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I am a media studies scholar studying current smart technologies and consequent ontological conundrums we face as these machines become smarter than us at telling how things are within ourselves and around our worlds. My previous research on the Internet of Things (IoT) was about these hidden arrangements of things in our background that machines constantly remind us of as those we should always be a little paranoid of, and how this normalized paranoia leads us to accept the IoT as a new smarter technique of self-governance. My first book Internet-ontologies-Things: Smart Objects, Hidden Problems, and their Symmetries (2023) argues these popular narratives of smart lives as our strategic and speculative responses to such common feelings: "Something is there, so embedded in our bodies, homes, and neighbourhoods. We feel it but cannot grasp it!"

Digital ontology is the term that best describes the nature of my research but it's less relevant to a pure philosophical inquiry about how things are in the world. Ontology in my practical and critical concern is rather related to the new capitalist ideology (or realism) that runs media industries’ current speculative economy. So, my critical reading of the ontological turn in humanities and social sciences focuses on its strategic dimension. How does this turn draw our attention to the things that our too-human perception always fails to pay the right attention to? How does this in turn mobilize our constant speculation about things beyond our perceptions and control, not only as the inexhaustible source of our anxieties but also as the inexhaustible resource of cultural production?

My current research interests include Digital Ontology, New Materialism, Speculative (Capitalist) Realism, Quantum Physics as Cultural Imagination, Science and Technology Studies, Actor-Network Theory, French Philosophers (e.g. Foucault, Deleuze, and Badiou), Eco- and Geo-philosophy/criticism, new materialist film and videogame studies.

Andrea is a Post Doctoral Fellow in Digital Cultures and Societies at the University of Queensland . She got her PhD at USC Annenberg, and is originally from Colombia. Broadly, her research interests lie at the intersection of media and Science and Technology Studies.She studies mobilities; cultures of transnational, remote work; on-demand workers and freelancers; feminized maintenance of workspaces; media tales of tech; civic social media in Latin America.

Her research can be found in New Media and Society, the International Journal of Communication, Mass Communication & Society, and in the edited volume Popular Culture and the Civic Imagination: A Casebook. She has also conducted research with the IDRC and USAID in projects about the "future of work" in the "Global South".

Emma Antrobus is a senior lecturer in criminology the School of Social Science. Emma has a background in social psychology and has interests in the legitimacy of social agencies and youth involvement in the criminal justice system. Her recent research focuses on randomized controlled trials examining the impact of police behaviour and legitimacy, and interventions for young people at risk.

Tim Barlott is an Associate Lecturer in Occupational Therapy (School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences), PhD candidate in Sociology (School of Social Sciences), and Co-Director of the SocioHealthLab. Tim has a background as a community practitioner, educator, and community-based participatory researcher in Canada, Australia, and internationally.

Drawing from (critical) social theory and postmodern philosphy, Tim's research interrogates the socio-political aspects of everyday life and social inequities, and pursues affirmative/disruptive/transformative possibilities. Tim's research primarily uses the work of postmodern philosophers Gilles Deleuze and Felix Guattari. Their work provides a useful set of theoretical tools for conceptualising social inequities, analysing the dynamic relations of complex social formations, and pursuing transformational change. Using a Deleuzio-Guattarian conceptual framework, Tim's PhD research explores the transformative potential of freely-given relationships for people diagnosed with a severe mental illness.

Current Research Projects:

• Cartographies of freely-given relationships in mental health (PhD project)
• Ethical tensions in occupational therapy practice that attends to social inequities
• Theorising the creativity and social production of occupation
• Social connectedness and ICT use by people with intellectual/learning disabilities

Janeen Baxter is Director of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course and Kathleen Fitzpatrick Laureate Fellow in the Institute for Social Science Research.

Janeen has research interests in social disadvantage, gender inequality, household and family dynamics, life course and longitudinal studies and has published widely in these areas, as well as supervising the research of numerous higher degree students and research fellows.

