Melanie James

Melanie James

Lecturer in Communication; consultant

Sydney Area, Australia

Current
Past
  • NSW Communication Manager at Australian Red Cross Blood Service
Education
  • University of Newcastle
  • University of Newcastle
  • University of Technology, Sydney
  • University of Technology, Sydney
  • Teaching Hospitals of Uni of New South Wales (Prince of Wales, Prince Henry Hospital)
  • Our Lady of Mercy College
  • Our Lady of Mercy College
Connections
25 connections
Industry
Public Relations and Communications

Melanie James’s Experience

  • Lecturer

    University of Newcastle

    (Educational Institution; Higher Education industry)

    November 2006Present (3 years 1 month)

    I am a lecturer in communication in the School of Design, Communication, and Information Technology, at the University of Newcastle, Australia, where I specialise in public relations education and research. I am currently enrolled in a PhD program at the University of Newcastle.

  • Communications Consultant

    Melanie James Consulting

    (Public Relations and Communications industry)

    November 2005Present (4 years 1 month)

    Selected communications and public relations consultancy work. Past clients include Australian Greenhouse Office (climate change), Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006 Census), Australian Bus and Coach Confederation (EMS), Australian Yachting Association, Wine Country Tourism - Hunter Valley.

  • Marketing Communications Manager

    Newcastle Permanent Building Society

    (Privately Held; 501-1000 employees; Banking industry)

    October 2003November 2005 (2 years 2 months)

    • Effectively managed a team of three staff including new communications graduates and a mid-career practitioner – I was ranked in the top 10 percent performance band for two years running.
    • Established this new hands-on organisational role - all my area of responsibility’s objectives were met or exceeded – on time and within budget.
    • Applied my excellent research and analysis skills to the communications role – this enabled me to develop the briefing requirements for external suppliers in areas such as website development, media planning, market research, advertising and public relations.

  • Director - Communications

    Australian Greenhouse Office (now known as Dept of Climate Change)

    (Government Administration industry)

    20022003 (1 year )

    I managed a team of twelve people and held management responsibility for all national and international media, community and corporate sponsorships, publications, Internet sites and projects, product and program promotion, events, stakeholder relations and issues management, and delivered outstanding results in all areas.
    I drafted speeches and press releases on energy and climate change issues for the Minister for the Environment, the Minister for Industry and executive departmental staff.
    I worked closely with the project teams in area of coal-fired power including Coal 21 initiative and geo-sequestration issues, renewable energy, household energy efficiency and greenhouse science.

  • Director- Census Communications

    Australian Bureau of Statistics

    (Government Agency; 1001-5000 employees; Government Administration industry)

    19992002 (3 years )

  • NSW Communication Manager

    Australian Red Cross Blood Service

    (Health, Wellness and Fitness industry)

    19981999 (1 year )

    I managed organ donation information and communications for NSW/ACT and provided national communications consultancy services for interstate agencies.


Melanie James’s Education

  • University of Newcastle

    PhD , Communication and media , 20072012 (expected)

    Currently enrolled in doctoral program

  • University of Newcastle

    Grad. Cert in the Practice of Tertiary Teaching , tertiary education , 20072008

  • University of Technology, Sydney

    Master of Arts in Journalism (UTS, Australia) , Media and Journalism , 19971998

    Awards:
    97/8 Australian Post-graduate Award with Stipend for MA in Journalism.
    1997 University of Technology, Sydney Journalism Awards – Winner Best Feature Article and Highly Commended Website Design and Development
    1997 Australian Journalism Education Association National Award for Feature Writing.

  • University of Technology, Sydney

    BA (Hons) Communication , Social and Political Studies, Textual Studies, Writing , 19881992

  • Teaching Hospitals of Uni of New South Wales (Prince of Wales, Prince Henry Hospital)

    Certificate in General Nursing , nursing , 19791982

  • Our Lady of Mercy College

    19741977

  • Our Lady of Mercy College

    19741977


Additional Information

Melanie James’s Groups:

Member of the Public Relations Institute of Australia
Member of the Professional Communicators Network

Melanie James’s Honors:

Stream Coordinators commendation for a refereed paper in the public relations stream of the Australia New Zealand Communication Association 2008 Conference,NZ; Australian Marketing Institute Government Campaign Award – National Finalist 2002; National Golden Target Award 2001; State PRIA Award for Excellence in Public Relations Marketing Communications Category 2001; State PRIA Award for Excellence in Public Relations Multimedia Communications Category 2001; Award for an outstanding communications program for the 2001 Census - Australian Bureau of Statistics 2001; Australian Teachers of Multimedia Award: best schools resource for A Tale of Two Worlds Interactive CD-ROM- 2001 Australian Post-graduate Award MA in Journalism 1997-8; UTS, Sydney Journalism Awards – Winner Best Feature Article and Highly Commended Website Design and Development 1997; Australian Journalism Education Association National Award for Feature Writing. 1997; The Australian/Vogel Literary Award – finalist 1996.


Melanie James’s Contact Settings

Interested In:

  • consulting offers
  • new ventures
  • job inquiries
  • expertise requests

Public profile powered by: LinkedIn

Create a public profile: Sign In or Join Now

View Melanie James’s full profile:

  • See who you and Melanie James know in common
  • Get introduced to Melanie James
  • Contact Melanie James directly

View Full Profile