Our membership is comprised of leading scholars from five continents. Our expert scholars in strategic communication are available for media commentary, advice, training, and collaboration on numerous aspects of the field from artificial intelligence to misinformation, transhumanism to social innovation, manufacturing and employee relations, to politics and nontraditional warfare, to public diplomacy and government affairs, crises, disaster and emergency response, terrorism, problem solving, nonprofits, technological advances and innovation, ethics, and many specialized areas.
For media enquiries, comments from any of our members, past newsletters, or details about upcoming events: Please email sbowen@sc.edu. Or call (803) 777-3764.
Core Executive Board members are futurists who saw the need to address the turbulent challenges and crises in the modern world and as applied to our field of strategic communication.
Bruce K. Berger, Ph.D., is professor emeritus, advertising and public relations, at the University of Alabama (UA), and founding director of The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations. His research has been recognized with IPR’s Pathfinder Award (2012) and the Jackson Jackson & Wagner Behavioral Science Prize (2013). Previously, Berger was a PR executive for two global companies for 20 years and worked on projects in 30 countries.
Shannon A. Bowen, Ph.D., Founder & Executive Director, specializes in applied ethics, issues management, and decision models for helping organizations better face challenges. Her most cited works are on Kantian ethics, and she recently held an NSF grant with the Artificial Intelligence Institute studying emergency information during crises such as hurricanes.
Elina Erzikova, Ph. D. – Conference Director - Professor of Public Relations at Central Michigan University. She is a Fellow of the Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations at the University of Alabama. Her primary areas of research interest include relationships between the media & power and public relations leadership.
Yicheng Zhu (Ph.D., University of South Carolina) is an assistant professor at the School of Journalism and Communication at Beijing Normal University, China P.R. His research interests include international public relations, public diplomacy, and computational communication research.
Steering Committee members advise, present research and concepts, and review papers with regard to how the future will impact their specialty area in strategic communication.
Ana Adi is a digital humanist and public relations consultant. Her work in recent years has been mostly focused the future of PR, gendered views of PR, (digital) storytelling, and public relations insight, evaluation and measurement, and CSR. She is currently based in Berlin where she works at Quadriga University of Applied Sciences as a Professor of PR/Corporate Communications and co-leader of the MBA Communication, Public Affairs Leadership program. She has been appointed Vice-President of the university in 2022. Prior to her role here, she held lecturing and research posts in the UK, Belgium and Bahrain.
Sabrina Habib believes that understanding the creative process is the first step toward creative confidence in problem-solving—an essential life skill. She studies the influence of technology on the creative process and the best approaches for teaching creativity. She is an associate professor and program director at the University of South Carolina, having published numerous papers about creativity and qualitative methods. Sabrina is Brazilian and multicultural.
Jeong-Nam Kim is the Gaylord Family Endowed Chair of Strategic Communication at the University of Oklahoma. He serves as a senior editor of the journal “Health Communication,” and was elected as an educator member of the Arthur W. Page Society. Kim was awarded the Jackson Jackson & Wagner Behavioral Science Prize for his research. Kim investigates "public behavior" and its implications for social dynamics. He has theorized on people’s communicative actions in individual life and in response to social problems. He applies theories, such as his Situational Theory of Problem Solving, to the fields of public relations, strategic communication, health communication, public diplomacy, corporate and government communication.
Alessandro Lovari is as Associate Professor of Sociology of Communication at the University of Cagliari (Italy). Lovari’s research focuses on public sector communication, public relations, and health communication. He also studies social media impact on organizations and citizens’ behaviors. He was visiting research scholar at Purdue University, University of Cincinnati, and University of South Carolina (USA). His works appear in several books and international journals like Public Relations Review, Journal of Public Affairs, International Journal of Strategic Communication, Health Communication, International Journal of Communication.