Janeen has served on several editorial boards for national and international journals and has been a member and Chair of the College of Experts for the Australian Research Council. Janeen is an elected fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. She is currently a member of several government advisory committees including theCommonwealth Department of Social Services Child Support Expert Committee and the Australian Bureau of Statistics Life Course Data Initiative Household and Family Structures Working Group. Janeen is also a member of the CEDA Council on Economic Policy and the Social Policy Research Centre Advisory Board.

A/Prof Steve Bell is a senior social scientist at the Burnet Institute and has 22 years’ experience across South-East Asia (India, Nepal), Africa (Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe) and Western Pacific (Australia, Indonesia, PNG, Fiji) Regions. He works respectfully with not-for-profits, public institutions, businesses and community organisations, using innovative, inclusive, people-centred approaches to identify sustainable solutions to critical health challenges and accelerate health equity.

Steve’s work brings together lived experience, socio-ecological systems thinking and social theory to understand what works (or not) in global health and social development. He has researched and published widely on HIV, sexual and reproductive health, maternal health, neglected tropical diseases, TB and Indigenous health. He is particularly interested in understanding the socio-structural determinants of health and social inequities, and injustices associated with marginalisation due to gender, sexuality, age and geography. He has also published two books on interpretive and community-led approaches in research, design, monitoring and evaluation: ‘Peer research in health and social development: international perspectives on participatory research’ (2021), and ‘Monitoring and evaluation in health and social development: interpretive and ethnographic perspectives’ (2016). He is currently taking on new PhD students in these areas, so please do reach out to him at the Burnet Institute for a chat!

He holds associate professorial appointments at UNSW Sydney and The University of Queensland, is a Member of the International Editorial Board at Culture, Health & Sexuality, has been a Senior Advisor to the Boston Consulting Group, and has worked in research and consultancy roles with international governments, NGOs, UNAIDS, UNFPA and WHO.

Professor Pierre Benckendorff is an award-winning researcher specialising in visitor behaviour, technology enhanced learning and tourism. He has held several teaching and learning leadership positions at The University of Queensland and James Cook University in Australia. His experience includes coordinating a team of teaching and learning staff, program quality assurance and accreditation, and curriculum reviews of undergraduate and postgraduate coursework programs in business, tourism, hospitality and event management. He has developed and taught undergraduate and postgraduate courses in introductory tourism management, international tourism, tourist behaviour, tourism and leisure futures, tourism transportation, tourism operations, tourism technologies, tourism analysis, business skills and marketing communications.

Pierre has been actively involved in a number of national teaching and learning projects totalling close to AUD 1 million in grant funding. In 2007, he received a national Carrick citation for outstanding contributions to student learning. Pierre was part of the national team that developed the Learning and Teaching Academic Standards for Tourism, Hospitality and Events and has continued to co-lead efforts to embed and measure these standards under the auspices of CAUTHE. He is currently the co-chair of knowledge creation for the BEST Education Network and in this capacity, has worked with the World Travel and Tourism Council to edit a book of international cases based on Tourism for Tomorrow award finalists and winners. He is the co-editor of the Handbook of Teaching and Learning in Tourism. Pierre serves regularly as an external reviewer of tourism programs in Australia and overseas institutions.

His research interests include visitor behaviour, tourism information technologies, and tourism education and training. He has authored over 80 publications in these areas in leading international journals and is a regular speaker at tourism research conferences. He is on the editorial board of several leading tourism journals and is a regular reviewer of papers. He has also co-authored one of the leading textbooks on tourism and information technology. He has served as a judge for the Queensland Tourism Awards as well as the Australian Tourism Awards. His passion for travel and tourism has taken him to some of the world’s leading theme parks and airports, the major cities of Europe and North America, the African Savannah and the bustling streets of Asia. He has also travelled extensively throughout Australia and New Zealand.

Online Profiles

• LinkedIn: http://au.linkedin.com/pub/pierre-benckendorff/5/8b7/766/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/PBenckendorff
• ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Pierre_Benckendorff
• Academia.edu: https://uq.academia.edu/PierreBenckendorff
• Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=LjNJJXIAAAAJ
• UQ Researchers: http://researchers.uq.edu.au/researcher/2336

Assoc Prof Fran Boyle is a social scientist and health services researcher at the Institute for Social Sciences Research. Fran's background is in psychology and public health and her research focuses on people’s lived experiences of health, health services and the health system. Fran's research expertise is in the application of social sciences methods (including the integration quantitative and qualitative approaches) and health systems thinking to guide policy and practice.

