Overview
Background
Elizabeth Stephens is an Associate Professor of Cultural Studies in the School of Communication and Arts. She was previously an Australian Research Council Future Fellow in the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (UQ, 2017-2021), Associate Dean Research at Southern Cross University (2014-2017), and an ARC Australian Research Fellow in the Centre for the History of European Discourses (UQ, 2010-2014). Her background is in gender and sexuality studies, and her current research focuses on three interconnected themes:
- popular histories and representations of science, medicine and technology
- collaborations between the arts and sciences
- the critical medical humanities
Elizabeth is author of over 100 publications, including three monographs: A Critical Genealogy of Normality (University of Chicago Press, 2017), co-authored with Peter Cryle; Anatomy as Spectacle: Public Exhibitions of the Body from 1700 to the Present (Liverpool University Press, 2011), and Queer Writing: Homoeroticism in Jean Genet's Fiction (Palgrave 2009). She has published over 75 research articles and chapters, as well as non-traditional outputs including catalogue essays and curated exhibitions.
She welcomes inquiries from potential PhD students, and can offer supervision in the following areas:
- cultural studies of science, medicine and/or technology
- art/science collaboration
- medical humanities
- digital cultures
- gender and sexuality studies
Availability
- Associate Professor Elizabeth Stephens is:
- Available for supervision
- Media expert
Fields of research
Research interests
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Collaboration between the arts and sciences
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History of science, technology and medicine
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Gender and sexuality studies
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Science and technology studies
Works
Search Professor Elizabeth Stephens’s works on UQ eSpace
2022
Conference Publication
Automation and the invention of life
Stephens, Elizabeth (2022). Automation and the invention of life. Cultural Studies Association of Australasia, Melbourne, VIC Australia, 1-3 December 2022.
2022
Conference Publication
'Transparent women' and the visual medical humanities
Stephens, Elizabeth (2022). 'Transparent women' and the visual medical humanities. Visual Medical Humanities international Conference, Canberra, ACT Australia, 5-6 November 2022.
2022
Other Outputs
Australasian Health and Medical Humanities: Work-in-Progress Series
Stephens, Elizabeth, Dickson, Melissa and Sellberg, Karin (2022, 08 15). Australasian Health and Medical Humanities: Work-in-Progress Series The polyphony: conversations across the medical humanities
2022
Journal Article
Review of IVF and Assisted Reproduction: a Global History, by Sarah Ferber, Nicola J. Marks and Vera Mackie
Stephens, Elizabeth (2022). Review of IVF and Assisted Reproduction: a Global History, by Sarah Ferber, Nicola J. Marks and Vera Mackie. Historical Records of Australian Science.
2021
Conference Publication
Australian medical humanities: an emerging field
Stephens, Elizabeth (2021). Australian medical humanities: an emerging field. Australian Academy of Humanities and Chinese Academy Social Sciences Symposium, Online, 3 November 2021.
2021
Conference Publication
Neutralizing nature: Automation, agricultural technologies, and the morality of improvement
Catts, Oron, Collins, Sarah, Zurr, Ionat and Stephens, Elizabeth (2021). Neutralizing nature: Automation, agricultural technologies, and the morality of improvement. 2021 IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society (ISTAS), Waterloo, ON, Canada, 28-31 October 2021. Piscataway, NJ, United States: IEEE. doi: 10.1109/istas52410.2021.9629187
2021
Conference Publication
Science, spectacle and sentiment in the American amusement park: the incubator babies of Coney Island
Stephens, Elizabeth (2021). Science, spectacle and sentiment in the American amusement park: the incubator babies of Coney Island. Visual Medical Humanities Symposium, Canberra, ACT Australia, 1-2 July 2021.
2021
Journal Article
Australasian Health and Medical Humanities Network launch
Stephens, Elizabeth, Hooker, Claire, Hammerschlag, Keren, Carr, Sandra and Sellberg, Karin (2021). Australasian Health and Medical Humanities Network launch. Polyphony.
2021
Journal Article
Postnormal. Die Krise und das Ende des Alltäglichen
Stephens, Elizabeth (2021). Postnormal. Die Krise und das Ende des Alltäglichen. Wespennest, 180, 61-65.
2021
Book
The Somatechnics of Life and Death: Towards a New Feminist Biopolitics
Stephens, Elizabeth and Sellberg, Karin eds. (2021). The Somatechnics of Life and Death: Towards a New Feminist Biopolitics. Abingdon, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003112570
2021
Journal Article
After the normal
Stephens, Elizabeth (2021). After the normal. History of the Human Sciences, 34 (2), 138-147. doi: 10.1177/0952695120984075
2020
Journal Article
Medical humanities research showcase: the emergence of a new trans-disciplinary field in a time of precarity
Sellberg, Karin, Stephens, Elizabeth, Efstathiadou, Anna, Pillai, Suja, Yamada, Kazuki and Wise, Beck (2020). Medical humanities research showcase: the emergence of a new trans-disciplinary field in a time of precarity. Continuum, 34 (6), 1-17. doi: 10.1080/10304312.2020.1842121
2020
Journal Article
Precarious futures: cultural studies in pandemic times
Stephens, Elizabeth, Sellberg, Karin and Donaghy, Paige (2020). Precarious futures: cultural studies in pandemic times. Continuum, 34 (6), 807-815. doi: 10.1080/10304312.2020.1842120
2020
Other Outputs
We’ve known about pandemic health messaging since 1918. So when it comes to coronavirus, what has Australia learnt?
