Current committee, as of June 2025
Shahira S. FAHMY
Chair (2025-27)
Shahira S. Fahmy (PhD, Missouri School of Journalism) is an award-winning international Fulbright scholar and a Full Professor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication at the American University in Cairo. She is affiliated with the University of Arizona, where she served as a tenured faculty for more than a decade. She was ranked the top social scientist in journalism and media in the Arab League and Africa — according to the AD Scientific Index 2023. Her research focuses on visual communication and peace journalism, most recently analyzing how emerging technologies are transforming the relationship between media and terrorism in society. She has published over 100 refereed journal articles and book chapters, in addition to four books. Moreover, Shahira has won several international research awards, including the National Communication Association (NCA) book award. She has given several keynote speeches and her global engagements include professional visits to more than 30 countries. She received two Fulbright awards to work with the NATO Strategic Communication Center of Excellence in the Baltics and the United Nations in Africa. She edited multiple journal special issues and for more than a decade she served as the associate editor of the Journal of Communication and Mass Communication & Society. In 2024, Shahira received the accolade of being inducted as ICA Fellow for her years of exemplary service to the association.
📬 email: shahira.fahmy@aucegypt.edu
T.J. THOMSON
Vice-Chair (2025-27)
T.J. Thomson (PhD in Visual Journalism, University of Missouri-ColumbiaUniversity of Missouri-Columbia) is a senior lecturer at RMIT and an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow. His research is united by its focus on visual communication. A majority of T.J.’s research centres on the visual aspects of news and journalism and on the concerns and processes relevant to those who make, edit, and present visual news. He has broader interests in digital media, journalism studies, and visual culture and often focuses on under-represented identities, attributes, and environments in his research. T.J. is committed to not only studying visual communication phenomena but also working to increase the visibility, innovation, and quality of how research findings are presented, accessed, and understood. T.J. is actively involved nationally and internationally in a number of Associations and initiatives that contribute to the interdisciplinary visual communication field. These include serving on the editorial board of the journal Visual Communication Quarterly and acting as one of its associate editors (from 2017—present), serving on the editorial board of Communication Research and Practice, and serving as an officer in a number of national and international journalism and communication associations, including the Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia, the National Communication Association, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and the International Communication Association.
📬 email: t.j.thomson@rmit.edu.au
Kristian Jeff AGUSTIN
Secretary (2024-26)
Kristian Agustin (PhD in Art & Design, Manchester Metropolitan University) teaches at De La Salle University, Manila, and specializes in visual culture, socially engaged practice, and visual methods of research. His PhD degree was awarded in 2023, and his thesis earned him the Visual Communication Top Dissertation Award of the International Communication Association (ICA) in 2024. His affiliations include the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR), and he is a member of IAMCR’s Participatory Communication Research Section (PCR), Emerging Scholars Network (ESN), and Visual Culture Working Group (VIC). In the last ten years, he has actively presented in international conferences held in various countries across the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, and North America. Engaging in inter-governmental and public communications work, Kristian previously worked at The Asia-Europe Foundation (ASEF) in Singapore and at the Supreme Court of the Philippines. Kristian also consulted for The Asia Foundation, Japan Foundation Asia Center, the UN and UNDP Philippines — producing visual identity, publications, and video and multimedia work. He had been creatively involved in indie films and docus produced for CinemaOne Originals, Cinemalaya, and CineManila, as well as in exhibitions at the UP Vargas Museum, Yuchengco Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Manila, and GSIS Museo ng Sining. He previously taught advertising and art history courses at the University of Santo Tomas College of Fine Arts & Design.
📬 email: kristian.agustin@dlsu.edu.ph
Ashley STEWART
International Liaison (2024-26)
Ashley Stewart is an academic, visual artist and social entrepreneur. She is a lecturer in Design Management at the Department of Fine Arts and Design, University of Port Harcourt. Her educational background includes a Master of Arts in Graphics from the University of Port Harcourt and a Master of Science in International Management from Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. She also holds a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Arts & Design (Graphics) from the University of Port Harcourt. Over the course of her academic career, Ashley has taught valuable entrepreneurial skills to numerous students who are successful business owners. She is passionate about harnessing creativity for self-reliance, social change and equality. Ashley is a fellow of Global Arts in Medicine Fellowship GAIMF and currently serves as the Alumni Coordinator for the GAIMF Alumni West Africa Region. She has numerous publications, exhibitions and awards under her belt such as Finalist, StudyUK Alumni Awards for Culture and Creativity and Design Management Institute Student Essay Winner. Beyond her academic career, she serves as a Board Member and Webmaster for the Arts Council of the African Studies Association (ACASA), and Alumni Ambassador for Loughborough University, UK. She also previously served as the Vice Chairman of the Society of Nigerian Artists, River State Chapter, and as Coordinator for the West Africa Region Alumni of the Arts in Medicine Fellowship.
📬 email: ashley.stewart@uniport.edu.ng
Nataliia LABA
Student and Early Career Representative
(2024-26)
Nataliia Laba (PhD in Media Studies, University of New South Wales, Sydney) is an Assistant Professor in Digital and Multimodal Communication / Humane AI at the University of Groningen. Nataliia’s current research focuses on multimodal generative artificial intelligence and works at the intersection of critical data studies, discourse studies, and techno-ethics. Her research projects address human-machine agency and a range of representational issues in the context of generative AI adoption and use. These include (mis-)representations in AI-generated images of war, sociotechnical imaginaries of multiagent networks, attitudinal stance-taking of chatbots agents, effects of prompt modifiers on AI video generation, and the impact of visual generative media on the creative economy, professional designers, and artists. In her role as a Student and Early Career Representative for the Division, Nataliia has initiated offline and online networking events for VCSD members and is one of the organizers of the 2025 preconference Visual Communication in Times of Social Change.
📬 email: n.laba@rug.nl
ICA Visual Communication Studies 