Damien Spry

Dr Damien Spry is a Lecturer in Media and Communications at the University of South Australia. His scholarly research focusses on social media impacts on politics and diplomacy. He is a regular contributor to think tanks, including the Lowy Institute and the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, and has consulted for several multinational companies and NGOs, including Google, Facebook and Amnesty International, as well as to several governments.

Damien’s digital diplomacy research examined 144 Facebook pages operated by embassies and consulates in 22 locations over three years. This research has been presented to diplomats in Seoul, Taipei, Hong Kong, Tokyo, and Canberra; published in several think tank reports and in scholarly journals.

He has developed a Facebooking diplomacy database and is currently developing Twitter and Instagram diplomacy databases.

He received his doctorate from the University of Sydney, his thesis examined to use of mobile phones by children and young people from Australia and Japan. He subsequently worked on a number of research projects based on the uses of digital media by young people.

He’s been a public relations manager, radio presenter, cultural commentator, human rights campaigner, travel writer, script editor, social media marketer, intercultural communications trainer and a body double for a major motion picture. He’s lived and worked in Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan, Egypt, the United Kingdom and the United States of America.