Professor Kenneth Wiltshire AO is the J.D.Story Professor of Public Administration at The University of Queensland Business School. He has recently completed a six year term as Australia's Representative on the Executive Board of Unesco and for 14 years was the Chair of the Australian National Commission for Unesco. 

Annmaree O’Keeffe has worked in international relations and development for the past three decades. An alumni of the University of Queensland, she was Deputy Director General of the Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID) from 2002 to 2009. She was Australia’s Ambassador to Nepal from 1994-1996 prior to taking up the Minister-Counsellor position in PNG where she was responsible for Australia’s aid program from 1997-1999. In 2004, Annmaree was appointed Australia’s first Special Representative and subsequently first Ambassador for HIV/AIDS. 

Peter Cave has reported from more than 60 countries during a career with the Australian Broadcasting Corporation spanning 40 years.

In her current position her work includes social safeguards policy and media/communications for development in the Asia Pacific region. She has previously worked on AusAID’s East Timor country program, with responsibility for political governance and anti-violence against women initiatives, and on the Indonesia program covering maternal and child health programs.

Fiona conducted doctoral studies in Social Anthropology at the Australian National University, focusing on East Timorese youth identities. Her professional background also includes teaching in Aboriginal education, teaching English as a foreign language, and project and events management and promotion of mental health initiatives for youth. She has also worked as a volunteer community development consultant for the AusAID/Indigenous Community Volunteer partnership

Sylvia has been working over the past 15 years supporting different organisations, initiatives and individuals to take advantage of information and communication technologies and use them strategically for their development objectives in Latin America and more recently in the Asia Pacific, as the Information Society Innovation Fund (ISIF) project officer.

After graduating as an Industrial Designer from the Pontifical Xavierian University, she served as a United Nations National Volunteer assigned to the Southlinks Project, supporting the exchange of information among farmers in Colombia, South Africa and India.

She joined Colnodo (non-profit ISP and APC member in Colombia), as a webmaster and special projects coordinator where she supported the development of a strong and consistent Internet presence from civil society organizations around the LAC region, providing technical training on web design, usability and accessibility. She coordinated the first telecenter project deployed in Latin America called the Neighborhood Information Units, providing Internet access to marginalized communities in Bogotá in 1993. The centers were ran by women and provided useful insight to the Colombian government during the initial consultation and design of the social component of the National Connectivity Agenda and other telecenter initiatives that flourish through Latin America during the late 90s.

She later joined the CGIAR, as a member of a team of researchers providing support to the Tropical Whitefly IPM Project (a global initiative of the CGIAR centers on integrated pest management) where she developed the information platform for the project and its on-line activities.

In July 2003, her work was recognized with the "Annual Award for Young Professionals" by the International Development Research Center (IDRC) at the Institute for Connectivity in the Americas. During her intership at the center's offices in Montevideo, Uruguay she supported the start-up of a variety of local and regional initiatives such as OSILAC, FRIDA, WiLAC & TRICALCAR, the World Dialogue on Regulation, among others.

She has worked as a consultant coordinating initiatives promoting and supporting community wireless networking supporting the development of collaborative platforms, training materials, donations of equipment and the translation to Spanish of the WNDW book.

She moved to Brisbane, Australia in 2008 and joined the Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC) to coordinate the development of ISIF, a grants program supporting innovation on ICTs in the region.
 

Hugh was born in New Zealand where he began his broadcasting career in 1957 as a radio announcer, working for the next three years on four stations operated by the NZBS.

Associate Professor Martin Hadlow has extensive experience in communication for development and social change, community media, journalism, and media in conflict in post-conflict situations. Associate Professor Martin Hadlow was the previous Director of the Centre for Communication and Social Change at the University of Queensland, following a career with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), where he served in a variety of field postings and in senior roles. He has worked for over four decades with leading media and development agencies. He has also conducted media training programs in more than 40 countries in Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East for agencies such as UNICEF, UNAIDS, AIBD and UNESCAP. Professor Hadlow is currently the Deputy Chair of the Australian National Commission for UNESCO

Elske van de Fliert obtained a PhD in Communication and Innovation Studies from Wageningen University, The Netherlands, in 1993.She joined the UQ School of Journalism and Communication in July 2006, prior to which she was based in various countries in Southeast Asia for almost two decades, where she worked for the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organisation (UN FAO), the Consultative Group of International Agricultural Research’s International Potato Centre (CGIAR CIP), The Duta Wacana University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, and as a freelance consultant.

She was involved in research, development and teaching assignments in Indonesia, Vietnam, China, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan, Kenya and Uganda. Her main research interests are in the areas of participatory development communication and impact assessment of sustainable rural development and social change. She manages two ACIAR funded research projects in Vietnam and Indonesia

As an activist scholar who worked formerly with the international media NGO, WACC, Pradip has travelled widely throughout the world and has been involved in the planning and evaluation of community media projects including community radio in Haiti. He played a key role in the Communication Rights in the Information Society campaign linked to the World Summit on the Information Society. He has been a frequent key note speaker at international media conferences and is at present the Vice President, Participatory Communications Section, IAMCR.

He is on the editorial council of a number of journals including Media Development, Journal of Creative Communications, Communication for Development and Social Change, Journalism and Communication Monographs and the International Journal of Press/Politics. He is presently involved in an ACIAR research project in Vietnam on Participatory Communications in which he is specifically exploring Indigenous Knowledge Systems and agricultural practices among hill communities.