Katie R. Place is Professor of Strategic Communication in the School of Communication at Quinnipiac University, USA. Her research examines power, ethics, and listening in public relations. She has authored more than 60 conference papers or publications in such peer-reviewed journals as Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, and Journal of Media Ethics.
Sónia Pedro Sebastião is a Full Professor of Communication Sciences at the Institute of Social and Political Sciences of the University of Lisbon. She acts as Scientific and Pedagogical Coordinator of the Communication Sciences Department and as President of the Executive Board of the Research Center for Public Administration and Public Policies.
Affiliate members of the Consortium represent numerous countries, continents, and theoretical perspectives; they advise the group on trends and issues in their region and research area.
Khalid Alharbi (Ph.D., University of South Carolina) is an assistant professor in College of Media and Communication at Al Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University (IMSIU). In recognition of his outstanding scholarly contributions, he has just received the IMSIU Excellent in research (Graduate Studies Category) Award. His research interest lies in the areas of influencer marketing and corporate social responsibility/advocacy. He also works as a strategic communication consultant for a number of companies and government agencies.
Ruth Avidar is a Senior Lecturer and the head of the Marketing Communication track in the Department of Communication at Max Stern Yezreel Valley College, Israel. She is also a faculty member in the Department of Health Systems Management. Avidar is a former public relations practitioner, and her research examines online public relations, social media, interactivity and responsiveness, customer and patient experience, dialog and engagement, and new technologies in communication and health care. Her works appear in several books and international journals such as Public Relations Review and Journal of Public Relations Research, and she serves as a member of several editorial boards of international journals in the field of communication.
Flora Hung-Baesecke teaches at University of Technology Sydney, Australia. Her research interests include CSR, stakeholder engagement, and social media. She publishes in refereed journals and won several top paper awards. She is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society and is active in the international academic community.
Patrice M. Buzzanell is Distinguished University Professor, past Chair of the Department of Communication at the University of South Florida, and Fellow and Past President of the International Communication Association (ICA). She also is a Distinguished Scholar for the National Communication Association (NCA), Past President of the Council of Communication Associations, and Past President and Wise Woman of the Organization for the Study of Communication, Language, and Gender. She has received career achievement awards from ICA, NCA, the Central States Communication Association, and Purdue University where she was a Distinguished University Professor in communication and engineering education, and Endowed Chair and Director of the Susan Bulkeley Butler Center for Leadership Excellence. With around 350 publications, including 4 co/edited books, her primary research areas are organizational communication, career, work-life, resilience, feminist/gender, and human-centered design.
Yi-Ru Regina Chen, Ph.D., specializes in strategic communication, social media engagement and gamification, CSR, and creating shared value (CSV). Her current research focuses on the psychology of strategic communication and social influence among specific stakeholders. She received the Hong Kong General Research Grant and the ICA PRD’s Robert Heath Award.
Yang/Alice Cheng is a tenured associate professor in the Department of Communication and an adjunct professor at the Poole College of Management, NCSU. She has taught many courses such as strategic management, research methods, the introduction of public relations, and crisis communication. She has demonstrated a long-term commitment to research involving artificial intelligence and virtual reality, global public relations management, and crisis communication. She has published more than 70 journal articles and book chapters. Some of her publications have appeared in top journals such as The New Media & Society, American Behavioral Scientist, Social Science Computer Review, Computers in Human Behavior, Journal of Public Relations Research, Journal of Product & Brand Management, Telematics and Informatics, Mass Communication & Society, International Journal of Communication, Public Relations Review, and Journal of Contingencies and Crisis Management. Recently, Cheng extensively served as a guest speaker or keynote speaker for international institutions such as MIT, Peking University, Zhejiang U, Xiamen U, U of Technology Sydney, and Nanjing Normal U.
Myoung-Gi Chon, Ph.D. is an associate professor of public relations at Auburn University. He also serves as an Associate Editor for the Asian Journal of Public Relations. His research areas encompass crisis communication, health communication, organizational innovation, and public diplomacy. Notably, he has contributed to the development of key measurements in these fields, such as integrative model of activism, principles related to issues and crisis, and allegiant communication behavior.
