Communication Research

Communication Research Overview

The School of Information and Communication Studies engages in a range of research activities across the communication discipline and within a number of areas of practice. Communication academics are active members of research centres and groups, both locally and internationally.

Outlined below are the areas of expertise and research focus for Communication academics at Charles Sturt University:

Dr Rachel Walls

Rachel Walls is an artist and scholar in screen media. Focusing on abstract animation, her research and creative outputs reciprocally engage in histories of visual culture, their technologies, epochs, and attendant cultural ruptures. Rachel's screen media work also questions the value of labour, combining painstaking traditional animation techniques with digital efficiencies that delete the trace of that labour, leaving no ‘sign’ of effort and its speculative value. Rachel is a member of art collective tranSTURM, which creates experiential works for public spaces, events, museums, and galleries. Her scholarly work is informed by postmodern and poststructuralist philosophical frameworks.

Dr Deborah Wise

Deb’s research explores how strategic communication and public relations shape political, environmental, and social change, with a focus on discourse, identity, and legitimacy. She is also interested in how digital media and emerging technologies like AI are reshaping communication practice, using methods like discourse analysis, case studies and positioning theory.

Science communication

Exploring how public and scientific organisations such as space agencies and museums can more effectively engage with the public through digital and social media, physical exhibition spaces, and the role of traditional media such as television. Research includes career development in the space sector, communicating about palaeontology through podcasts, and the relationship between media, science, and exploration.

Key person: Dr Travis Holland

Social media environments and organisational crisis

Exploring the challenges of paracrisis and the way social media can be used as both a tool and a weapon, with consequent challenges for organisations in managing reputations and supporting key messaging (such as pro-immunisation messaging) in online environments.

Key person: Dr Roslyn Cox