Brenda has a background in science and information technology. She completed a Bachelor of Forest Science at University of Melbourne in 1982. Then in 1984 she did a Graduate Diploma of Computer Science at LaTrobe University.

She worked in the Victorian Public Service for eight years. Her first two years were spent working on financial information systems at both Ministry of Housing and Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. Then for six years she was Manager of IT Support Services for the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, managing the hardware and software selection, user training and user support for over 2,000 microcomputers across Victoria.

In 1993 she became a Technical Consultant at Terran Computers where she was the Australian technical expert for the ICL/Fujitsu TeamOffice Groupware suite.

In 1994 she founded Imunga Pty Ltd, a computer consultancy specialising in natural resource management software. Imunga created the data entry software for the Australia wide Waterwatch education project and the Victorian Saltwatch project.

At the end of 1994 she founded The Reef Multimedia Pty Ltd with Kim Lynch and Jon Wright to explore the business opportunities of the rapidly expanding internet. The Reef Multimedia became a successful web design company creating internet and intranet sites for a range of corporate, government and NGO clients including River Landscapes (LWA), WMC Resources, PRIA, Waterwatch and the Victorian Farmers Federation.

In 2000 the WMC website won the inaugural Investor Relations Award, an international award based on research by the investment research group, Assirt and sponsored by the UK Investor magazine. The Waterwatch Victoria website won the 1996 Australian Internet Awards in both the “Community and Special Interest” and “Secondary Education” categories. It was the only site which won in two categories.  The Victorian Farmers Federation website was a finalist in the “Industry Sector” category.

The Reef operated as a virtual office with people working from different locations and communicating through the internet. The experience gained by doing this allowed The Reef to provide advice to clients on ways to efficiently manage remote working.

In 2010 she presented a Demo/Poster "Hearing the Unseen" with Dr Barry Moon at the Humanities + Digital Visual Interpretations conference run by HyperStudio - Digital Humanities at MIT. The abstract is available in the online conference program. The contents of the poster are available here: Hearing the Unseen.

In 2012 she presented research papers at the Australian Science Communicators National Conference (ASC2012) in Sydney ("How is the word “science” used on twitter?") and at PCST2012 in Florence ("Scanning the Science-Society Horizon: Using social media to monitor public discussion of science").

In June 2012 she won the 2012 ANU Award for Excellence in Tutoring or Demonstrating. News item on CPAS website - CPAS tutor wins ANU Award for Excellence in Tutoring or Demonstrating.

In 2013 she presented on the python programming tools she is using for her research at PyConAU in Hobart and again, with improvements based on feedback from the first talk, at KiwiPyCon in Auckland. The video of the KiwiPycon talk is available on YouTube.

She has tutored SCOM1001 - Science and Public Awareness and was lecturer and tutor for SCOM8012 - Science communication and the web.

Her personal website is: https://brenda.moon.net.au

In 2015 she moved to Brisbane to take up a position as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Queensland University of Technology.

Professional membership

Senior Member of Australian Computer Society (CP), Australian Science Communicators, Association of Internet Researchers, Association for Computing Machinery (ACM)