Dr. Trevor Cullen is Honorary Professor of Health Journalism at Edith Cowan University and Chair of the 2025 World Journalism Education Congress, which will bring hundreds of journalism educators from up to 50 different countries to Perth from July 1-3, 2025 to discuss the future training and education of graduate journalists and broadcasters.
Trevor also writes peer-reviewed conferences papers/book chapters/articles and delivers research papers on health, HIV, and journalism education in the Asia Pacific region.
He is the first journalism educator in Australia to receive two Australian government teaching awards – a National Teaching Fellowship (NTF) to design journalism capstone units for use in Australian universities and an Australian Award for University Teaching (AAUT).
Trevor came late to academic life. Before gaining a scholarship to undertake a doctoral thesis on media coverage of HIV at Queensland university in the late 90s, Trevor had worked as a missionary, teacher and broadcaster in the UK, Malawi, and Papua New Guinea.
His first degrees were in Theology and later in International Journalism.
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Testimonial by Dr. Debbie Rodan
Professional Associations
- National Advisory Board on reporting mental health.
- International AIDS Society, (IAS)
- International Association for Media and Communication Research, (IAMCR)
- Amnesty International, (AI)
- Australian Journalists Association, (AJA)
- National Tertiary Education Union, (NTEU)
- Journalism Education Association of Australia, (JEAA)
National and International Research Positions
- Appointed as assessor for the Australian Research Council
- Appointed Research Fellow at the Pacific Media Centre, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand
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Testimonial by Dr. Kayt Davies
Research Areas and Interests
- Journalism education
- HIV journalism
- Health journalism
- Higher education trends
- Student employability
- Capstone curriculum
- Media Ethics
Qualifications
- PhD, Journalism. University of Queensland, Australia
- Masters of Arts, International Journalism, City, London University, UK
- Masters of Arts, Religious Studies – KU Leuven University, Belgium.
- Bachelor of Theology – KU Leuven University, Belgium.
Research
Recent Research Grants
- Health Reporting in the Pacific Region: Challenges and Opportunities
Edith Cowan University, School of Arts and Humanities Research Grant Scheme 2017, 2017 – 2018, $9,900. - A capstone unit for journalism programmes to facilitate the demonstration of graduate capabilities
Office for Learning and Teaching, OLT – Fellowship, 2015 – 2017, $155,311. - Narratives in health communication – a multi-disciplinary approach to strengthen understanding of the roles and uses of narratives in conveying health information and changing health behaviours
European Commission, Marie Curie Actions – IRSES, 2013 – 2017, $123,525. - Beyond the Red Ribbon: Improving HIV and STI awareness and responses through media and community engagement
Edith Cowan University, ECU Industry Collaboration Grant – 2014 (Round 1), 2014 – 2015, $51,006. - Graduate Qualities and Journalism Curriculum Renewal: Balancing Tertiary Expectations and Industry Needs in a Changing Technological Environment
Office for Learning and Teaching, OLT – Innovation and Development Grant, 2012 – 2013, $10,404. - Construction of the subject as heart patient in the context of the gift economy
Australian Research Council, Grant – Linkage (APAI), 2007 – 2012, $252,197.
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Testimonial by Ying Wang
Research Student Supervision
Principal Supervisor
- Doctor of Philosophy, Charismatic Televangelism In India: A Case Study Of Christian Broadcasting Network’s Impact On The Church And Community In India
- Reporting Obesity in the Chinese and Australian media