Jairo Lugo-Ocando, PhD is Professor and the Dean of the College of Communication at the University of Sharjah. Previously he was the Director (Assistant Dean) for Graduate Studies and Executive Education at Northwetsern University in Qatar and Deputy Head of the School of Media and Communication at the University of Leads in the United Kingdom. He has received over US$ 1.1 million in external research grants funding from the United Kingdom's Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), Qatar National Research Fund, the Leverhulme Trust and the Carnegie Trust for the Universities in Scotland, among other institutions. Additionally, he was recipient of the Theodore C. Sorensen Fellowship from the John F. Kennedy Library and was a visiting fellow at the National University of Singapore. His books include Science Journalism in the Arab World (2023), The News Media in Puerto Rico. Journalism in Colonial Settings and in Times of Crises (Routledge, 2020), Media & Governance in Latin America. Towards a Plurality of Voices' (Peter Lang, 2020) and Foreign Aid and Journalism in the Global South. A Mouthpiece for Truth (Lexington Books, 2020).Before becoming an academic, he worked as a journalist, correspondent and news editor for several media outlets.