School of Information and Communication Studies
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PhD Dr Waseem Afzal is a senior lecturer in the School of Information and Communication Studies at Charles Sturt University. Waseem earned his PhD in Information Science and MBA from Emporia State University, USA. His research focuses on understanding (1) information behaviour, (2) the relationship between information and violent extremism, and (3) the impact of information on emotions, feelings and behaviour. Waseem teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and also supervises doctoral students. He has extensively taught subjects covering areas of management of information organizations, leadership, research methods, web usability, and knowledge management. Waseem’s research has been funded through competitive internal and external grants amounting to well over $77,900. He co-chaired the program committee of recent RAILS Conference (2025), chaired the ALISE programming committee (2023-2024), and co-organized the ASIS&T SIG USE 2019 Symposium. He is the recipient of the Faculty of Arts and Education Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award (2025), the Elfreda Chatman Research Award (2013) as well as of the International Academy of Business & Public Administration Disciplines Research Award (2007). His research has been covered by various national and local public media outlets including The Australian Newspaper, Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Regional, Win News Riverina, and Prime7 News. My research is concerned with understanding the role of information in three contexts: (1) impact of information on cognition, emotions, feelings, and behaviour, (2) relationship of information with violent extremism, and (3) information behaviour. My research is situated in the broad area of ‘Information Behaviour’ having links with the disciplines of Psychology, Education, Computer Science, and Economics. My recent research projects involve examination of the role that information skewness plays in shaping extremist content; analysis and specification of the concept of information need; exploration of properties of information and their role in shaping an information flow; and assessment of the economic value of public library’s children services. My teaching philosophy is to provide authentic learning experience to my students. To this end, I create authentic learning tasks and engaging learning environment supported by relevant technologies. I do provide scaffolding enabling students to develop deep understanding and ability to apply their learning in varied professional settings. My current teaching approach demonstrates excellence in curriculum development, innovation in approaches to assessment, continuous learning and improvement in subject delivery, and an unwavering commitment to helping my students learn and gain knowledge. The quality of my teaching has been recognised by (1) internal awards, (2) consistent above-average student evaluation scores, (3) students in their unsolicited e-mails and comments, and (4) through triangulated assessment of my teaching. I was awarded the Faculty of Arts and Education Dean’s Teaching Excellence Award in 2025. I was honoured to be included in the CSU School of Information and Communication Studies Teaching Hall of Fame in 2016 and 2017 for excellence in teaching, as determined by student evaluations. I do take higher degree by research students in the areas of information behaviour, information flow in social media, and economics of information. Currently I am co-supervising the following PhD students: In 2022, my post-graduate student Annette Goodwin completed her research thesis The role of librarians in information literacy instruction and student learning and development: Perceptions of Australian regional university librarians I have been invited nationally and internationally for review of PhD theses. I have also served on several Charles Sturt University Examination Committees to evaluate the reports of external reviewers and response to these reports by PhD candidates. Owing to my methodological expertise I have also been invited by supervisory panels from disciplines other than information science to provide advice. For example, I have provided advice on the appropriateness of multivariate methods, instrument development procedures, sampling in quantitative and qualitative studies. Service to Profession Professional Associations Service to University 2025 2020 2019 2018 2016 2015 2013 2011
Teaching and Research Staff3793223
Dr Waseem Afzal
Senior Lecturer in Information Studies
Wagga Wagga
Building 5, Room 213