Professor Ian Richards

Ian Richards is Adjunct Professor of Journalism Studies at the University of South Australia. His research interests include journalism and media ethics, and regional/rural journalism. Most recently, he was a section editor for The Handbook of Global Media Ethics (Springer, 2021), widely regarded as a milestone in the field and a major contribution to media ethics. Editors-in-chief for this three-year project were Stephen Ward (UBC, Vancouver and founding director of the Center for Journalism Ethics, University of Wisconsin) and Clifford Christians (Institute of Communications Research, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign). 

Professor Richards is an executive member of the World Journalism Education Council (WJEC), an international coalition representing 32 academic associations involved in journalism and mass communication at university level. He was involved in organising all five WJEC congresses held so far (Paris, France 2019; Auckland, New Zealand 2016; Mechelen, Belgium 2013; Grahamstown, South Africa 2010 and Singapore 2007). 

He was editor of Australian Journalism Review, Australia's leading refereed journal in the academic fields of journalism and journalism studies, from 2003-2017. In 2010 he became the inaugural Dart Australasia Academic Fellow when he was awarded a Dart Foundation Fellowship at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism in New York, USA. 

He was awarded life membership of the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia (JERAA) in 2014 in recognition of his contribution to Australian journalism research and education. JERAA represents Australia’s journalism and journalism studies academics.

Professor Richards has been involved in every round of Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) conducted so far, twice as a member of the ARC’s Humanities and Creative Arts Research Evaluation Committee, and twice as an external peer reviewer. (ERA is designed to assess research quality within Australia's higher education institutions using a combination of indicators and expert review.)

He chaired UniSA's Human Research Ethics Committee from 2005 to 2011, and from 2014-16 was Research Integrity Adviser for the former Division of EAS. This position, which is aligned with the Australian Code for the Responsible Conduct of Research , involved advising staff and HDR students in relation to research practice and allegations of research misconduct.

A former newspaper journalist, he has a wide range of journalistic experience extending from general reporting to leader-writing and covering indigenous affairs for a metropolitan daily newspaper. He has worked and studied in Australia and the United Kingdom, and is a past president of JERAA. 

Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia (JERAA)

International Communication Association (ICA)

International Association for Mass Communication and Media Research (IAMCR)

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy University of South Australia

• Master of Arts (Mass Communication) University of Leicester

• Bachelor of Arts Flinders University