Lucia D’Ambrosi is Associate Professor in Sociology of Culture and Communication processes (SPS/08), Sapienza University of Rome (Italy), Department of Communication and Social Research. Has published widely on public sector communication in Italy and Europe, participatory processes and digital media with a focus on the European strategies and gender studies. Currently, she is member of the Research Unit GEMMA (Gender and Media Matters). Her work has been published in journals like International Review of Sociology, Journal of Italian Cinema & Media Studies, Javnost- The public, Participation and Conflict.
Gea Ducci is associate professor in Sociology of culture and communication at the University of Urbino Carlo Bo (Italy), coordinator of a master's degree course in Communication and Advertising for Organizations, member of the PhD board in Humanistic Studies and of the Research Lab on Advanced Communication. She is elected member of the board of Italian Sociology Association. Her research focuses on public sector communication, health communication, social issues communication and digital media. Her work appear in several books and scientific journals, like Participation and Conflict, Sociological Forum, Mediascapes Journal.
Visual analytics, human-computer teaming, trustable AI, fundamental data science advances with targeted impact in energy and climate resiliency and sustainability, defense and security, health and digital humanities.
Mari K. Eder, retired U.S. Army Major General, is a renowned speaker and author, and a thought leader on strategic communication and leadership. General Eder has served as Director of Public Affairs at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies and as an adjunct professor and lecturer in strategic communications and public diplomacy at the NATO School and Sweden’s International Training Command. She served in a number of senior positions in the Pentagon, on the Army Staff, as Deputy Chief of Public Affairs and Deputy Chief of the Army Reserve, and with DoD’s Reserve Forces Policy Board. General Eder speaks and writes frequently on communication topics and has published in USA Today, TIME Magazine, The Hill, and other outlets.
Gisela Marques Pereira Gonçalves holds a PhD in Communication Sciences. She is Associate Professor at the University of Beira Interior (UBI) and coordinator of the Strategic Communication research group of LabCom - a Communication research centre. Vice-president of the Faculty of Arts and Letters, she is the coordinator of the post-graduation studies in Strategic Communication at UBI. She has authored 2 books, edited 17 collective volumes, published around one hundred scientific publications, supervised 4 PhD theses and 39 Master dissertations. Former chair of the ECREA Strategic and Organizational Communication Section. She is the editor-in-chief of Estudos de Comunicação, a Portuguese journal indexed in Scopus. Her research interest’s concern: ethics, public relations, political and strategic communication, crises and risk communication.
After studying a doctoral course at University of Cambridge, he was an adjunct professor at Cornell University in the US, and a visiting researcher at the University of Tokyo and Waseda University in Japan. He is currently a visiting researcher at Osaka University of Economics and Law, and a director at the East Asia Research Institute in Japan.
Prof. Yusuke Ibuki is an associate professor in the Faculty of Business Administration at Kyoto Sangyo University, Japan. His research focus is primarily on the human resource development of the strategic communication practitioner for gaining a sustainable competitive advantage. He was an executive director for the Japan Society for Corporate Communication Studies and is currently serving as an executive director for the Japan Academy of Advertising.
Takashi Inoue, 50 years in public relations, CEO Inoue Public Relations, and Visiting Professor Kyoto University Business School. Known for the "three forces of hyper-globalization", and "Self-Correction Model.” Author of several books and in English: Public Relations in Hyper-globalization: Essential Relationship Management - A Japan Perspective (Routledge, 2018).
Michael L. Kent, Ph.D., is an Honorary Professor at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney Australia. Kent’s research interests include: Public Relations and Rhetorical Theory, Dialogic Communication, Engagement, New Technology, Social Media, and Mediated Communication, Metaphor, International Communication, Issues Management, Academic Community, Communication Ethics, and Thanatology/Eschatology.
