Ganga Dhanesh

Dr Dhanesh’s prior experience in corporate and non-profit sectors has informed her extensive research program on corporate social responsibility (CSR) and strategic communication across issues, publics, cultures, and geographies. Her work has appeared in books and journals including Business Horizons, Journal of International Management, Management Communication Quarterly, Journal of Communication Management, Journal of Public Relations Research, and Public Relations Review. A recent bibliometric analysis placed her among the top two most productive scholars on CSR within public relations research. She has won multiple research awards including the Bob Heath Top Paper Award at the annual conference of the International Communication Association, 2012 and the Best Paper award at the annual congress of the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA), 2021. She will deliver a keynote speech at the annual congress of the EUPRERA, 2023.

Dr Dhanesh serves as Associate Editor for the Journal of Communication Management and is on the editorial board of Business Horizons and Public Relations Journal. Bridging academia and practice, Dr. Dhanesh actively consults for national and multinational organizations on strategic communication. She was the founding university lead for the partnership between Zayed University and the Unstereotype Alliance UAE chapter, convened by UN Women, and her research has helped to inform the creation of gender stereotyping guidelines for the advertising industry in the United Arab Emirates. Dr. Dhanesh was also a lead researcher for the first Global Capabilities Framework study in the Middle East. She is a regular speaker at industry events and contributor of thought pieces on CSR and strategic communication. Her work has appeared in outlets of The Institute for Public Relations, EUPRERA, and Dubai Chamber of Commerce.

Prior to her Maryland stint, she was Assistant Professor at the Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore, and Associate Professor and Associate Dean at the College of Communication and Media Sciences, Zayed University, UAE.