Alan Finlay has extensive experience in ICT and media research, information management, and project development. He has worked in the commercial, academic and non-profit sectors.

He recently completed a six-month research fellowship at the University of Witwatersrand, researching the South African print media's coverage of HIV/AIDS. The fellowship was attached to the Wits Department of Journalism and Media Studies and the Perinatal HIV Research Unit, and was conducted in partnership with the Media Monitoring Project.

Besides consulting, his work in the non-profit ICT sector includes the position of Information Services Manager at SANGONeT (May 2001-July 2003), an NGO specialising in Internet development and building online information projects in the SADC region. His core responsibilities as Information Services Manager included research, project management, departmental strategic management, marketing, fundraising and online content development.

During this period his research projects, which he led or participated in, included: Editosia (Electronic Distance Training on Sustainability in African Local Governments); e-government Gateway access research (for CPSI, DPSA and SITA); and regional research into the use and usefulness of ICTs for Civil Society Organisations, commissioned by the Heinrich Böll Foundation (www.hbs.org.za).

He has worked extensively as a journalist, both freelancing and with institutions. His positions included Business Editor (Broadcast Interactive Group), online writer and sub-editor (Daily Mail & Guardian) and broadcast journalist with Network Radio News, a community and commercial radio news company. He is a Rhodes University and Wits Business School graduate.