Student research projects

Jacob Hedges, PhD candidate 
Supervisor: Dr Robert Sazdov 
Organisation: Dolby Australia 

Jacob’s PhD thesis seeks to address the challenge of understanding the relationship of audio and immersive experience. This is planned as 2 stages: firstly, to develop a research tool for the subjective measurement of the influence of audio on immersive experience in extended reality (XR). Secondly, to investigate the effectiveness of audio production techniques that are intended at increasing the level of immersive experience through a practice-based approach in creating an audio-visual composition in VR that utilises and tests these techniques. 

So far, the work done has included an extensive literature review of immersive experience, questionnaire design, and audio production techniques for VR. Alongside this a small pilot study was conducted to test the questionnaire being developed.  

The results from the pilot study included quantitative data in the form of questionnaire responses, as well as semi-structured interviews to gain insights about users' understanding of the questionnaire items and the concept of immersion. The results show promise for this approach and so a larger study is being planned for early next year. For the VR composition, an early prototype build is being made to begin testing the audio production techniques uncovered in the literature review. The goal is to use the questionnaire alongside the development of the VR compositions to inform creative practice in terms of understanding the user experience of immersive audio. 

Student: Raymond Ayilu, PhD Candidate 
Supervisor: Associate Professor Michael Fabinyi 
Industry: Seafood industry

The blue economy and/or blue growth paradigms aim to stimulate economic growth and development through ocean-related industries. As terrestrial resources deplete, it is projected that the ocean economy will emerge as an economic frontier to fuel global economic growth and development, industrialisation, and innovation.  

Many industries are associated with the blue economy, such as aquaculture, industrial fishing, oil and gas sectors, seabed mining, port and shipping, economic zones, etc. The problem with the blue economy inspirations is that it presents risk to the livelihood of some coastal populations who integral part of the ocean economy, particular small-scale fishing.  

This research seeks to identify the livelihood gaps in the blue economy industries using the case of small-scale fishing livelihood in the global south where they remain very prominent.  The study ultimately would provide evidence for stakeholders to ensure blue economy industries are more socially equitable and just. 

So far, I have published a global review in renowned journal to show the emerging narrative of small-scale fishing livelihoods by proponent of blue economy industries and to draw global attention to the injustices and marginalisation of coastal population. I have presented papers at conferences in Asia-Pacific and in Africa, attended by practitioners, government representatives and scholars/researchers. The research focuses on two blue economy industries - industrial fishing and massive port expansion - and their interactions with fishing communities along the coast.

Student: Monica Galassi, PhD candidate 
Industry: Museums and Archives 
Supervisor: Associate Professor Ilaria Vanni Accarigi 

European expansionism and colonialism had and continues to have a drastic impact on First Nations peoples, especially in the loss of identity, language and culture. The direct appropriation of land, subjugation and massacres of First Nations peoples, and suppression of language and culture by the agents of colonial powers were accompanied by recording and mis-recording of histories, languages and cultures by travellers, ethnologists and missionaries from the colonial powers and from other European countries. In Australia, a range of authors (explorers, missionaries, surveyors, anthropologists, government officials and private individuals) wrote diaries, journals, official documents, drawings and took photographs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. As part of the Australian colonial project a considerable amount of this information was sent to collecting institutions in Australia and overseas, and exchanged and sold among European collecting institutions, churches, cultural societies, and private collectors. Some of these records were sent to Italian collecting institutions and to the Vatican, where they are still held.  

Although a number of studies have examined displaced archives of countries which went through a formal decolonisation process, less attention has been dedicated to First Nations archival records displaced worldwide. Specifically, there is a gap in the analysis of archives related to the histories and experiences of First Nations peoples which have been displaced in nations which weren’t former settler colonies of Australia, such as Italy. This is because this patrimony is entangled in multiple layers of power and interests, therefore there is no agreed framework to manage its access and/or return to their communities of origin. As a result, these records are often unknow to communities and researchers alike and there are not agreed guidelines for their management. 

