Dr. Nipunika Shahid is an accomplished media academic, broadcast journalist, researcher, and communication strategist with over twenty-six years of distinguished professional experience across journalism, broadcasting, higher education, research, digital learning, and academic leadership. Her career uniquely bridges professional media practice and scholarly inquiry, bringing together newsroom expertise, interdisciplinary research, curriculum innovation, institutional leadership, and experiential pedagogy.

She holds a Ph.D. in Mass Communication, with doctoral research examining ethical journalistic practices in political reporting on Hindi television news. Her scholarship explores the intersections of journalism, media ethics, artificial intelligence, political communication, digital journalism, communication for development, media innovation, and public communication, with growing emphasis on climate and sustainability communication, media literacy, gender studies, digital transformation, and South Asian media ecosystems.

Before joining South Asian University, Dr. Shahid served at CHRIST (Deemed to be University) and Amity University, where she held several leadership positions, including Head of the Media Innovation Centre (MIC), Programme Leader, Stream Coordinator, and SWAYAM Course Coordinator. She has led initiatives in curriculum design, digital education, faculty mentoring, quality assurance, media innovation, and industry-academia collaboration. She also coordinated SWAYAM courses under the Ministry of Education, Government of India, developed e-content for national educational platforms, and established partnerships that strengthened experiential learning and media education.

Prior to her academic career, Dr. Shahid established herself as a broadcast journalist and media professional with leading organisations including All India Radio (Akashvani), Hindustan Times, Zee News, ANI, ETV News, and Sahara Samay. She continues to serve as an English News Reader with All India Radio and has contributed extensively as a voice artist, narrator, moderator, anchor, trainer, and communication consultant for government ministries, educational institutions, development organisations, and public outreach initiatives.

Her teaching integrates theoretical perspectives with professional practice across Broadcast Journalism, Television and Radio Production, Digital Journalism, Media Ethics, Communication Research, Multimedia Storytelling, Design and Layout, Political Communication, Public Communication, and Communication for Development. She is particularly interested in preparing future media professionals through ethical journalism, innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration, creative thinking, and technology-enabled learning.

Dr. Shahid has authored the book Online Journalism, published research in Scopus-indexed and UGC CARE-listed journals, contributed book chapters, presented papers at national and international conferences, and served as a reviewer for academic publications. She is also the holder of an International Patent and a Registered Design in media innovation, reflecting her commitment to research, creativity, and technological advancement.

Beyond teaching and research, Dr. Shahid has organised numerous international conferences, media conclaves, faculty development programmes, workshops, student media festivals, industry visits, and innovation initiatives. Her academic philosophy is rooted in ethical leadership, creativity, critical inquiry, innovation, and social responsibility, fostering meaningful partnerships between academia, industry, government, and civil society while preparing future media professionals to address the communication challenges of an increasingly interconnected and technology-driven world.

Academic Leadership & Professional Engagement

Dr. Shahid has held several leadership positions throughout her academic career, contributing significantly to institutional development, curriculum innovation, digital education, quality assurance, faculty mentoring, and industry-academia collaboration.

As Head of the Media Innovation Centre (MIC) at CHRIST (Deemed to be University), she conceptualised and led initiatives promoting innovation in journalism and media education through industry partnerships, workshops, media conclaves, student festivals, research initiatives, and experiential learning programmes. She coordinated SWAYAM courses under the Ministry of Education, developed digital learning content for national educational platforms, and played an active role in programme development and curriculum design.

She has served as Programme Leader, Stream Coordinator, Board of Studies Member, External Examiner, Curriculum Designer, Academic Reviewer, conference chair, keynote speaker, workshop facilitator, and mentor. She has organised and moderated numerous national and international conferences, faculty development programmes, media festivals, and public engagement initiatives, strengthening collaboration between academia, industry, government, and civil society.