About the Team

Dr Tanya Notley is Professor in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts and the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University. Tanya is internationally recognised in the field of engaged, practice-based media research, as well as for her work in areas of digital inclusion, media literacy, and human rights media. Her research approach is empirically grounded, socially engaged, and participatory. Her research outputs are often practice-based and/or policy-focused with a focus on equity, social justice and capacity building amongst disadvantaged and marginalised groups. Tanya has worked extensively with a range of organisations to use media to address inequalities. She has led 10 media literacy research projects since 2017 including two longitudinal national surveys and collaboration with more than 20 industry partners. Tanya served as the Co-Chair of the Australian Media Literacy Alliance 2020-23.

Dr Michael Dezuanni is Professor in the Digital Media Research Centre at Queensland University of Technology. Michael is internationally recognised for his expertise in media literacy pedagogy, having undertaken research in the areas of digital media, literacies, and learning in home, school, and community contexts since 2009. Michael is currently the Program Leader for Digital Inclusion and Participation for QUT's Digital Media Research Centre which produces world-leading research for a creative, inclusive, and fair digital media environment. He is also a chief investigator in the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child. Michael brings extensive experience working with industry partners, including public cultural institutions, to this project.

Dr Sora Park is Professor of Communication and Professorial Research Fellow at the News & Media Research Centre, Faculty of Arts & Design, University of Canberra. She is internationally recognised as an expert in digital media users and media policy, with a special focus on news consumers and digital inclusion. Sora brings extensive experience with large-scale surveys, having led the Digital News Report: Australia each year, which is part of the global Reuters Institute Digital News Report. Sora brings insight and experience working as a Lead CI on a directly related ARC Discovery Project, which focuses on the rise of mistrust in news.

Dr T.J. Thomson is a senior lecturer at RMIT University and an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow. As a former visual journalist and editor, T.J. brings a depth of media industry experience and expertise from an international scholarship on visual media. He is currently a core member of the Digital Ethnography Research Centre, an affiliated researcher of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, and an affiliate member of the Communication and Change Co-Lab. T.J. also brings insight and experience from a related ARC project, which seeks to amplify the voices of Australians living in aged care and includes a visual media analysis phase that he designed and leads.

Dr Simon Chambers undertakes research investigating the social dimensions of cultural production and consumption, with a particular interest in the dynamics of cultural fields and how they are influenced by digital platforms. His work in media literacy spans multiple iterations of national surveys on adult and youth media literacy, evaluation of curricula, and journal publications. Having previously worked at the ABC, he is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the MARCS Institute at Western Sydney University, where his research focuses on the evolution of Australia’s improvised music scene.

Dr Aimee Hourigan is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow within the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University. Her research explores socioculturally grounded approaches to digital and media literacy development, with a particular emphasis on the experiences of marginalised, vulnerable, or excluded communities. Aimee brings insight and experience working as a project member on a related ARC project exploring experiences of inclusive digital media use in regional and rural Australia, and in low-income families. She also has extensive experience in stakeholder and industry engagement, having worked in partnership with public cultural institutions and international advocacy bodies in various capacities for the last 10 years.

Alex Wharton (BA, BEd, MEd Lead) is an experienced educator and school leader, who has worked in both rural and metropolitan schools, and government and non-government schools. His passion for media literacy has seen him co-author syllabus, curriculum, and teacher resources for the Australian Government and the broader education industry. He is a PhD candidate at Western Sydney University's Institute for Culture and Society focusing on family media literacy in the home.