Editor-in-chief & Executive Director
Misha is the Editor of The Conversation Australia and New Zealand. He has been a journalist for more than 25 years. He was the founding editor of The Big Issue Australia and editor of Crikey, The Reader and The Melbourne Weekly. He was a reporter at The Age and worked at the ABC where he was a TV producer on Media Watch and The 7:30 Report and an editor on The Drum.
CEO & Executive Director
Lisa is CEO of The Conversation Media Group, responsible for strategy, funding and operations, and the IT and Product teams who serve the international group. Previously Lisa was CEO of ArtsHub, CEO of a search marketing firm, and GM online employment for Fairfax Digital. Lisa has been a Director of Vertical Networks Group and Chair of Midsumma Festival. Lisa is a Deloitte Outstanding 50 LGBTI Leader.
New Zealand Editor
Finlay Macdonald is an award-winning journalist, editor, publisher and broadcaster with 30 years’ experience in the New Zealand media. He has been editor of current affairs magazine The Listener, a publisher at Penguin Books and HarperCollins, a weekly columnist for the Sunday Star-Times, and has written and presented for television and radio. He joined The Conversation in April 2020 and became the New Zealand Senior Editor in November 2020.
Science, Health + Environment New Zealand Editor
Veronika is an award-winning journalist and author with two decades of experience in radio, print and digital. Before joining The Conversation in 2017, she produced and hosted a weekly science programme for RNZ, winning several awards including the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union’s prize for best documentary. She has also contributed to broadcasters and publications in New Zealand and internationally, including the NZ Listener, NZ Geographic, New Scientist and Deutsche Welle.
Deputy Section Editor, New Zealand
Jamie brings 20 years of newsroom experience to The Conversation, including 14 years at The New Zealand Herald covering science and the environment. A four-time science reporter of the year with numerous other journalism accolades, he has reported from Antarctica and major disasters like the Whakaari eruption. Jamie has judged international science communication awards and produced policy briefs for NGOs and universities. Based in Taranaki, he specializes in climate and sustainability.
Newsletter Producer
Judy is a production journalist from Taranaki, New Zealand, with 15 years' experience designing and editing some of the country's most well-read newspapers, including The New Zealand Herald and regional and community titles. She has a Bachelor in Communication Studies from Auckland University of Technology.
Chair, The Conversation Media Group
Professor Merlin Crossley AM is Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic Quality at UNSW. He studies CRISPR gene editing and blood diseases. He is an enthusiastic science communicator, Chair of The Conversation’s Editorial Board and Deputy Director of the Australian Science Media Centre. He was a Rhodes Scholar, a recipient of the NSW Premier’s Award for Medical Biological Science, and in 2021 a species of iridescent squid was named in his honour – Iridoteuthis merlini – Merlin’s butterfly bobtail squid.
Chair The Conversation Foundation
Joe co-founded CPE Capital formerly CHAMP Private Equity with investments of over $5 Billion. He is Vice Chair of Human Rights Watch, Chair of the Skrzynski Foundation, and director of The Observership Program. Previously he chaired the Sydney Opera House Trust, SBS, The National Capital Planning Authority, and the Australian Film Television and Radio School. He served on the Senate of University of Sydney and the United States Studies Centre.
CEO & Executive Director
Lisa is CEO of The Conversation Media Group, responsible for strategy, funding and operations, and the IT and Product teams who serve the international group. Previously Lisa was CEO of ArtsHub, CEO of a search marketing firm, and GM online employment for Fairfax Digital. Lisa has been a Director of Vertical Networks Group and Chair of Midsumma Festival. Lisa is a Deloitte Outstanding 50 LGBTI Leader.
Editor-in-chief & Executive Director
Misha is the Editor of The Conversation Australia and New Zealand. He has been a journalist for more than 25 years. He was the founding editor of The Big Issue Australia and editor of Crikey, The Reader and The Melbourne Weekly. He was a reporter at The Age and worked at the ABC where he was a TV producer on Media Watch and The 7:30 Report and an editor on The Drum.
Director
Richard is a partner and Head of Commercial Litigation at Wotton + Kearney, specialising in media law and litigation. He is Chair of the Royal Children’s Hospital Foundation and was Deputy Chair of the Mt Buller & Mt Stirling Resort Management Board until September 2022. He is a director of the Melbourne Press Club and Australian Friends of Asha for Slums. He is a committee member of the Law Council Media and Communications Committee.
Director
Marianne is Managing Partner at Future Leadership and works to develop executive and team capabilities. Previously global Senior Vice President of Gartner and Associate Dean, Melbourne Business School, she has a PhD from MBS, University of Melbourne. She is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Distinguished Academic Fellow of Melbourne Business School and a Fellow of the Australian Library and Information Association.
Director
Cameron Gough is a digital leader with experience in consulting and executive roles at RMS Cloud, Pet Circle, Envato, Australia Post, ANZ Bank, Accenture and PwC. Cameron has built and run large digital technology teams and has specialised in digital marketplaces and SaaS platforms as the founder of Digital iD, an award-winning identity platform, and in his current role as Chief Product Officer at RMS Cloud - a leading global SaaS platform in the travel industry.
Director
Kate Torney is the Director of the Constructive Institute Asia Pacific in the Faculty of Arts at Monash University. Kate has extensive experience in the Australian media, cultural and philanthropic sectors, having spent 20 years at the ABC, including six as News Director, six years as Chief Executive of the State Library of Victoria and CEO of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation.
Director
David is Deputy Chair of TCUK and chairs The Conversation International Sub Committee. He is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Oxford's Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism, following a decade as its director. He co-founded the Institute’s annual Digital News Report. His career has spanned broadcasting and academia, and he previously worked at the BBC as a reporter, editor and Controller Public Policy and is the author of several publications on media policy.
