Journalist Stan Grant has quit the ABC and will instead head a new centre focused on public interest journalism and reforming the media.
Monash University on Tuesday announced Grant will be the inaugural director of its Constructive Institute Asia Pacific.
Located at Aarhus University in Denmark, the institute's mission is to change global news culture to foster healthier democracies.
Grant, who last month quit as presenter of the ABC's Q+A program, confirmed he had stepped aside from all roles at the public broadcaster and told AAP he's heading to Denmark on Wednesday.
He said the new position would look at ways of practising public interest journalism that serves the public at a time when the stakes could not be higher.
"What are the dangers of of the polarisation that we see in our society right now?" Grant said.
"The endless conflict, why does media have to constantly be about conflict? Why do we have to pit people against each other?
"Why do we find the point of conflict and seek to witness rather than find the points on which we connect and look at where we disagree to build on the connection rather than then the division?"
Grant, who has been a war correspondent, current affairs reporter and news presenter, said people are turning off traditional media because they are exhausted and in turn, that damages democracy.
"For someone like me who's been in it for 40 years, who's covered the worst of the world and who has also been caught in the crosshairs of the worst of our culture war pile-ons at a great cost to me and my family, I need to do better," he said.
"It starts with me and I think it starts with all of us asking 'How do we do that?'
"So I really want to bring that experience to bear, I want to bring my knowledge to be able to reimagine that space.
"So there's a lot of opportunity to do this, but we know that it's not enough for journalists to be part of the problem, we have to be part of the solutions to this."
Grant said one his focal points will be the ways in which technology including artificial intelligence affects and could affect journalism in the future.
Katie Stevenson, dean of Monash's arts faculty, said there was no better person to lead the institute.
"Beyond the institute's mission, our media students will have the privilege of drawing upon Stan's rich experience and knowledge of media, and his passion to change news culture for the better," she said.
Grant first announced in May he would take a break from media roles, citing racial abuse of him and his family during his appearance on the ABC's coverage of the King's coronation.
He has frequently been a target of racist online abuse, writing about his experience and the harm it has done to his family.
Grant also expressed frustration at the ABC's executives, saying not a single one had publicly refuted the lies written and spoken about him.