Stephens, Elizabeth (2020, 04 01). We’ve known about pandemic health messaging since 1918. So when it comes to coronavirus, what has Australia learnt? The Conversation
2019
Journal Article
#notnormal
Stephens, Elizabeth (2019). #notnormal. Cultural Studies Review, 25 (2), 278-280. doi: 10.5130/csr.v25i2.6924
2019
Conference Publication
The optimised self: the normal and the ideal in early time management studies
Stephens, Elizabeth (2019). The optimised self: the normal and the ideal in early time management studies. International Society for Intellectual History, Brisbane, QLD Australia, 5-7 June 2019.
2019
Journal Article
The somatechnics of breath: trans* life at this moment in history: an interview with Susan Stryker
Stephens, Elizabeth and Sellberg, Karin (2019). The somatechnics of breath: trans* life at this moment in history: an interview with Susan Stryker. Australian Feminist Studies, 34 (99), 107-119. doi: 10.1080/08164649.2019.1605490
2019
Journal Article
Disciplinary perspectives on ‘Thinking with’ sex
Cryle, Peter, Donaghy, Paige, Stephens, Elizabeth and Clement, Jennifer (2019). Disciplinary perspectives on ‘Thinking with’ sex. Australian Feminist Studies, 34 (99), 120-127. doi: 10.1080/08164649.2019.1605493
2019
Journal Article
The somatechnics of life and death: recent trends in gender studies
Stephens, Elizabeth and Sellberg, Karin (2019). The somatechnics of life and death: recent trends in gender studies. Australian Feminist Studies, 34 (99), 1-9. doi: 10.1080/08164649.2019.1605492
2019
Book Chapter
Affect and automation: a critical geneology of the emotions
Stephens, Elizabeth (2019). Affect and automation: a critical geneology of the emotions. Emotions in late modernity. (pp. 176-189) edited by Roger Patulny, Alberto Bellocchi, Rebecca E. Olson, Sukhmani Khorana, Jordan McKenzie and Michelle Peterie. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781351133319-16
Funding
Past funding
Supervision
Availability
- Associate Professor Elizabeth Stephens is:
- Available for supervision
Before you email them, read our advice on how to contact a supervisor.
Supervision history
Current supervision
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Doctor Philosophy
Detrans geographies: an exploration or borders and belonging
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Karin Sellberg
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Doctor Philosophy
Digital Arenas and Gendered Politics: Analyzing the Social Media Strategies of Female Politicians in the Regional Representatives Council (DPD) of South Sumatra, Indonesia
Principal Advisor
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Doctor Philosophy
There Is No Outside: Art-Science Collaborations with Nonhumans in the Anthropocene
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Amelia Barikin
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Doctor Philosophy
There Is No Outside: Art-Science Collaborations with Nonhumans in the Anthropocene
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Amelia Barikin
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Doctor Philosophy
Sexual Science, Medicine, and Healthy Ageing in Historical Perspective (c. 1880-1970)
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Emeritus Professor Peter Cryle
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Doctor Philosophy
Affective digital labour and FemTech
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Nicholas Carah
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Doctor Philosophy
Vibes, Flows, Feelings: Investigating the algorithmic techniques of affective capitalism
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Nicholas Carah
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Master Philosophy
With Colleagues Like These: AI in the Workplace, On and Off Screen
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Professor Jason Jacobs
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Master Philosophy
"The Problem of Living"; and "Sense and Insensibility: Pain, Trauma and the Limits of First-Person Narrative in Creative Non-Fiction"
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Tom Doig
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Doctor Philosophy
Representations of Sexual Trauma in American Women's Life Writing
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Karin Sellberg
Completed supervision
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2025
Doctor Philosophy
There Is No Outside: Art-Science Collaborations with Nonhumans in the Anthropocene
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Associate Professor Amelia Barikin
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2023
Doctor Philosophy
Uncertain Knowledge: False Conception and Molas in European Medicine, 1500-1800
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Karin Sellberg, Professor Lisa Featherstone
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2015
Doctor Philosophy
Casanova's Celebrity: a Case Study of Well-knownness in 18th-century Europe
Principal Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Joe Hardwick, Emeritus Professor Peter Cryle
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2024
Doctor Philosophy
Representations of Sexual Trauma in American Women's Life Writing
Associate Advisor
Other advisors: Dr Karin Sellberg
Media
Enquiries
Contact Associate Professor Elizabeth Stephens directly for media enquiries about:
- Gender and digital culture
- Health and medical humanities
- Histories of science medicine and technology
- Popular cultures of science and medicine
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