Dr Susan Nicholls

Dr Susan Nicholls taught Professional Communication at the University of Canberra for seven years and Environmental Communication at the Australian National University.

She has also taught Journalism at the Graduate School of Journalism, University of Wollongong, and English Literature at the University of New South Wales (ADFA).

Widely experienced as a metropolitan newspaper journalist and public affairs officer with the Commonwealth Government prior to becoming an academic, her current area of research interest is government communication, particularly in relation to emergency and disaster recovery.

She has undertaken research on the role of communication in risk management and disaster recovery and has given seminars and workshops for Emergency Management Australia and the Australian Red Cross on these topics. She has also published a number of papers in the Australian Journal of Emergency Management and the Asia-Pacific Public Relations Journal and has contributed chapters to books on risk and crisis management and on resilient communities.

She is currently researching representations in media of people in flood events and their role in encouraging dangerous behaviours. She lives in Canberra.