Fran is a Principal Investigator with the Australian Centre of Research Excellence in Stillbirth where she co-leads the Care after Stillbirth program. Her research addresses the psychosocial impacts of perinatal loss and is committed to improving outcomes for women and families through the implementation and evaluation of best practice parent-centred perinatal bereavement care in hospital and community settings.

Dr Adrian Cherney is a Professor in the School of Social Science at the University of Queensland. He was an Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellow. He has completed evaluations of programs aimed at countering violent extremism and is undertaking research on violent extremism risk assessment. His ARC Future Fellowship explored case-managed interventions targeting convicted terrorists and those at risk of radicalisation.

Lynda is the Head of School in the School of Social Science and an internationally renowned sociologist. She first studied sociology in the UK where she obtained her Bachelors degree from the University of Wales. After moving to Australia, she completed a PhD in sociology from Central Queensland University before taking up a position at The University of Queensland. From 2011-15 she was an Australian Research Council Future Fellow.

Lynda undertakes research in the areas of community, neighbourhoods and housing. More specifically, she examines how people live and interact in contemporary local communities; how structural and policy processes impact upon those communities and the relationships that play out within them; and the consequences of these changing social dynamics for well-being, feelings of attachment to home and place, conflict, social exclusion and cohesion. She has undertaken her research in a variety of settings including rural areas; remote fly-in, fly-out mining communities; outer-suburban master planned estates; inner-city gentrifying suburbs; low-income neighbourhoods; and new housing developments for older public housing tenants and people with severe and persistent mental health challenges.

Lynda is presently leading a programme of research on ‘un-neighbourliness’ which examines the nature, causes and outcomes of problems between neighbours and their effects on neighbouring more broadly. Funded by an ARC Discovery grant, she and colleagues are exploring how processes of urban change, such as urban consolidation and gentrification influence neighbour relations, and how neighbouring is enacted in different residential contexts. The results of this study have implications for councils trying to respond to rising neighbour complaints; social housing providers managing disputes between tenants; and for urban planning and community resilience policies. She is also an international partner on the ESRCs’ Connected Communities consortium (Crow et al) and the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research, Data and Methods (WISERDII).

Lynda welcomes inquiries from prospective Honours or Higher Degree Research students who are interested in working with her on any of these, or related, topics.

Courses taught: SOCY2019 Introduction to Social Research

Dr Laetitia Coles is a Research Fellow within the Child Development, Education and Care group at the Queensland Brain Institute, led by Laureate Prof Karen Thorpe. As a mixed-methods applied sociologist, she leads the Workforces component of the Thriving Queensland Kids Brain Builders Initiative (https://qbi.uq.edu.au/brain-builders) in support of the generation, translation, and application of knowledge from neurosciences into policy and practice, as well as leading the award-winning project entitled Families in Focus: Amplifying the voices of children with disability and their families (https://child-health-research.centre.uq.edu.au/event/5632/families-focus), in collaboration with Queensland Children's Hospital. She is committed to undertaking research that helps improve understandings of children’s care environments, with a specific focus on supporting those who care for and educate children. Dr Coles’ experience in multi-disciplinary research and in industry engagement underpins her strong track record in knowledge and research translation through both traditional and non-traditional research outputs.

Dr Coles completed her PhD in Sociology in 2020, looking at long work hours and fathers' engagement with children and caregiving – particularly focusing on the factors that facilitate participation in caregiving.

Dr Emma Cooke is a sociologist, qualitative researcher, and postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Queensland working in the Kids Sleep Research Group at the Child Health Research Centre and the Child Development, Education and Care Research Group at the Queensland Brain Institute. Dr Cooke researches and represents the often-overlooked stories of children, families, educators and clinicians. She works in interdisciplinary teams with a dual focus on disability and early childhood education and care. As the qualitative research lead in the Kids Sleep Research Group, Dr Cooke facilitates research training and support, and collaborates with clinicians, students and researchers to conduct qualitative research.

