DrThaera O'Brien

Dr. Thaera O’Brien is a Teaching Fellow in the School of Communication and Creative Arts at Deakin University, Australia. With over 17 years of cross-cultural teaching experience across institutions in Malaysia, New Zealand, and Australia, she brings a distinctly international perspective to her teaching practice. She holds a PhD in Communication from the University of Otago, New Zealand, and a Master’s in Communication from the University of Leicester, UK.

Thaera teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate levels, with expertise spanning public relations, journalism, digital media, and social media strategy. She has designed five original undergraduate teaching modules, demonstrating a sustained commitment to curriculum innovation and student-centred pedagogy. Her teaching draws on both scholarly depth and direct industry experience, giving students a grounded, applied understanding of contemporary communication practice. Her contributions to teaching excellence have been recognised with the Award for Outstanding Performance at Taylor’s University, Malaysia, and most recently the 2025 Engagement and Partnership Excellence Award from Deakin University — a recognition of her outstanding community partnership within the broader learning environment.

Her teaching is enriched by a strong practitioner background. Prior to academia, Thaera held roles at globally recognised public relations firms, including Edelman Public Relations, where she managed high-profile international brand accounts. This industry experience gives her teaching an applied edge and positions her as a genuine scholar-practitioner, connecting classroom learning to real-world communication strategy and professional practice.

As a researcher, Thaera’s scholarship sits at the intersection of media studies, gender, and digital communication, with a particular focus on online news narratives and the representation of Muslim women in Southeast Asian media. Her doctoral thesis, Women and Islam in Malaysia: Narrative and Myth in the Qualitative Analysis of Two Controversial Online News Stories between 2014 and 2018, was recognised for its originality and its contribution to qualitative media research in the Southeast Asian context. She is a member of the Asian Media, Culture and Society Research Group (AMCS) at Deakin University.

Thaera is currently leading a comparative study on gender-based violence across online news outlets and social media platforms in Malaysia, funded through Malaysia’s Fundamental Research Grant Scheme (FRGS). Her work spans book chapters and conference proceedings, with contributions to the Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal, on whose editorial panel she has served.

Thaera contributes actively to her scholarly and professional communities. She co-organised the international symposium “Transformation of News Media in Digital Asia: Social and Political Impacts 2025” at Deakin Downtown, Melbourne, and is an active member of the Communication & Public Relations Australia Education Community Committee (CPRA), contributing to Public Relations education initiatives.

Research Groups
Asian Media, Culture and Society Research Group (AMCS), Deakin University