To respond to this gap, this PhD research explores what principles and strategies will facilitate culturally appropriate access by First Nations peoples to displaced archives, focusing on the histories, complexities, and opportunities of the Italian case. Its key aim is to open up spaces of dialogue for centring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices and aspirations and for giving back unidentified information in displaced archives through: (1) working with and for Aboriginal communities to foster their rights to these records; (2) deepening the understanding of Australian history and the transnational relationships among European countries and colonial powers; and (3) developing a critical practice to work with/on displaced archives. I argue that opening spaces for dialogue between institutions and communities provides invaluable opportunities to support Indigenous data sovereignty, increase knowledge of colonial history and contribute to the international theorical debate around displaced archives. 

Framed in an Indigenous paradigm, the research draws on Decolonising methodologies and my own standpoint to gather data from a variety of sources to provide a holistic and relational set of findings to investigate the many opportunities and complexities deep seated in First Nations displaced archives. This research project seeks to explore Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander displaced archives in Italy, by: (1) investigating the gaps in knowledge of archival holdings that are largely silenced by Anglophone narratives and that are in general understudied, (2) learning from the process of redirecting copies of a sample of these records to Aboriginal peoples and communities, and (3) gathering data on the needs and desires of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on the future of these archives.    

In mid-2021, I was invited to curate a section of the exhibition titled Breakfast in Melbourne and Lunch at Yokohama (Room 4), at the Castello D'Albertis Musuem in Genoa, Italy, curated by the Museum’s Director Maria Camilla De Palma in collaboration with Ken Orchard, an Australian scholar and international expert in the life and work of the German photographer J. W. Lindt. Showcased at the Museum from November 2021 to March 2022, this exhibition brought together the memories and the objects that captain D’Albertis collected during his first trip around the world, of which he brought back to the Castle in 1878. The Museum also wanted to use the exhibition as an opportunity to bring visibility to the staged photographs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples taken by the photographer J. W. Lindt. These images included, in addition to some copies already present in Australian collections, a set that appear to include photos of Aboriginal peoples that are unique.  

Writer and curator Marika Duczynski (Gamilaraay and Mandandanji) was invited as cultural consultant for the development of the display. This collaborative work was undertaken to raise awareness and create a space of reflection among the Italian public on the importance of archival records scattered across Europe for the support of self-determination and sovereignty of Aboriginal Peoples and Communities.  

In summary, the development of the display focused on: (a) Share with the public the research to identify the Aboriginal peoples represented in the Museum photographs, and to reflect on why this process is important; (b) Share stories and build knowledge of Aboriginal Australian histories and cultures; (c) Promote an idea of Aboriginal cultures which are current, strong, vibrant and overcome stereotypes; and (d) Propose examples of how to apply cultural protocols to an exhibition held outside Australia that contain images of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 

Dr. Mayanne Lafontaine (FASS PhD Graduate 2022) 
Supervisor: Distinguished Professor Jim Macnamara 
Organisation: Cancer Institute NSW/NSW Government 

iCanQuit is a quit smoking website that includes a section called 'Stories and Experiences' where users can submit stories about their quit smoking experience. Reporting on the effectiveness of iCanQuit focused on website visits which does not give indication of how the support site helps quitters on their quit journey, or if the site supports long-term behaviour change. 

Publicly available posts between 2012 and 2017 were extracted from the website for analysis. Four sub-groups of quitters were identified: 'newbies' (quit for 0-3months), 'resisters' (quit 3-6months), 'successful quitters' (quit for 6-12months) and 'long-time quitters' (quit for over12months). In-depth analysis was then conducted on 15 successful quitters to provide deeper insights into the benefits of user interaction.  

This research has led to the creation of a framework of insights that uncovers the significant change that individuals experience as they quit smoking and the value of connecting with others that validates that they are not alone.    

Student: Yvonne Young, PhD Graduate  
Supervisor: Professor Nick Hopwood and Dr Donna Rooney
Organisation: Tasmanian Department of Education child and family centres 

This project took a practice-based, spatial approach and focused on the informal spaces in the Tasmanian Department of Education child and family centres. These centres aim to deliver integrated services to families with children under 5, and are state government run centres where health and education services such as child health nurses, and early education teachers are co-located. 

Integrated Service Delivery is not a new idea. It has been regarded as the best practice to support families for a long time. However, putting it into practice is not easy. Most prior studies are evaluative and have paid little attention to how practice can unfold in informal spaces.  

Three hundred hours of participant observation and forty interviews were conducted with parents/carers, staff and volunteers. Data analysis revealed that these spaces are not just physical spaces. They are practiced spaces. Hanging out, practices around food and negotiating were identified as the three key practices. These practices created opportunities to connect, leading to integrated service delivery.  

