Dr Valentina Baú is Co-Director of Western Sydney University (WSU) Humanitarian and Development Research Initiative (HADRI), Associate Research Fellow UNESCO Chair, Cultural Diversity and Social Justice at Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, and an affiliate of Monash Global Peace and Security Centre at Monash University. Her work focuses on the use of development communication in peacebuilding and humanitarian contexts, and she has published extensively on both academic and industry platforms.

She holds a PhD in International Communication from Macquarie University (Australia), a MSc in Communication for Development from the University of Reading (UK), and a MA in Public Relations from Bournemouth University (UK).

Valentina has worked in different African countries, Asia and the Middle East, and collaborated with international development and humanitarian agencies including UNICEF, UNDP, UNHCR, Search for Common Ground, Mercy Corps, FilmAid and the Italian Development Cooperation. She was a Visiting Fellow at the Migration Policy Centre of Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Study, European University Institute (EUI), Italy; and a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight, Italy.

Her work has received funding from the Australia Research Council (ARC) and the International Peace Research Association (IPRA) Foundation. At present, she is the recipient of an ARC Fellowship for her project on Development Communication, Media and Peace in Protracted Displacement, looking at the use of development and humanitarian communication with young people living in Kakuma and Zaatari refugee camps.  

Her experience involves the implementation of both research and media projects with victims and perpetrators of conflict, displaced communities, and people living in extreme poverty. More details about her work and publications can be found here.