Deb Anderson is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Media, Film and Journalism (or MFJ).

Her work contributes to an emerging international field of environmental communication, which is centred on the cultural and historical dimensions of climate crisis (see her Google Scholar profile here).

Deb's research and teaching specialise in the following areas:

• Climate crisis communication
• Oral histories of weather disaster
• Gender, class and disaster reporting
• Journalism practice and emotional labour

As the Coordinator of the Master of Arts (Research Training) in the Faculty of Arts, and Co-convenor of the MFJ Gender and Media Lab, she is committed to creating inclusive, diverse disciplines that welcome the opportunity for cross-disciplinary exchange.

Higher Degree Research (HDR) Supervision

Deb genuinely welcomes interest from prospective Australian and international PhD and Masters students.  

She is currently supervising a range of traditional and practice-based research projects led by students from Australia, Asia, Europe and the Middle East. These projects span the disciplines of Journalism, Environmental Studies, Media and Communications, Gender Studies and History.

Deb's excellence in HDR supervision is evidenced in her nomination (twice) for Monash Graduate Association Supervisor of the Year and her role as MFJ HDR Milestone Chair (2021-25).

Some of Deb's supervisions include: 

1. 'Hazelwood: Narrative Journalism and the Lived Experience of Disaster' (practice-based PhD in Journalism, on the Hazelwood Mine Fire of 2014)

2. 'We Live Here Too: An Oral History of Gender and Class in the Latrobe Valley’ (traditional PhD spanning mulitple generations across the 20th century, co-supervised with Historical Studies)

3. 'Managing Public Relations for Natural Disasters: The Role of PR in Creating Resilient Communities in Pakistan' (traditional PhD, co-supervised with Public Relations)

4. 'Divine Conversations: The Lived Experience of Popular Religion in Taiwan' (traditional PhD, co-supervised with Taiwan Studies)

5. 'After 3.11: Writing Recovery' (practice-based PhD in Journalism and Creative Writing, co-supervised with Japanese Studies

6. 'Neoliberalism and News Coverage of Women: A Comparative Study of Egyptian and New Zealand Online News' (traditional PhD, co-supervised with Media Studies)

7. 'Communication in the Time of COVID-19: The Indonesian Experience' (traditional PhD, co-supervised with Public Relations)

8. 'Coping with Change in Print Journalism: An Analysis of the Lived Experience of Melbourne Journalists, 1975-2015' (traditional Masters, co-supervised with Historical Studies)

9. 'Moral Injury among Journalists' (clinical PhD, co-supervised with Clinical Psychology)

Career Approach

Born in far north Queensland, Deb developed a passion for journalism while working for 15 years with the press in Australia and Britain. Highlights include roles as Education Editor for Melbourne’s daily newspaper, The Age, and News Subeditor across four federal elections for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald mastheads.

Working across education and media sectors over the past two decades has proffered a grounded understanding of the enduring structures of cultural power impacting news work — exacerbating the global challenges facing journalism and society in the Anthropocene. 

Get to know more about Deb’s career path here.

Research Focus

Through projects examining the lived, mediated and gendered experience of disaster, Deb's research prioritises a deep, sustained engagement with communities to create public oral history collections, in collaboration with premier cultural institutions such as Museum Victoria.

These are identifiable outcomes for industry and future researchers that capture and transmit vital lessons about the risks, impacts and challenges of extreme weather and climate change — to inform research and policy development that resonates with people’s lived experience.

Deb has consistently strengthened her capacity to secure competitive research funding. She was the recipient of a State Library of Queensland John Oxley Fellowship (with Associate Professor Kerrie Foxwell-Norton, of Griffith University), and a Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia Grant for Excellence in Journalism Research examining shifts in disaster reporting.

Deb is now a chief investigator on a multi-institutional, ARC Discovery Project titled Australian Journalism, Trauma and Community (2024-27). Taking a uniquely historical approach to the topic, she is part of a team of Monash academics in Journalism and Clinical Psychology (led by media historian Associate Professor Fay Anderson), which has partnered with RMIT, First Nations journalists and leading mental health agencies. A key aim is to transform understanding of the relationship between journalism and trauma and the wider implications for industry and the public.

Publications

An important feature of Deb's work is that it responds to the call for interdisciplinary research to address the challenges of climate change. Her sole-authored book, Endurance: Australian Stories of Drought, was nominated by the national scientific body, the CSIRO, for a Council of the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Australia Prize.

Deb's track record of quality publications includes influential quality journals that span media, cultural, gender, historical and environmental studies and is strengthened by invited contributions to global, interdisciplinary research anthologies that advance their respective fields.

With chapters in the 2025 Routledge Handbook on Climate Crisis Communication and the forthcoming Brill Handbook of Global Oral History, Deb's work is attracting international recognition as one of few “new voices” leveraging the insights of oral history to redress the traditionally media-centric focus of environmental communication.

Teaching Focus

With a unique capacity to bridge media theory and practice, Deb has led and collaborated in the development and teaching of 15 units in the Bachelor of Arts (Journalism), Bachelor of Media Communication, Master of Journalism and Monash Doctoral Program coursework degrees.

She remains committed to public-facing teaching outputs, enjoying the role of Staff Digital Editor of our award-winning, student-led media outlet, MOJO News.

Her core teaching lies in the design and coordination of Monash Journalism's two undergraduate gateway units: Fundamentals of Journalism (Sem 1) and Practice of Journalism (Sem 2).

She also has enjoyed designing and delivering four media field schools to New York, Hong Kong, Nepal, London: enterprising programs that create enduring alliances between industry and Monash students and staff, while giving our graduates an international edge in a highly competitive job market. (See: "London tour 'unforgettable' for next-gen journalists".) 

Her commitment to empathic, sustainable and experiential learning has earned a suite of awards for innovation and excellence. This includes a Faculty of Arts Dean’s Commendation for Outstanding Contribution to Teaching, three MFJ Education Awards and a nomination for Monash Postgraduate Association Lecturer of the Year.