Bill Kellogg Lecture: Information as a Battleground: Media Freedom, Digital Rights, and the Future of Aid

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• More details about Susan Abbott

  Susan Abbott

  Assistant Teaching Professor Susan Abbott's work explores the relationships among media, democracy, technology, and international development. For more than 20 years, she has worked with governments, multilateral organizations, foundations, universities, civil society organizations, and independent media to strengthen public interest media, democratic governance, and resilient information ecosystems. Her international experience spans Africa, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Latin America, including extensive work in fragile and conflict-affected settings. This practice informs her research, which examines how media and information systems can better serve the public interest during periods of political, technological, and social transformation. Her current research focuses on public interest media, media sustainability, information integrity, artificial intelligence and democracy, digital governance, and the future of media development. She is particularly interested in how emerging technologies are reshaping media systems, democratic institutions, and civic participation, and how research and evaluation can generate evidence that supports more effective policy and practice. Drawing on more than two decades of applied research, Susan has designed and led evaluations, media landscape assessments, contribution analyses, political economy analyses, and organizational learning initiatives for bilateral and multilateral donors, United Nations agencies, foundations, and international NGOs. Her methodological interests include qualitative and mixed-methods research, theory-based evaluation, organizational learning, and the use of evidence to support adaptive management and institutional decision-making. Before joining the University of Colorado Boulder, Susan held research and leadership positions at the Center for Global Communication Studies at the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg School for Communication and the Center for Media and Communication Studies at Central European University in Budapest. These experiences helped shape her long-standing interests in media systems, democratization, communication policy, and the role of media in democratic societies. At the University of Colorado Boulder, Susan teaches courses on media, technology, politics, globalization, and digital culture. Her teaching connects theory with practice, encouraging students to critically examine how communication, technology, and public policy intersect in an increasingly interconnected world. Susan holds a PhD in Communication from the University of Westminster in London, where her doctoral research explored the changing role of international donors in supporting independent media and democratic governance since the end of the Cold War. She also holds a master's degree in political science from Central European University in Budapest and a bachelor's degree from American University in Washington, DC.