This study points to the idea that these spaces must be taken seriously. They are an important part of how Integrated Service Delivery gets done.  

Having fresh eyes and ears on our practice was a privilege… This type of research is rare and I am positive that there will be significant recommendations. As the Child and Family Centre landscape changes with the inclusion of more centres, Yvonne’s work will be of much interest.

The Child and Family Centre

The Child and Family Centre that I worked with also used a transcript of my 3-minute thesis as part of an application for community grant funding, and also used my video for advocacy work. Watch the video below:
 

Transcript

i'm yvonne young and i'm a phd candidate

at uts i'm nick hopwood i work here at

uts and i'm yvonne's supervisor my phd

researchers in education

and it's about integrated service

delivery with a focus on spatial

practices

i was really keen to supervise yvonne's

research because we have a shared

interest in

things that

make things easier for families who are

having it tough in life

we met through a center in tasmania that

supports families who have challenging

conditions so we share that common

interest

but also yvonne herself she comes with a

huge curiosity

and an open mind and that's what makes

phd special to us as academics and so

supervising a project like that is a

real privilege the first five years of a

child's life is when it really happens

and it actually affects them for the

rest of their lives

children are in families so we need to

support the families to support the

children when i was working i used to be

frustrated by the system i was in i used

to work so hard to support families and

then realize that

actually the system was failing me and

them

and so what i love about research is i

can try to work out better ways of

understanding things that we can do

things better what i'm looking at is

informal space

it just matters so much

i like my research because it is

grounded and practical

yvonne spent a lot of time hanging out

in these informal spaces across tasmania

and the point of doing that is so we can

really listen to the world and respond

to it and not come to the conclusions

that we thought were going to be true

but the ones that actually are

and that kind of starting point was just

so fascinating nobody thought of looking

there before to find the answers to how

we can best really support families so

everyone saw that as like the potential

and as a researcher when you find those

little kind of nuggets where you're like

oh

that's cool something is going on there

but nobody knows yet nobody's even

bothered to look

that's amazing because from that a whole

load of things can unravel a phd it's a

chance you get you know when you're

working you're under rules and

conditions and you have to do things

certain ways doing a phd you actually

can do something that really excites you

and interests you it's doing something

that i really care about

[Music]

English (auto-generated)

 

Dr. Andrew McCowan (FASS 2022 PhD Graduate) 
Industry: Australian Advertising Industry 
Supervisor: Distinguished Professor Jim Macnamara 

This research was into the practice of advertising development and how it is changing as a result of the data created by the digital age. Advertising agency practice evolved during the twentieth century to blend intuitive and informed creativity within the organisational structures of advertising agencies and their processes related to the development of an advertising campaign direction.  

In this application of organisational creativity, key individual ‘creative’ practitioners applied subjective judgement to provide intuitive creativity, while other, ‘strategic’ practitioners gathered relevant information about the product, consumers and marketing and cultural context and used it to inform the further application of creativity within the campaign development process.  

However, in the first decades of the twenty-first century, through digitalisation and datafication, advertising practice has come to be influenced by deductive and analytical techniques involving behavioural, attitudinal and involvement data provided by new marketing and communications technologies. It is claimed by advocates in the industry, that this use of data will afford precision advertising, which will enable more effective and cost-efficient campaigns than could be developed using more traditional and intuitive practices.  

By considering this development of practice, conducting a content analysis of a purposive selection of case studies and holding interviews among experienced practitioners, this thesis raises questions about whether the application of creativity to advertising development is being changed by these emerging techniques, and if it is, what that means for the concept of the advertising idea.  

It goes on to develop a theoretical and practice-led perspective about whether the advertising idea concept will continue to be a relevant tool for advertising development in the future, or whether the new methods have made it unnecessary. 

Student: Bridget Mullany, PhD Graduate   
Supervisor: Michael Fabinyi 
Industry: Coral Reef Governance and Coral Restoration in Philippines 

Coral reefs are immensely important to marine ecosystems and the primary and secondary industries they support. In the Philippines, coral reefs contribute substantially to many coastal communities’ socio-economic systems. However, approximately a third of the Philippines coral reefs have been lost in the last decade due to the increased frequency of climate caused bleaching events, and illegal or unregulated fishing techniques.  