Director
Liz has served as counsel for numerous media organizations and is Of Counsel at Brown Rudnick LLP. She served on the boards of the Media Law Resource Center and the New England First Amendment Coalition, and the Advisory Board of the New England Center for Investigative Reporting. She served on the Governing Council of the Boston Bar Association and as president of the Women’s Bar Foundation of Massachusetts. She is a graduate of Yale College and the University of Virginia School of Law.
Director
Didier Pourquery is President, The Conversation France, Chairman of the Board of the Cap Sciences centre for scientific culture in Bordeaux and the former deputy editor of La Tribune, InfoMatin, and L’Expansion. He launched and headed the daily newspaper Metro in France before becoming executive director of Liberation, then deputy director for Le Monde from 2009 to 2014. He is the author of ten books dealing with the world of communication and media.
Director,
University of Technology Sydney
Ed is Co-Director of the Human Technology Institute, Industry Professor – Responsible Technology at UTS, Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law, chair of the NSW Gov AI Review Committee, patron of the Refugee Advice + Casework Service and fellow of the UTS Centre for Social Justice & Inclusion. He serves on the Aus Gov Service Independent Advisory Board and National Quantum Advisory Committee and was Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner and CEO of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre.
Vice-Chancellor,
Curtin University
Professor Hayne is the Vice-Chancellor of Curtin University. Previously she was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Otago and Chair of the Australian Technology Network of Universities. She joined the Universities Australia Board in 2025. With an MSc and PhD in Behavioural Neuroscience from Rutgers, and a post doctoral fellowship at Princeton, she researches memory development and adolescent risk-taking. She was made a Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit for her services to science.
Director
Carly Severino has a nuanced understanding of the philanthropic and intergenerational wealth sectors in Australia and globally and is Director of Community & Philanthropy at Australian Communities Foundation. Carly has held a variety of Board roles including with Knowledge Media and Swinburne Philanthropy Alumni, and executive positions with CEO Forum Group, Private Wealth Network and Betty Amsden Foundation. A strategic and accomplished leader with a unique blend of visionary thinking, opera...
Chair, The Conversation Media Group
Professor Merlin Crossley AM is Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic Quality at UNSW. He studies CRISPR gene editing and blood diseases. He is an enthusiastic science communicator, Chair of The Conversation’s Editorial Board and Deputy Director of the Australian Science Media Centre. He was a Rhodes Scholar, a recipient of the NSW Premier’s Award for Medical Biological Science, and in 2021 a species of iridescent squid was named in his honour – Iridoteuthis merlini – Merlin’s butterfly bobtail squid.
Editor-in-chief & Executive Director
Misha is the Editor of The Conversation Australia and New Zealand. He has been a journalist for more than 25 years. He was the founding editor of The Big Issue Australia and editor of Crikey, The Reader and The Melbourne Weekly. He was a reporter at The Age and worked at the ABC where he was a TV producer on Media Watch and The 7:30 Report and an editor on The Drum.
Professor & Dean, School of Media and Communication,
RMIT University
Professor Lisa French is Dean of the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University and Professor of Screen and Media. A multi-award-winning researcher and educator, internationally recognised for her research on women in Australian Cinema, she is Co-chair of a UNESCO global university research network on media, gender, and ICTs. She has broad experience on the boards of peak industry associations and serves on the federal government’s Screen Australia Gender Matters Taskforce. ...
Executive Director, Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success and Professor of Public Policy,
Curtin University
Professor Shamit Saggar CBE FAcSS is Executive Director of the Australian Centre for Student Equity and Success and Professor of Public Policy, Curtin University. He has held academic appointments at the universities of Liverpool, Queen Mary London, Sussex, UCLA, Yale and Toronto.
Professor Giselle Byrnes is Provost at Massey University, New Zealand, where she is responsible for leading the research and enterprise and the learning and teaching activities of the University. Reporting directly to the Vice-Chancellor and a member of Massey’s Senior Leadership Team, Giselle is responsible for supporting a high-quality research culture, further developing Massey’s national and international research collaborations and supporting excellence in teaching and academic development.
Professor, Media and Journalism,
Griffith University
Susan is Professor of Media and Journalism at Griffith University, Brisbane, and was Director of the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research. She has authored books, journal articles and chapters on community and independent forms of media and journalism, and has led research projects funded by the Australian Research Council, the National Indigenous Australians Agency and UNESCO. She is on the Editorial Advisory Board for the quarterly literary journal, Griffith Review. ...
Executive Director
Professor Huntington leads the data-focused research, development and digital capability of CSIRO, and is a member of the CSIRO Executive. She has stewardship of a range of business lines including Data61, Space and Astronomy, and National Collections and Marine Infrastructure. Prior to joining CSIRO in November 2021, Elanor was Dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science at the Australian National University (ANU)
Professor of Political Communication; Director CAJ,
The University of Melbourne
Andrea Carson is a political scientist and Professor of Political Communication. She is the Director at the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne. She was a visiting fellow at the Reuter’s Institute for the Study of Journalism,University of Oxford in 2024 and is the author of several books including 'Undercover Reporting, Deception, and Betrayal in Journalism’ (with Dr Denis Muller) and ‘Investigative Journalism, Democracy and the Digital Age', Routledge: Londo...
Director
Kate Torney is the Director of the Constructive Institute Asia Pacific in the Faculty of Arts at Monash University. Kate has extensive experience in the Australian media, cultural and philanthropic sectors, having spent 20 years at the ABC, including six as News Director, six years as Chief Executive of the State Library of Victoria and CEO of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation.