Vindel Kerr, D.B.A., is a former Assistant Professor of Business Ethics (The U.W.I.), Founder of GovStrat Limited and an internationally award-winning corporate governance expert. Vindel is a serving CEO, NED and former Chairman and Director of several SOEs. He has trained or advised 10,000+ Board Directors/Executives, globally. His research focuses on the intercept of ethics and law, corruption and whistleblowing.
Dennis F. Kinsey (Ph.D. Stanford University) is Professor of Public Relations, and Director of the Public Diplomacy and Global Communications program at Syracuse University. He is co-editor of the book, International Public Relations and Public Diplomacy: Communication and Engagement. Kinsey has published in Corporate Reputation Review, Journal of Advertising Research, Journal of Human Subjectivity, Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, Journalism Educator, Exchange: The journal of public diplomacy, Operant Subjectivity, Political Communication, Political Psychology, Public Relations Review and Visual Communication Quarterly.
Alexander V. Laskin (Ph.D., University of Florida) is a professor at Quinnipiac University (USA). He is author of about 100 publications, focused primarily on investor relations, reputation management, and emerging technologies. He recently published: Organizational Reputation Management: A Strategic Public Relations Perspective (2024); Investor Relations and Financial Communication (2022); and Social, Mobile, and Emerging Media Around the World (2018). His research was recognized with awards from the Association for Business Communication, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and the Institute for Public Relations. Laskin also served as a Fulbright Specialist, Page Legacy Scholar, Albert Schweitzer Fellow, Plank Center Fellow, and the People’s United Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Innovation Faculty Fellow. Laskin offers consulting services in investor relations, research and evaluation, and international communications.
Alessandra Mazzei is Associate Professor of Corporate Communication at Università IULM, where she is also Director of the Centre for Employee Relations and Communication and Coordinator of the bachelor programme in Corporate Communication and Public Relations. Main research interests are: Corporate Communication, Employee communication and engagement, Organizational voice, silence and dissent, Diversity & Inclusion, Internal Crisis Communication.
Linjuan Rita Men, Ph.D., APR, is Professor of Public Relations and Director of Internal Communication Research in the College of Journalism and Communications at the University of Florida. Men’s background is based primarily in corporate communication research and consulting. Her research interests include internal communication, leadership communication, emerging technologies, and entrepreneurial communications.
Ángeles Moreno is outgoing President of the European Public Relations and Research Association and a leader researcher at the high-performance Group of Advanced Studies on Communication-University Rey Juan Carlos. She is highly regarded as an author with (+120 publications H-index: 30), awarded by PRSA, ICA, EUPRERA and AIRP. She is in the ranking of most relevant Spanish scientific and has hold positions in main academic associations and committees of national and international research bodies.
Sunday Odedele, Lagos, Nigeria specializes on Research and International Public Relations. Advisory board member of The Federation of Public Relations Association of Italy. Speaker at the First World Public Relations Festival, Rome, 2003. Co-author of the Evolution of Public Relations: Case Studies of Countries in Transition (IPR, 2004/2008. The Role of Philosophy of Public Relations and Corporate Communication in Institutionalizing Public Relations and Corporate Communication (IPR, 2008). Author of Public Relations and Communication Management in Africa, (2008/2012).
Prof. Evgeny Pashentsev is a leading researcher at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia, visiting professor at St Petersburg University. Director of the International Center for Social and Political Studies and Consulting. Coordinator of the International Research Group on Threats for International Psychological Security by Malicious Use of Artificial Intelligence (Research MUAI). Member of the International Advisory Board of Comunicar (Spain) and the editorial board of The Journal of Political Marketing (USA).
Author and/or editor of 38 books. Among the last ones: Strategic Communication in EU-Russia Relations (ed.). Palgrave Macmillan, 2020; The Palgrave Handbook of Malicious Use of AI and Psychological Security (ed.). Palgrave Macmillan, 2023.
