Monash University and the Constructive Institute are opening a hub in Asia and the Pacific

The Constructive Institute Asia Pacific Hub will be located at the Faculty of Arts at Monash University in Melbourne, Australia. The hub will open in September 2025 with Director Kate Torney in the lead.

In the past two months Director of the Constructive Institute Asia Pacific, Kate Torney, has been joining the team at the Constructive Institute in Aarhus in order to see how constructive journalism is taught and applied at the institute in Denmark. Now she is heading back to Australia to start implementing the learnings at Monash University.

“I can’t wait to get back to Monash and to start applying some of the learnings that I have had here and to work with all of our students, researchers and the media industry to expand what Ulrik Haagerup and the Constructive Institute have been able to achieve,” she says.

Building upon the teachings of the Constructive Institute Kate Torney will – together with teams at Monash University in Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and other parts of Asia and the Pacific – investigate how constructive journalism can be applied in the different regions.

“The constructive approach to journalism spreads rapidly around the world as a reaction to mistrust, news avoidance and growing polarization. With the partnership with CI Asia Pacific Hub at Monash University news media in Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and New Zealand get access to a needed constructive mindset and impactful toolbox which can help journalism better serve people and l in a time where facts, truth and trust are scarce resources“.

Ulrik Haagerup, Founder and CEO of Constructive Institute

The Constructive Institute was founded in 2017 as an independent center at the heart of the global constructive journalism movement. From the beginning the mission has been to help journalism help democracy and to change the global news culture.

“The constructive approach to journalism spreads rapidly around the world as a reaction to mistrust, news avoidance and growing polarization. With the partnership with CI Asia Pacific Hub at Monash University news media in Australia, Malaysia, Indonesia and New Zealand get access to a needed constructive mindset and impactful toolbox which can help journalism better serve people and l in a time where facts, truth and trust are scarce resources,” says founder and CEO of Constructive Institute, Ulrik Haagerup.

With the launch of the Constructive Institute Asia Pacific, Kate Torney and the team at Monash University will expand the ideas of constructive journalism even further with their mission to help students, researchers and newsrooms in Asia and the Pacific undertake a more constructive approach to journalism.

The Constructive Institute Asia Pacific Hub will open by the end of September 2025. The launch will be marked with the 5th Global Constructive Journalism Conference being held in Kuala Lumpur in partnership with the Constructive Institute and the Constructive Institute Asia Pacific.

Contact Director of the Constructive Institute Asia Pacific Hub, Kate Torney, for more information:

Kate Torney

Contact

M: kate.torney@monash.edu

BIO

Kate Torney OAM is Director of the Constructive Institute Asia Pacific in the Faculty of Arts at Monash University. She is also a Professor of Practice in the School of Media, Film and Journalism, where she spearheads Monash University’s ambition to help transform and enhance journalism through a constructive approach to news reporting.
Kate currently serves as Chair of The Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas, and sits on the boards of The Policy Institute of Australia and The Conversation.

BACKGROUND

Kate is a seasoned journalist with 25 years of experience at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), including six years as News Director, leading a team of 1,500 reporters and production staff across Australia and internationally. As the ABC’s first female news director, she oversaw a major review that successfully reoriented the organization towards digital platforms, launching the ABC News Channel and expanding digital services.

After her time at the ABC, Kate was Chief Executive of the State Library of Victoria, where she led an $88 million redevelopment project to reimagine services and heritage spaces, transforming it into one of the most visited libraries in the world.
Most recently, she served as CEO of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Foundation, supporting world-leading cancer research.