Dr Karen Sutherland is a Senior Lecturer in PR at the University of the Sunshine Coast and a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. A multi-award winning social media educator and author, Dr Sutherland is also the author of award-winning text, Strategic Social Media Management - Theory and Practice by Palgrave Macmillan, co-author of Public Relations and Strategic Communication by Oxford University Press, and Co-Founder of Dharana Digital. Dr Sutherland's research has appeared in journals including Public Relations Review and Media International Australia and she has presented at conferences and industry events in Australia, New Zealand, Portugal, India, the UK and the USA. Dr Sutherland regularly delivers social media workshops and coaching sessions to clients from a range of industries within Australia and around the world. Dr Richie Barker is a Senior Lecturer in Communication at Deakin University's School of Communication and Creative Arts and Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. His scholarly research focuses on the evolving nature of professional communication practice in the digital media era. Of specific interest are topics of digital media's disruption of advertising creativity, ageism in advertising and the application of transmedia storytelling in brand communication contexts. His research has been published in Convergence , Transformations , Sociological Review , Journal of Interactive Advertising , Journal of Media Practice , Journal of Communication Management and Creative Industries Journal .

Before becoming a brand communication researcher and educator, Dr Barker worked in the fields of advertising and digital media for clients in corporate, not-for-profit and government sectors.