Gary Dickson was appointed the Head of Research in May 2023, after first joining PIJI in August 2019.

He is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Media Transition, University of Technology Sydney and lectures in media law and ethics at Monash University. Prior to PIJI he has worked at the Melbourne Social Equity Institute and the Centre for Advancing Journalism, University of Melbourne, and the Post Conflict Research Center in Sarajevo, Bosnia & Herzegovina.

As a freelance writer and researcher he has developed a curriculum for teaching journalism students about family violence for Our Watch, contributed to projects for Index on Censorship and the International Federation of Journalists, and written for Nieman Reports, Inside Story and Right Now.

He holds a Master of Journalism from the University of Melbourne.