I am Distinguished Professor of Information Sciences, Director, Social Change Enabling Impact Platform, and Director, Centre for Human-AI Information Environments at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. I am a Fellow of both the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the international Association for Information Science and Technology. My research examines:
- technology adoption and use (e.g., social media; artificial intelligence tools) by people of all ages
- people’s information behaviours, in the workplace, education, and everyday life
- participatory design and co-design practices
- community engagement & societal research impact
- transdisciplinary research, where interdisciplinary teams partner with industry and community
Previously, I served as Dean (Research and Development) for the Faculty of Health, Arts & Design at Swinburne University of Technology and I’ve held research leadership roles at Charles Sturt University (Australia) and the University of Alberta (Canada). I am a former Director of the International Institute for Qualitative Methodology, and have previously served on the Australian Research Council’s College of Experts.
A former President of both the Association for Information Science and Technology and the Canadian Association for Information Science, I have received research grants from the Australian Research Council, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, the Australian Library and Information Association, and other agencies.
I conduct research on various topics in information behaviour and technology use. My research interests are interdisciplinary in nature. I’ve worked with academics and industry, community, and government colleagues in such disciplines as computing, nursing, paediatric medicine, sociology, digital humanities, fine arts, business, and oenology, among others.
My work explores the social construction of knowledge, community engagement and societal impact, users’ experiences of technology, misinformation and disinformation, qualitative inquiry, and trends in higher education. I use various qualitative, quantitative, and textual approaches to social research, including grounded theory, discourse analysis, and heuristic assessment.