In 2021-2023, he headed the work of Russian researchers within the framework of a joint project supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR) and the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences (VASS) on the topic "Malicious use of artificial intelligence and challenges to psychological security in Northeast Asia". Areas of current research: malicious use of artificial intelligence and psychological security, artificial intelligence and future models of global development, strategic communication.
From 2013 to 2023 David D. Perlmutter was dean of the College of Media & Communication (CoMC) at Texas Tech University where he is now a full professor. Perlmutter is the author or editor of ten books on political communication, new media technologies, and higher education published by, among others, Palgrave, Oxford, and Harvard University Press. In 2017, he was elected vice president of Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and served a term as president in 2019–2020.
Lance Porter researches social media, computational communication, and cultural computing.
Brett Robertson studies communication technology use in organizational, risk, and mass communication contexts. His research projects explore how individuals use social media and mobile devices in the workplace and disaster-related contexts. Much of his recent focus has been on disaster preparedness and prevention communication — and the barriers that vulnerable and marginalized populations face during natural disasters. His work explores how emerging technologies can mediate these barriers.
Fatima Roumate PhD. Is a Full Professor of the International Law at the Faculty of Law, Economic and Social Sciences Agdal, Mohammed V University, Rabat, Morocco.
Founding President of the International Institute of Scientific Research, Marrakech since 2010.
Member of the Ad Hoc Expert Group for the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence UNESCO, Morocco.
Member of the Information Ethics Working Group IFAP, UNESCO since 2020.
Member of the Delegation representing Morocco in intergovernmental negotiations on the Recommendation on the Ethics of Artificial Intelligence UNESCO,
Member of International Telecommunication Union, ITU Focus Group on AI & Environmental Efficiency (FG-AI4EE)
Founding Member of AI Talk Initiative Code Explorer
Member of the Consortium Global AI Network for Social Good [GAIN4SG]
Founder of the Global Network of AI and International Society GNAI&IS.
Expert, Cybersecurity and International Cooperation, Council of Europe as a part of the CoE Wiki Cybercrime project from 2014 to 2016.
As a head of The International Institute of Scientific Research she was ranked 25th in The Thinkers360 annual leaderboard for the 50 Thought Leading Companies on Artificial Intelligence for 2023.
50 Thought Leading Companies on Artificial Intelligence 2023 | Thinkers360
Her name is cited in the list of the Top 20 Inspirational Women of the African Diaspora Professional Women (ADIPWO) list for 2023. This list recognizes and celebrates outstanding women who have made significant contributions in various industries and are putting Africa on the global map. Fostering prosperity for african women (francinebeleyi.com)
Her edited book topped the list of the 20best Books on AI and research, of all time released by Book Athority by the end of January 2023.
Est Artificial Intelligence Research Books of All Time - BookAuthority
She received several awards such as the Award titled “Iconic leader creating change for a better world” organized by the Women Economic Forum in The Hague, 2017 and the Award received during the Conference organized by Technopark Casablanca and titled “Moroccan Women, a major player in sustainable and prosperous inclusive development”March 19, 2022.
She is a guest editor of the special issue of the Journal of Social Policy Studies indexed in SCOPUS and dedicated to AI and social policy.
She is member of several scientific board comitees of indexed journals such Magazine Cátedra Villarreal Posgrado and the International Journal titled Revista Científica de Comunicación Social Bausate published by the University Jaime Bausate y Meza, Lima, Peru. She published several books and indexed articles in Arabic, French and English.
She organized a lot of sessions of training for young teachers, elected women, and entrepreneurs and she organized a lot of international conferences about education, science, technology, Artificial Intelligence and media, communication and journalism.
Speaker in a lot of international conferences one of them was organized in the House of State in Finland.
She was nominated by the Department of States of USA to participate in the IVLP International Visitor Leadership.