Dr Cooke’s research interests include the lived experiences of sleep, relaxation, wellbeing, disability, gender, intersectional inequality, healthcare, education and social services. She also has expertise in DRAWing (Departing Radically in Academic Writing) and knowledge translation. As an active member of the DRAW Group, Dr Cooke’s recent academic work is written creatively to have an emotional as well as intellectual impact.

In her PhD thesis, Dr Cooke utilised a crystallization methodological framework to gain multifaceted insights into children’s rights, early childhood discourses, and children’s relaxation and unrestful experiences in early childhood education and care. She has extensive experience interviewing children and adults across a range of contexts, and uses different qualitative analysis methodologies, including thematic analysis, discourse analysis, and creative analytical practices.

Dr Nathalia Costa is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Queensland's cLinical TRials cApability (ULTRA), located within the Centre for Clinical Research in Herston. Her career goal is to enhance the evidence base from clinical trials and deepen the understanding of healthcare issues through qualitative and mixed methods, with a focus on theoretically grounded, critical, reflexive and collaborative approaches. She is passionate about bringing different types of knowledge and stakeholders together to generate perspectives that create change and make research, practice and education more inclusive and nuanced. She advocates for pluralist inquiries and believes research should go beyond the dualism “quantitative/qualitative” to achieve the intersubjective understandings needed for impactful collective action. Her methodological expertise includes:

• Systematic, scoping and rapid reviews
• A range of qualitative methods and methodologies including but not limited to interviews, ethnography, Delphi studies, surveys, focus groups, document and policy analysis, thematic analysis, content analysis, and discourse analysis
• Embedding qualitative research in feasibility trials to inform large-scale clinical trials
• Conducting qualitative research to inform the development of implementation strategies
• Use of systems-thinking frameworks to identify opportunities for interdisciplinary and intersectoral action to target health problems
• Applying social theory to deepen understanding of healthcare and health more broadly
• Participatory and collaborative research with key stakeholders (e.g., patients, clinicians, academics, policymakers)

Her publications (45+) span a diverse range of themes, including musculoskeletal conditions, pain, policy, sociology and culturally responsive care. She has also taught across a range of disciplines, including research methods, musculoskeletal physiotherapy, sociology applied to health, fundamentals of physiotherapy, fundamentals of health care, health policy, health economics and health systems finance.

Her research focuses on aspects of low back pain - from exploring ways to navigate uncertainty in low back pain care to identifying avenues to improve it within the Australian healthcare system. She is currently investigating how to optimise recruitment within the FORENSIC trial, which aims to evaluate if lumbar fusion surgery is more beneficial than continuing with best conservative care for patients with persistent severe low back pain who have already undergone non-surgical treatment.

Alongside collaborators, Nathalia has garnered grants (AUD$6M) and awards, including an international award for one of her PhD studies, awarded by the International Society for the Study of the Lumbar Spine – the 2021 ISSLS Prize for Lumbar Spine Research (Clinical Science). She has made >35 presentations at national and international conferences, including presentations as an invited speaker at international conferences (e.g., World Physiotherapy Congress). Prior to her current appointment, she was a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences (UQ - 2021), a Post-doctoral Research Associate at the Sydney School of Public Health (The University of Sydney, 2021-2022), and a Lecturer in Physiotherapy at the Sydney School of Health Sciences (The University of Sydney, 2023). Nathalia serves as an Associate Editor for Qualitative Health Research and the Journal of Humanities in Rehabilitation.

Dr Debashish Dev is an interdisciplinary researcher specializing in energy transition, communication, sustainable development, community engagement, and understanding social change processes. His work integrates social performance and regional development priorities of energy policies and initiatives, focusing on improving community participation and social acceptance.

Working at the UQ Gas and Energy Transition Research Centre, Dr Dev contributed to developing a participatory community-based monitoring framework for regional development in Northern Territory, Australia. Currently, he is working on implementing the framework in practice. In addition, his ongoing research engagement includes understanding social risks in coal seam gas waste management, public discourses in gas-related policies, the energy sector's contribution towards SDGs, energy-related social movements, and how energy information flows through the social systems.