In response to this, coral reef restoration (CRR) practises are increasingly employed with the aim to recover degraded reefs. A large investment from The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) will see the expansion of larval enhancement CRR across 4 sites in the Philippines (Northern Luzon, Cebu, Palawan, Verde Island Passage).  

With finite resources and the increasing dire situation for reefs across the world, decisions must be made where to invest resources. Alongside the ACIAR project, my project will investigate the relationship between coral reefs and coastal communities, at the 4 sites, to identify what geographical, economic, and social contexts will allow for successful CRR projects, and where they should be prioritised.  

This project is in its infancy. To date I have completed an extensive literature review on my topic, and I am currently exploring potential fieldwork and data collection methods. In October 2022 I took my first scoping trip to the Philippines and met with local government officials, fishers, tourism operators and coral reef scientists.  

Dr. Michelle Platcher: FASS 2022 PhD Graduate 
Industry Doctorate Programme, sponsored by the The Starlight Children’s Foundation    
Supervisor: Distinguished Professor Jim Macnamara   

There is an awareness among medical health professionals, researchers and community advocacy groups of the need to provide young people living with an illness or disability with developmental, psychosocial interventions and support in addition to the clinical care of their primary health condition. These interventions recognise adolescence and emerging adulthood as an important life stage for engaging in novel peer and social environments, including online platforms to experiment, explore and establish a unique sense of self. However, while young people living with a condition may be as healthy and resilient as their peers in moving through the developmental trajectory, they are also vulnerable to specific psychosocial challenges, including being at a greater risk of experiencing social isolation, exclusion, stigmatisation and bullying due to their condition inhibiting their participation in peer driven settings or marking them out as different among their peers because of the visibility of their condition. Therefore, it’s important to provide safe spaces for young people to connect with peers who understand their health challenges, but who can also support their need to be a young person beyond their condition. Online communities and social media platforms are a promising avenue for this intervention. However, while these online platforms have become valuable sources of informational, emotional and tangible condition support providing patient expertise into the illness or disability experience, young people fail to reach-out (help-seeking) or sustain participation (engagement) in these communities because of the issue of becoming overly defined or negatively defined by their condition online to the detriment of the expression of their young person self.  

The Starlight Children’s Foundation’s Livewire.org.au online community for young people living with a condition, strives to foreground youth culture and the expression of the young person, while providing a safe space for peer support around the shared understanding and lived experience of illness and disability. The ‘cultural model’ of the site warrants investigation to understand how this ‘dual approach’ to youth and condition concerns can support young people’s developmental- and condition- based needs, while providing insight on how best to encourage help-seeking and engagement behaviour online. 

The research conducted an ethnographic or netnographic investigation using a constructivist approach to understand how the Starlight Children’s Foundation’s online community Livewire.org.au, functioned as a developmental, psychosocial intervention for young people living with a diversity of conditions. It explored the developmental appropriateness of the site in relation to the peer norms and culture enacted and embodied online and how this impacted young people in their ability to engage in the developmental tasks of (a) forming and maintaining peer and mentor connections online and (b) exploring and establishing a unique sense of self within the context of these social interactions and experiences. It also examined this development in relation to the two social identities of being (a) a young person and building peer connections around youth culture, and being (b) someone with a condition and forging peer connections around the illness or disability experience. It used the research methods of participant observation, online focus groups, online interviews and fieldnotes, and apriori and emergent coding with positioning theory for the data analysis. 

The research demonstrated the importance of adopting a ‘dual approach’ to designing developmental, psychosocial interventions for young people living with a condition online. This involves operationalising the construct of ‘developmental appropriateness’ through prevention and promotion strategies to create medically safe spaces for young people to discuss condition concerns, but which at the heart remain medically free spaces to celebrate youth culture and foreground the young person beyond their condition. This enhances the legitimacy of community interventions by building confidence in these services from clinicians and parents through prevention’s emphasis on safety, but which forge credibility among youth through promotion’s tendency to celebrate the individual and youth culture. This facilitates a diverse exploration of young people’s youth and condition- based selves online, essential for supporting their help-seeking and engagement behaviour. However greater exploration in depth of young people’s condition-based selves was necessary to support integrating their condition into their broader identity. The site’s youth-oriented moderation model with adult chat-hosts was crucial to the success of this ‘dual approach’ to developmental appropriateness.  

