Huong Ha

Huong Ha
  • Ph.D. Student

Contact Info

Biography —

From a tiny village in central Vietnam, Hannah (she/her/hers) earned prestigious scholarships to attend high school and university, earning a degree in political philosophy. She became a reporter covering political and corporate corruption and received several awards, notably the Vietnam National Press Award for an investigation into the secret 1979-1989 war between Vietnam and China. This reporting led to veterans receiving benefits withheld for decades, widows receiving pensions, and her nation reckoning with its past. She became editor of the political division in one of the largest online news platforms in Southeast Asia, a contributor for BBC in London, and worked with Government Accountability Project in Washington, DC.

Her education continued with a Humphrey Fellowship to study public policy at Syracuse University in the US, the Chevening Scholarship to earn a master’s degree in media at SOAS University of London in the UK, and she is now a doctoral student and teaching assistant at William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications in KU.

Her body of research focuses primarily on science communication, race, gender, and social movement. Publication of her book on Vietnam’s secret 1979-1989 war is pending.

She loves cooking, doing yoga, hiking, and practices shinrin-yoku (forest bathing).

Research —

Science Communication, Race, Gender and Social Movement

Selected Conferences

Vu, H., Ha, H. (2023): Shamed, Embarrassed, and Skeptical: How Inadvertently Sharing Fake News Influences Users’ Perceptions of the Information Environment and Social Media Use. AEJMC, Washington DC, USA

Tong, C., Nguyen, N., Ha. H., Vu, H. & Do, V.H (2022). Misinformation on COVID-19 across 74 countries and Case study fact-checking on Transparency and Accessibility on AFP sites in 59 countries. Global Fact 9. Olso, Norway. Tong, C., Nguyen, N., Ha. H., Vu, H. & Do, V.H (2022). Dealing with Misinformation on COVID-19: Comparing the Use of Transparency and Accessibility in Fact-checking Practices across 74 Countries. Misinformation and Global Communication Symposium. Shanghai, China.

Selected Publications —

Ha et al. (2024). Sino-Vietnamese War 1979-1989: Tales from the Northern Border (in Vietnamese). Tre Publishing House.

Seo, H., Burkett, M., Okocha, M., Ha, H., Chaif, R., Izhar, N., Barros, M., Jona, B., & Iqbal, A. Social Media Activism and Women’s Health: Endometriosis as Feminist Issue. (Under Review)

Wu, Y., Vu, H. T., Ha, H., Do, T. G. (April 2024). Compassionate NGOs? A Qualitative Evaluation of NGO Social Media Communication on Climate Impacts. (Under Review)

Selected Presentations —

Ha, H. (August 2024). Understanding the China-Vietnam relationship on self-censorship of journalists reporting the border war anniversaries. Paper accepted for presentation to the Cultural and Critical Studies Division at the 2024 annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, August 7-11, Philadelphia, PA.

Seo, H., Burkett, M., Okocha, M., Ha, H., Chaif, R., Izhar, N., Barros, M., Jona, B., & Iqbal, A. (August 2024). Social Media Activism and Women’s Health: Endometriosis as Feminist Issue. Paper accepted for presentation to the Commission on the Status of Women at the 2024 annual convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, August 7- 11, Philadelphia, PA.*Second-place Top Faculty Paper

Wu, Y., Vu, H. T., Ha, H., Do, T. G. (April 2024). Compassionate NGOs? A Qualitative Evaluation of NGO Social Media Communication on Climate Impacts. Paper accepted for presentation to the 2024 West Coast Nonprofit Data Conference, April 19-20, Arizona, AZ.

Vu, H. & Ha, H. (2023): Shamed, Embarrassed, and Skeptical: How Inadvertently Sharing Fake News Influences Users’ Perceptions of the Information Environment and Social Media Use. AEJMC, Washington DC, USA.

Tong, C., Nguyen, N., Ha. H., Vu, H. & Do, V.H (2022). Examining Practices of Transparency and Accessibility by International Fact-Checking Networks on COVID-19. The 73rd Annual International Communication Association Conference, Reclaiming Authenticity in Communication, May 25-29, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Tong, C., Nguyen, N., Ha. H., Vu, H. & Do, V.H (2022). Misinformation on COVID-19 across 74 countries and Case study fact-checking on Transparency and Accessibility on AFP sites in 59 countries. Global Fact 9. Olso, Norway.

Tong, C., Nguyen, N., Ha. H., Vu, H. & Do, V.H (2022). Dealing with Misinformation on COVID-19: Comparing the Use of Transparency and Accessibility in Fact-checking Practices across 74 Countries. Misinformation and Global Communication Symposium. Shanghai, China.

Awards & Honors —

2024: AEJMC-MCSD Diversity and Inclusion Career Development Fellowship

2021: Chevening Scholarship, UK

2018: Humphrey Fellowship, USA