Crisis Comms on the Frontlines: A PR Pro’s Journey in Global Aid
Guest Speaker: Phil Johnstone, FPRINZ
Our first guest of CRUNCH Season Three is Phil Johnstone who is the Strategy & Growth Manager, International Development, for Plant & Food Research.
Phil is a former New Zealand news and political journalist and spent eight years in the 1990s at the BBC in London in roles including Head of Press & PR for BBC Worldwide TV.
This CRUNCH podcast focuses on Phil’s volunteer and contract work around the globe. During the last decade Phil has visited a number of Asian countries to create content for development organisations. He completed two three-month volunteer stints in Nepal after the 2015 earthquake with the IFRC and a global health charity. And in the last two years he has taken leave from his role at Plant & Food Research to do one-month deployments as a lead communicator for World Vision International’s Ukraine and Sudan crisis responses.
Phil Johnstone
GUEST SPEAKER
Phil.Johnstone@plantandfood.co.nz
Phil is a business strategist, communicator and stakeholder relationship builder with a mix of corporate, NGO and public sector experience.
A former New Zealand news and political journalist, he spent 8 years in the 1990s at the BBC in London in roles including Head of Press & PR for BBC Worldwide TV. After returning to New Zealand, he was Corporate Affairs Director at the local subsidiary of Merck & Co and led communications at Auckland Museum and World Vision New Zealand. He served as a Leprosy Mission New Zealand Board member for nine years till 2021.
Phil joined Plant & Food Research in 2018. His writing, podcast and video work is on display at http://www.fromthisland.co.nz – in relation to a Plant & Food Research photo-story exhibition about development impact in Vietnam and Cambodia, exhibited in the NZ Pavilion at World Expo Dubai 2022 and at the 2021 Auckland Festival of Photography.
Over the last decade Phil has visited a number of Asian countries to create content for development organisations. He completed two three-month volunteer stints in Nepal after the 2015 earthquake with the IFRC and a global health charity. And in the last two years he has taken leave from his role at Plant & Food Research to do one-month deployments as a lead communicator for World Vision International’s Ukraine and Sudan crisis responses.
In 2023 Phil was made a Fellow of the Public Relations Institute of New Zealand.
