ACICIS is delighted to announce that Jewel Topsfield will serve as the Academic Program Officer (APO) for the consortium’s 2019 Journalism Professional Practicum (JPP).
Jewel is the national correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. She was the Indonesia correspondent for Fairfax Media from 2015 to 2018. In 2016, Jewel won the prestigious Lowy Institute Media Award, which recognises journalists who have deepened and enriched the discussion of global issues in Australia. She also led the team that won a Walkley Award for its reportage on claims Australian officials paid people smugglers to return a boat of asylum seekers to Indonesia. Prior to being appointed the Indonesian correspondent in 2015, Jewel was the education editor for The Age. She was also the deputy editor of Fairfax’s online opinion site when it launched in 2009 and spent three years in the Canberra Press Gallery covering federal politics, immigration and education.
The ACICIS Journalism Professional Practicum offers Australian journalism students the opportunity to collaborate with Indonesian peers and media professionals, and allows them to gain valuable professional experience working within Indonesia’s vibrant media industry. Students undertake a two week academic program which includes intensive Indonesian language classes and industry seminars, followed by a supervised industry placement at an Indonesian or international media organisation.
An Academic Program Officer is assigned to each of ACICIS’ professional practicum programs to oversee all aspects of program delivery, including the supervision of its academic content and assessment of student performance. The APO and ACICIS Resident Director oversee application vetting, participant selection, and work placement allocation. During the program in Indonesia, the APO meets regularly with a student’s Host Organisation placement supervisor – and with the student themselves – to provide mentorship, to ensure that a student is getting the most out of their placement, and to assess the student’s performance. The APO provides students with advice on academic and industry-specific matters, and offers pastoral care and emergency assistance where necessary. The APO also plays a key role in curating and delivering the series of industry seminars that students undertake in the first two weeks of their program.
ACICIS is delighted to welcome Jewel as the supervising academic for the 2019 JPP. Participating students will be extremely well served by Jewel’s extensive experience as a working journalist, both in Indonesia and Australia, as well as her passion for cultivating greater understanding between Australia and Indonesia.
Jewel remains the national correspondent for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. She will be joining the ACICIS team up in Indonesia – on a sessional basis – for the duration of the six-week JPP program. The program will run from early January to mid-February 2019 – during the Australian university summer vacation period.
