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Peter Greste joins University Queensland as UNESCO chair of journalism and communication

Foreign correspondent Peter Greste, who spent 400 days jailed in Egypt on trumped up terror charges, has joined the University of Queensland School of Communications and Arts as the UNESCO chair of journalism and communication.

Along with Al Jazeera, his employer at the time of his arrest, Greste has worked for the BBC, CNN and Reuters reporting from locations that have included Afghanistan, Belgrade, Mexico and Kenya.

Greste will commence his new role in February

Greste’s new role will include teaching, research and engagement activities and campaigning on key issues in the media.

Professor Peter Høj, the vice-chancellor and president, said the appointment highlights the university’s commitment to journalism.

“Charged with threatening national security and held in solitary confinement and detention for 400 days, Mr Greste himself became a victim of the ever-present dangers to journalists seeking to establish and report facts.

“By bringing a leading practitioner into the classroom as an advocate for the fundamental principles of free speech and a free press, we are helping prepare students to work with passion and integrity in a rapidly changing media landscape.

“We are delighted that Mr Greste has accepted this role and we believe his experience working as a foreign correspondent for several global media outlets will provide our journalism and communication students with many wonderful new opportunities.”

Greste said he is looking forward to sharing his knowledge and experience with the next generation of journalists.

“With the University’s incredible research capacity, and the platform that the UNESCO Chair of Journalism and Communication gives me, I am also looking forward to using those resources to help shape the future of an industry that is so vital to a functioning democracy.”

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