Profile image for Kath Albury

Professor Kath Albury

Professor, Media

Biography

Kath is an ARC Future Fellow, leading the Digital and data literacies for sexual health policy and practice reseach project (2022-2026). Her past projects have investigated young people’s practices of digital self-representation, and the role of user-generated media (including social networking platforms and dating apps) in young people’s formal and informal sexual learning, safety and wellbeing practices.

She is also a Chief Investigator on the Swedish/Australian collaboration Digital sexual health: Designing for safety, pleasure and wellbeing in LGBTQ+ communities (2022-2025), with Professor Jenny Sundén (Södertörn University) and Dr Zahra Stardust (QUT).

In 2021-2022, Kath led the evaluation and research arm of the Crushed But Okay project, a collaboration with the Alannah & Madeline Foundation, funded by the Office of the eSafety Commissioner. The research team (which included Professor Anthony McCosker, Associate Professor Dan Golding, Dr Angus Veitch, Dr Alexia Maddox, and Swinburne PhD candidate Joanna Williams) received a Swinburne Vice-Chancellor's Award for Research Excellence in 2022.

Kath is an Associate Investigator in the Swinburne Node of the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADMS), and co-leads the Digital Inclusion Program in Swinburne's Social Innovation Research Institute (SIRI). Her ADMS and SIRI projects focus on the development data capability and capacity in not-for-profit organisations, and data ethics and speculative design justice in the field of sextech.

Recent co-authored books include: Everyday Data Cultures (with Jean Burgess, Anthony McCosker and Rowan Wilken, Polity 2022) and Data for Social Good: Non-Profit Sector Data Projects (with Jane Farmer, Anthony McCosker and Amir Aryani, Palgrave Macmillan 2023).

Inquiries are welcomed from prospective Honours, Masters and PhD students interested in projects focused on the intersection of mobile and social media platforms and technologies, digital and data literacies, and gender and sexualities.




Research interests

Communication, Journalism and Media Studies; Cultural Studies and Literature; Digital Media, Film and Television

PhD candidate and honours supervision

Higher degrees by research

Accredited to supervise Masters & Doctoral students as Principal Supervisor.

PhD topics and outlines

Digital and data literacies for sexual health policy and practice: I welcome proposals that: 1. Analyse the role of digital technologies in the everyday intimate lives of young  Australians (18-29) most affected by STIs and HIV; 2. Map and benchmark digital and data literacies among Australian sexual health promotion and clinical service-providers; 3. Develop new theoretical and applied models of everyday digital & data literacies for sexual health.

Digital sexual health: Designing for safety, pleasure and wellbeing in LGBTQ+ communities: I welcome proposals that explore the potential (and ethical challenges) of rapidly growing field of ‘sextech’ - including apps, bots and educational platforms - both in terms of platform/data safety and ethics, and as promising tools to enable health and wellbeing, and help destigmatise marginalised sexual identities.

Fields of Research

  • Communication Technology And Digital Media Studies - 470102
  • Sexualities - 440506
  • Consumption And Everyday Life - 470203

Publications

Also published as: Albury, Kath; Albury, K.; Albury, Katherine
This publication listing is provided by Swinburne Research Bank. If you are the owner of this profile, you can update your publications using our online form.

Recent research grants awarded

  • 2022: Digital and data literacies for sexual health policy and practice. *; ARC Future Fellowships
  • 2021: Digital sexual health: designing for safety, pleasure and health in LGBTQ+ communities *; FORTE - LGBTQ+ People's Life Situation and Health 2021
  • 2020: ARC - Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society *; ARC Centre of Excellence Scheme
  • 2020: Improve Your Play *; Office of the eSafety Commissioner
  • 2019: Strengthening the Not for Profit Sector: Data for Good Sandpit *; Lord Mayor's Charitable Fund (LMCF)
  • 2018: 2018 Visiting Fellowships Scheme - Dr Crystal Abidin *; Swinburne Research, DVCR&D - Internal contributions
  • 2018: Doing better for vulnerable young parents and their children: an exploration of how the use of technology could catalyse system transformation *; FamilyLife_FL
  • 2018: Safety, risk and wellbeing on digital dating apps *; ARC Linkage Projects Scheme

* Chief Investigator