Rate My Professor Fiona Suwana

Dr. Fiona Suwana is a Lecturer in Communication at the School of Communication, Media and Journalism, College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities, Adelaide University. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the Digital Media Research Centre, School of Communication, Queensland University of Technology; a Master of Science in Communication Science from Universitas Indonesia; and a Bachelor of Arts (Honors) in Communication Studies (Mass Communication) from London School of Public Relations, Jakarta. Her career includes roles as Communication and Media Lecturer and Researcher at UniSA Creative. She designed and led short course programs such as 'Democratic Resilience: Youth Participation in Indonesia's Democracy' (2021-2022) and 'Democratic Resilience - Digital and Media Literacy' (2019-2020), developed by Queensland University of Technology in partnership with DFAT Australia Awards Indonesia.

Dr. Suwana's research centers on digital activism, digital media, digital media literacy, social and political movements, democracy, and young people's civic engagement and political participation in support of democratic practices. She contributes to projects including 'Civil Society and Counter-Disinformation in South East Asia and East Asia' with Dr. Damien Spry and Dr. Malcolm Cook, and 'The 2019 Indonesian Election and Memetic Warfare on WhatsApp' with Dr. Ariadna Matamoros Fernandez and Associate Professor Emma Baulch. Key publications include the book 'Social Media in Society' (2024, Palgrave Macmillan, co-authored with Jonathon Hutchinson and Cameron McTernan); journal articles 'KPK and Taliban: cyber troops and the social media influence operation to weaken Indonesia's anti-corruption body' (2025, Indonesia); 'Memetic persuasion and WhatsAppification in Indonesia's 2019 presidential election' (2024, New Media & Society); 'What motivates digital activism? The case of the Save KPK movement in Indonesia' (2022, Information, Communication & Society, 126 citations); 'Content, changers, community and collaboration: expanding digital media literacy initiatives' (2021, Media Practice and Education); 'Empowering Indonesian women through building digital media literacy' (2017, Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences, 254 citations); and the book chapter 'Digital Activism in Bali: The For BALI Movement' (2020, Springer). She teaches courses such as Communication and Media, Public Relations Theory and Practice, Managing Digital Design, and Social Media Management, and is available for media comment.