.

A former managing director of Perth’s The Sunday Times, he has held senior management and editorial roles with the English-language Shanghai Daily in China and South China Sunday Morning Post in Hong Kong.

A Doctor of Business Administration and an MBA, his research interests include reporting challenges in the chaos of major crises and the fundamentals of journalism in the fog of new media. He teaches in the areas of journalism, politics and society.

Professor Duane Varan

The future of television

Professor Duane Varan is the Director of the Interactive Television Research Institute which has developed a reputation as one of the world’s leading research centre’s exploring the future of television. The Institute’s sponsors include the world’s leading television networks, advertising brands and technology enablers including Coca-Cola, Procter and Gamble, General Motors, CBS, NBC, the Discovery Channel, MTV and many others Fortune 500 companies.

Professor Varan is also the recipient of numerous awards including the Prime Minister’s Award for University Teacher of the Year.

Chris Smyth

Journalism ethics and freedom of speech

Chris Smyth is the Dean of the School of Media, Communication and Culture at Murdoch University. His areas of expertise include media law, journalism ethics, journalists' right and freedom of speech.

His areas of research include journalism ethics, freedom of expression, rights of journalists and labour history.

Emeritus Professor Gail Phillips

Journalism, broadcast policy and journalism ethics

Emeritus Professor Gail Phillips teaches broadcast journalism in the School of Media, Communications and Culture at Murdoch University. She spent fourteen years working in commercial and public sector radio at local and national levels. At Murdoch University she has held the positions of Head of the School of Media, Communication and Culture, Chair of the Media Studies program, Director of Research for the Division of Arts and has also served on the Murdoch Senate.

Professor Phillips’ research interests cover journalism, broadcast policy, and journalism ethics. She is co-author of Australian Broadcast Journalism, published by Oxford University Press (2002, 2006) and Journalism Ethics at Work (Pearson Longman, 2005).

She is a member of the editorial board of the international Radio Journal and book review editor for the Australian Journalism Review.

Dr Sharon Delmege

Social and political impact of new media, politics and the public

Dr Delmege examines links between cultural politics and journalism, and the social and political impact of new media.

She has recently researched Aboriginal housing in Perth, online dating in Australia and curriculum development of innovative methods for online teaching, learning and assessment.

Dr Delmege teaches media audience studies, politics and the public, creativity, innovation and Indigenous culture and knowledge.

Dr Martin Mhando

Filmmaking and African cinema
Dr Martin Mhando is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Media, Communication and Culture. He is a filmmaker with award winning feature and documentary films to his credit.

Dr Mhando teaches both production and theory units at Murdoch in the Media Studies and Screen and Sound Programs.

His areas of research include documentary theory, film production praxis, African cinema, world cinema and Indigenous knowledge. He often serves on festival juries and has also served as curator of international festivals.

Dr Kirsty Best

Social and individual consequences of new media technologies

Dr Mick Broderick

Cultural representations of the Nuclear age, the cold war and the apocalyptic

Associate Professor Broderick is an internationally recognised expert on media and cultural representations of the nuclear age, the Cold War and the apocalyptic with additional interests in Japanese anime, Australian national cinema, trauma theory, masculinity, television and film genre. His collection of Cold War cultural artefacts are currently on exhibition at the Western Australian Museum and across Japan.

Professor Broderick teaches screen theory and cultural and media policy at Murdoch University and actively promotes the creative industries within Australia.

Dr Ingrid Richardson

New media theory, philosophy of technology and science and phenomenology

Dr Terence Lee

Digital television, radio and the internet across Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region

Kate Fitch

Public relations in South-East Asia, public relations education and theory

Kate is a Senior Lecturer in Public Relations. Her professional background includes public relations roles in the arts, community and government sectors in Australia, and in book publishing in the UK.

Kate teaches units in campaign management, media relations, issues management and introductory public relations. Her research interests include public relations in southeast Asia, public relations education and public relations theory.