Dr Andrea Carson is a Professor of Political Communication and incoming Director of the Centre for Advancing Journalism at the University of Melbourne. Her research explores the intersection between media and politics, with a particular focus on gender and political representation.

Andrea served on the Victorian Government’s Equal Workplace Advisory Council, advising government on achieving gender equity in the workplace. She has held senior leadership roles in higher education, including La Trobe University Council, and is the immediate Past President of the Australian Political Studies Association, where she has provided national disciplinary leadership, particularly in support of gender equality in academia.

Her research leadership includes Chief Investigator on multiple Australian Research Council grants, including major studies on pathways to politics for women in local government. She is the author of five academic books and numerous peer-reviewed articles on media, politics and gender, and her work has informed public policy through engagement with governments, regulators and policymakers. In 2024, she took up a research fellowship at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford to study misinformation in elections.

Before entering academia, Andrea was a professional journalist with The Age and the ABC. She co-founded the 2022 federal election podcast Below the Line with The Conversation and is a regular expert commentator in the news media.

WLIA Fellows