Roberta Muchangwe is a Lecturer in Media Studies and Journalism in the Department of Media and Communication Studies, and coordinates the Bachelor of Public Relations and Advertising programme. She teaches writing and presentation skills, advertising principles and practice, and basic news writing and reporting.
Her research centres on how the media covers health, particularly adolescent sexual and reproductive health, alongside questions of gender in advertising and journalism, media effects and representations, and public relations. Her recent work examines how Zambian lecturers navigated the shift to online instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how and why Zambians use social media platforms.
She was a Fulbright Scholar-in-Residence at Texas Southern University in Houston during 2019–2020, and a Study of the U.S. Institutes scholar at Ohio University's Scripps College of Communication. She has worked extensively as a researcher and consultant on health and development projects with John Snow Inc., Panos, UNICEF, FAWEZA and Innovations for Poverty Action, and has judged national media awards for the water and sanitation and rural electrification sectors.
Her methodological expertise spans qualitative and quantitative analysis, content analysis, research methodology and design, data collection, proposal writing and research project management.
Education
- Master of Mass Communication — University of Zambia (2013)
- Bachelor of Mass Communication — University of Zambia (2009)
- Diploma in Journalism, Advertising and Public Relations — Evelyn Hone College (2002)
- Phiri-Chibbonta, C., Muchangwe, R., & Mambwe, E. (2025). Teaching journalism and mass communication during the COVID-19 pandemic: Zambian lecturers' experiences of the transition to online instruction. Discover Education, 4(1), 198.
- Chibbonta, C., Muchangwe, R., & Mambwe, E. (2022). Online instruction of journalism, media and communication in times of COVID-19: Examining lecturers' experiences from Zambia. In Reimagining journalism education in the age of change. Paper presented at the 6th World Journalism Education Congress, University of Oregon.
- Gondwe, G., Muchangwe, R., & Mwaya, J. E. (2021). Motivations for social media use and consumption in Zambian online platforms. In P. K. Wamuyu (Ed.) (pp. 204–215). IGI Global.
- Gondwe, G., & Muchangwe, R. (2020). Agenda-setting theory in African contexts: A Jekyll and Hyde in the Zambian presidential elections. International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research and Development, 7(5), 93–100.
- Muchangwe, R. Coverage of adolescent sexual reproductive health by Zambian newspapers: A content analysis of the Zambia Daily Mail, Times of Zambia and The Post newspapers [Master's dissertation, University of Zambia].