Our industry PhD is an exploratory study of Starlight’s Livewire.org.au online community for young people living with an illness or disability. The research explores how social media interventions can be a uniquely effective strategy for enhancing the psychosocial health and well-being of this vulnerable cohort. 

We choose an industry sponsored PhD because our internal research team is fairly small and were looking for a partner who could bring a breadth of expertise to the problem. We wanted an institution that had international credibility and was recognised for both its quality of research and appreciation for innovation – UTS fit the bill. 

As an organisation, we’re passionate children and young people reaching their potential. We wanted to provide an opportunity for a young researcher to look at this problem in depth and offer some significant work around it.  Our PhD student Michelle had two supervisors at UTS, one from communication and one from health. She has completed her PhD and hopes to continue to make an impact with her findings. She brings experience, insight and passion to her work.

Student: Indra Mckie, PhD Candidate 
Supervisor: Associate Professor Bhuva Narayan 
Organisation: Westpac Group 

This project examines the relationships everyday people are building with voice assistants, as well how their relationship with other humans evolve and adapt to the presence of a shared talking artificial intelligence in the home. In her fieldwork Indra examines how herself and others are ‘socially constructing an understanding of their AI companions, discovering new uses and perceptions based on their digital literacy, and constantly negotiating the interplay of sociomaterial human bodies and the artificial intelligence. 

The results of this project inform the design of chatbots and voice assistants, where recommendations for future development come as a product of this research. Implications from this study will inform practices towards creating a sustainable tool that will enhance the human experience, enabling us to better understand the implications of collaborative experiences of voice assistants. 

Indra’s research project has helped her to advise on the development and strategic design of one of Westpac’s artificial capabilities; Astro, a chatbot helping Westpac staff find answers and access information. From helping to develop Astro’s tone of voice, conversational design and reporting measures, her research has helped shape chatbot best practice at Westpac.  

We equip over 40,000 employees with vital and timely information to help them support our customers through our chatbot Astro. Already Indra has inspired my team to think out of the box on how we approach designing digital experiences through our chatbots. She is highly collaborative, is always the first to ask questions, critique and critically analyse our processes, which helps us to continuously evolve as a team. 

Westpac Group  

Student Dr. Michael Camit (FASS graduate 2021) 
Industry: South Western Sydney Local Health District 
Supervisor: Distinguished Professor Jim Macnamara 

There is growing evidence of the potential of social media for health promotion. However, very little is known about how culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) communities use and can benefit from social media related health communication. 

Using a participatory action research approach, this research documents the experience of 26 community leaders from diverse migrant and refugee backgrounds who attended monthly social media workshops for six months. The researcher facilitated the workshops and for three years maintained regular contact with participants through a closed Facebook page as well as through individual contact. After three years, participants were invited to reflect on their experience of using social media for health communication for themselves and their communities. 

The research resulted in establishment of five community pages that continues to act as online referral portals to date. Direct community referrals to social and health services e.g., domestic violence, early childhood clinics, specialist services, mental health services Employment and training opportunities for community members. Crowdfunding was also reported by one group. 

Insights from the research resulted in the Pink Sari Project – a grassroots – crowdfunded campaign that contributed to an increase in screening with women from Indian and Sri Lankan from less than 5% to over 24% in two years. The Pink Sari Project is now run entirely by volunteers.  

The study also resulted in insights on how best to build capacity of migrants and refugee communities in addressing digital health literacy and misinformation.  

Building on the results of the study, Michael has since been engaged to develop a programme for refugee community workers to use social media and address misinformation found online through a programme by the Service for the Rehabilitation of Torture and Trauma Survivors.  

Since the completion of the PhD, Michael has completed the year-long Community Voices programme from Judith Neilsen Institute for Journalism and Ideas, and Media Diversity Australia that helped him apply the results of his PhD. Michael also received a $400,000 grant from NSW Health as part of his work as Health Literacy Manager of South Western Sydney Local Health District to build on his research to pilot an initiative with South West Sydney residents from a refugee background to develop digital health literacy and resilience against misinformation online.  The project titled South Western Sydney Digital Health Literacy and Refugee Project has also enlisted a team from the UTS Health Communication Research Group.