Congrats to new ARC Future Fellows in Communication and Media Studies

[T.J. Thomson]

Congratulations to our colleagues in the 4701 “Communication and media studies” field of research on their ARC Future Fellowship Successes:

Professor Crystal Abidin
Ethical Influencers as Mediators of Social Justice in Australia and SEAsia. This project investigates the emic values and vernacular practices of Influencers to understand how the sector defines its own ethics, focusing on ‘ethical Influencers’ in Australia and Southeast Asia (Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia). Moving beyond current foci on commercial concerns, it develops a contextual, nuanced, and ethnographic understanding of Influencers’ beliefs and practices surrounding ‘ethical influence’ and their potential to mediate social justice cultures. This anthropological approach prioritises lived experience, addresses the lack of independent Australian research, promotes healthier internet cultures, and strengthens digital literacy within a sector that rising numbers of young Australians aspire to enter.

Professor Andrea Carson
Defending Democracy: Leveraging AI to Counter Electoral Misinformation . The project aims to address the escalating global threat that electoral misinformation poses to public trust, democratic legitimacy and social cohesion using innovative survey experiments to test countermeasures to reduce misinformation belief and strengthen democratic resilience, including the novel use of AI chatbots. It will deliver the first global systematic study assessing effective ways election authorities can fight election misinformation and distrust. Expected outcomes are new knowledge to position Australia as a global leader in tackling electoral misinformation with outcomes such as policy guidance for governments, authorities, platforms and media to benefit all citizens by safeguarding social cohesion and election integrity.

Dr Philip Pond
A causal analysis of extreme speech and political violence. This project aims to investigate the relationship between extreme speech and incidences of politically motivated violence in Australia. Despite the rising risk of harmful speech, conspiracy theories and propaganda online, little is known about how internet culture produces physical violence. This project will attempt to map escalation towards violence in the texts and images that represent the ideologies associated with violent action. It seeks patterns of emergence to inform co-design interventions to protect and prepare civil society. Additional outcomes include a cultural-historical archive of extremist discourse, new analytical methods, counter extremism media and contributions to both public and policy debates on free expression.

Full outcomes can be viewed here: https://rms.arc.gov.au/RMS/Report/Download/Report/a3f6be6e-33f7-4fb5-98a6-7526aaa184cf/293