Marko Selaković, Ph.D. is manager, researcher and scholarly academic who is occupying various senior roles at SP Jain School of Global Management – Dubai campus (currently Deputy Director and Assistant Professor). He is a strategic management and communications professional with more than 20 years of top-level experience in Europe and the Gulf countries. Selaković is specialized in strategic and international communications and development, stakeholder relations and crisis management. In addition to the academic positions, he is currently Chairman of Serbian Business Council in Dubai. Previously he was Head of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia Office to the UAE, Business Director of Expo 2020 Serbia, and Vice-president of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Gulf Chapter. Selaković is author or co-author of numerous research papers related to the strategic, crisis, investor and internal communications.
Sergei A. Samoilenko is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication at George Mason University. His research focuses on issues in public relations, reputation management, and crisis communication. He is a co-founder of the Research Lab for Character Assassination and Reputation Politics (CARP), an interdisciplinary research community, studying strategies and tactics of subversive communication and reputation management: https://carpresearchlab.org/. He has coauthored and co-edited a number of books including Routledge Handbook of Character Assassination and Reputation Management, Handbook of Research on Deception, Fake News, and Misinformation Online, and Media and Public Relations Research in Post-Socialist Societies.
Founding Director od Artificial Intelligence Institute at University of South Carolina
He was born in Christchurch, New Zealand. Greg graduated with a PhD from the University of Canterbury in 2004, in 2015 became Associate Professor at the Department of Government, Uppsala University. Greg Simons is currently a lecturer at the Department of Communication Science at Turiba University in Riga, Latvia. Research interests include the changing political dynamics and relationships, mass media, public diplomacy, information warfare, hybrid warfare and subversion, organized persuasive communication, political marketing, crisis management communications, media and armed conflict, and the Russian Orthodox Church. Also researching the relationships and connections between information, politics and armed conflict more broadly, such as the GWOT and Arab Spring, the interpretation and representation of events and processes in the New Cold War (within the context of the transforming global order). Simons is the author and/or editor of numerous refereed articles, chapters and books: with over 17 books, 30 book chapters and more than 120 articles, with nearly 400 presentations around the world and approximately 350 media interviews.
Marica Spalletta (Ph.D.) is Associate Professor in Communication and Media Sociology at Link Campus University of Rome (Italy). Her research interests focus on the mediatization of cultural processes, the development of agendas in hybrid media system, the credibility issue; she is also interested in the gender perspective in media narratives. Over the last 20 years, she has leaded and participated to several national and international research projects, among which the H2020 “DETECt. Detecting Transcultural Identity in European Popular Crime Narratives”. Currently, she serves as principal investigator of the EU project “GEMINI. Gender Equality through Media Investigation and New training Insights” (CERV-2022-GE). Her work has been published in journals like European Journal of Communication, Comunicazione Politica, Problemi dell’informazione, Catalan Journal of Communication & Cultural Studies.
Linwan Wu (Ph.D., University of Florida) is currently an Associate Professor of Advertising and Associate Dean for Research in the College of Information and Communications at the University of South Carolina. His research focuses on advertising psychology and communication technology.
Sung-Un Yang, Ph.D. (University of Maryland, 2005), is a professor at the Media School, Indiana University. Before joining Indiana University in 2012, Sung-Un was a tenured faculty in the Newhouse School of Public Communications, Syracuse University. He has served as Editor-in-Chief (from 2022-2024) of the Journal of Public Relations Research (JPRR).
Cen (April) Yue is an Assistant Professor of Marketing, Advertising, and Public Relations at the University of Connecticut and serves as the Chief Research Editor at the Organizational Communication Research Center of the Institute for Public Relations. Yue's research interests encompass internal public relations, leadership communication, organizational change management, corporate social responsibility, and relationship management. She has been honored with more than 10 top paper awards from ICA, NCA, AEJMC, IPRRC, and PRSA.