Dr Dev's previous academic roles at the University of Queensland involved tutoring in courses- COMU2030: Communication Research Methods, COMU1130: Data & Society, HHSS6000: Research Design, and COMU7102: Communication for Social Change—Foundations. He was also involved in developing a course- QUT You 003: Real Action for Real Change, for the Faculty of Health, Queensland University of Technology, Australia, as a sessional academic. He previously researched and taught in Bangladesh, concentrating on agricultural extension, organization management, climate change adaptation, and gender dynamics. He holds a Bachelor's (Honours) in Agricultural Science (Bangladesh Agricultural University), a Master's in Agricultural Extension (Bangladesh Agricultural University), and a PhD in Climate and Development (UQ). He is certified in Carbon Literacy and is an Associate Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK). Dr Dev’s work bridges research with practical solutions, aiming to advance sustainable development through effective community engagement and participatory approaches.

Suzanna received her PhD in Sociology at the University of Washington where she concentrated on comparative perspectives of crime, immigration, and neighborhood action as well as methodology via association with the Centre for Statistics and the Social Sciences. Her recent work centers around three themes that are related to multiple aspects of crime and the justice system. The first theme examines the comparative context of crime and considers how different people perceive crime and criminals particularly in the neighborhood context. The second considers how perceptions of gun regulation by police, dealers, and the community influence debate and enforcement of Australia’s gun laws and consider these consequences across time and space. The third, considers the perceptions of child maltreatment and abuse and it’s consequences for reporting, monitoring, and court outcomes for children and families. Underscoring all three themes are sociological questions of race and ethnic stratification, and how perceptions of crime influence individual actions.

Professor Jason Ferris, is the Director of Research and Statistical Support Services (RASSS), University of Queensland. While providing service primarily to the Faculty of Medicine the service is expanding to support other organisation units. He is also a leading research academic at the Centre for Health Services Research (CHSR) where he is the Program Leader for Global Substance Use and Mental Health (GSUMH) unit. He holds an honorary professorial role at Turning Point, Victoria (2018-) and is also the Chief Data Scientist for the Global Drug Survey (2013-). Since 2019 he has held a ministerial appointment as an Advisory Council Member to the Queensland Mental Health Commission and is an interRAI Fellow (interrai.org).

Since 2020, Professor Jason Ferris, in collaboration with Dr Dom Gorse (Director of QCIF Data Science) and many others across QCIF and UQ, have been working on the development and deployment of UQ KeyPoint - an innovative data infrastructure, data governance and digital solution enabling researchers to access, manage, analyse and share sensitive research data in a scalable, fully governed and highly secure environment. The work has received a number of accolades. In 2023, The University of Queensland recognised the value of KeyPoint winning the Award for Excellence in Innovation. In 2022, the Faculty of Medicine recognised his commitment and leadership to the University awarding him and the team the Innovators of the Year Award. Professor Ferris has received other recognition as well. In 2021, the Faculty of Medicine recognised the outstanding support of RASSS with a Service Excellence Award. In 2020, The University of Queensland recognised his contributions to his research field: he was awarded the Faculty of Medicine Leader of the Future Award (Academic) and The Director's Choice Award for contributions to the Centre for Health Services Research. In 2019, he was awarded The Outstanding Mid-Career Researcher within the Centre for Health Services Research and was also chosen as a finalist for the Faculty of Medicine Leader of the Future Award (Academic). Additionally, across the Faculty of Medicine, his Research and Statistical Support Service, was nominated for a Service Excellence Award (2019 and 2020). In 2015, he received the University of Queensland, Early Career Researcher Award within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science. In September, 2014, he received a Highly Commended Early Career Researcher Award within the Faculty of Humanities and Social Science.

