Justin O’Connor
From 2012-2018 Justin O’Connor was Professor of Communications and Cultural Economy at Monash University, Melbourne. In that same period, he was part of the UNESCO ‘Expert Facility’, supporting the ‘2005 Convention on the Protection and Promotion of Cultural Diversity’. Justin has produced creative industry policy reports for the Australia Federal Government and the Tasmanian State Government, and recently for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DEFAT) on ‘Creative Industries and Soft Power’. Previously, he helped set up Manchester’s Creative Industries Development Service (CIDS) and Forum on Creative Industries (FOCI). He has advised cities in Europe, Russia, Korea and China. Under the UNESCO/EU Technical Assistance Programme he has worked with the Ministries of Culture in both Mauritius and Samoa to develop cultural industry strategies.