Who's Involved?

Expert Guide was developed in 2004 by communicator Margaret Lawson, who wanted to create a resource to promote expertise and make life easier for journalists. Margaret’s interest in expert commentary was sparked during years spent working in media relations at a large Australian university, where she was responsible for helping promote academic expertise to the media.

Margaret has completed postgraduate studies in journalism, published academic research in computer-assisted reporting, and worked with newspapers in both Australia and the United States. She also works privately as a corporate communications manager, and in 2006 her work with Ergon Energy received both state and national commendations from Australia’s peak public relations body, the Public Relations Institute of Australia.

In her spare time, Margaret is a volunteer on RSPCA Queensland’s fundraising executive committee and continues to work to improve and promote Expert Guide.

Several professional staff also contribute to Expert Guide, including the team at Datasearch. Datasearch keeps Expert Guide’s database functioning smoothly, and manages the site’s programming, technical troubleshooting, and design. Datasearch also designs customised systems to enable organisations to run their own expertise guides from Expert Guide’s database.

Many organisations are involved in contributing experts to Expert Guide, and you can see their names and contact details on our PR Contact List.

You can contact Margaret or the Expert Guide team through our Contact Us page.