He has been involved in a number of key projects: The Queensland Evaluation of the Alcohol Fuelled Violence Policy (QUANTEM), The Overarching Evaluation of the National Support for Child and Youth Mental Health Program (CHYME), the evaluation of ProjectSTOP (a decision-making national database for pharmacists aimed at preventing the use of pseudoephedrine based products as a precursor in the manufacture of methamphetamine), and a national review of the links between random breath testing and alcohol-related road traffic accidents. Jason has over 20 years of social science and public health research experience. He has a well-established publication record with a strong focus on alcohol and drug research and public health. With a Master degree in biostatistics he has well developed and expansive quantitative methods skills and a broad range of experience in many of the facets of both social science and medical research. In 2014 his PhD on alcohol epidemiology was conferred.

Previously, as a senior statistician at the Institute for Social Science Research he developed and taught a number of training models in research methods and statistical analysis as part of the Methods for Social Analysis and Statistics (MFSAS). Since its inception in 2012 he has been course coordinator and trainer for a number of these training modules (see below). From 2016-2018 he was the Director of MFSAS. Between 2016-2017 he was also the ISSR Co-postgraduate Coordinator.

I am a public health sociologist with research interests in the health and wellbeing of people experiencing marginalisation and the social determinants of (sexual) health. I am the course coordinator of PUBH7033 Foundations of Public Health and PUBH7003 Qualitative Research Methods. I am engaged in social research projects related to HIV, sexual health, young people, LGBTIQ+ health, sex worker health and the scholarship of teaching and learning.

Paul is Professor of Digital Sociology and Social Policy. He is a Chief Investigator of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society (ADM+S), and Lead of the Social Services Focus Area in the Centre. Having degrees in sociology/social policy and computer science, and having worked in the public service, Paul has a unique insight into the intersection of digital technologies and their social implications.

For over 20 years, Paul's research has focused in the development, design, deployment and evaluation of digital technology, automated decision making and Artificial Intelligence (AI) in government and social services. Taking a multi-disciplinaray perspective, he explores the implications of automation and AI on policy, service delivery, service users and citizenship, governance and practices of power. His work considers the ethical, legal, social and pratical considerations of AI and automation.

Paul's research is regarded as influential in the development of Digital Welfare State and Digital Social Policy literatures. Past publications include Governing Electronically (Palgrave 2010), Performing the State (Routledge 2018), and Adminstering Welfare Reform (Policy, 2006). He is currently finalising Digital Government in an Age of Disruption with Professor John Halligan, which takes an international comparative, institutionalist approach.

His current research focus is on using critical social science to inform the development of practical digital and AI tools to advance pro-social outcomes,

• Data navigation for lawyers. Working with Economic Justice Australia and welfare rights community legal centres, Paul is working with colleagues to co-design and produce a data extraction and navigation tool. This tool will assist lawyers to better provide legal advice and support to clients who are contesting decisions by the Australian government's Services Australia and Centrelink.
• Trauma Informed Algorithmic Assessment Toolkit. Working with human service delivery agenies, this project is piloting a practical, online Toolkit to enable organisations to design and deploy AI and algorithmic enable services that is safe, responsible and avoids causing harm.

Gerhard has a BA in Social Anthropology and Politics/International Relations and an MA in Social Anthropology from the University of Kent at Canterbury and was awarded a PhD in anthropology and sociology from La Trobe University. From 2014-2017 he was an Australian Research Council DECRA research fellow. In 2023-2024 he is the Lee Kong Chian NUS-Stanford Fellow on Contemporary Southeast Asia 2024 spending time at the National University of Singapore and the Walter H. Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University.

He conducts research in development studies, on refugee and immigration policy and spiritual and existential security as well as religion and the state. He is a regular commentator in newspapers, radio and online media on topics of his research.

His first book entitled Modern Muslim Identities: Negotiating Religion and Ethnicity in Malaysia is published by NIAS Press. He is co-editor of a volume on human security and Australian foreign policy published by Allen and Unwin/Routledge as well as one on Urban refugees: Challenges in Protection, Services and Policy, published by Routledge.

He is a senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. He is also course director for World101x: Anthropology of current world issues, UQs fifth edX massive open online course. The course offers 9 weeks of anthropological episodes with an array of additional resources, including a host of interviews with fellow anthropologists. There is also a curated list of interviews with anthropologists and panels on the youtube and facebook channel.