STAFF PROFILE
Professor Rob Cover
Professor of Digital Communication
Rob Cover is Professor of Digital Communication at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia.
He leads a number of major funded research projects on young people, health and wellbeing and digital and broadcast media. The author of around one hundred journal articles and chapters, he publishes widely on topics related to digital cultures in the context of social identities, young people, suicide prevention and resilience.
His recent books include: Queer Youth Suicide, Culture and Identity: Unliveable Lives? (Routledge 2012), Vulnerability and Exposure: Footballer Scandals, Masculinity and Ethics (UWAP Scholarly 2015), Digital Identities: Creating and Communicating the Online Self (Elsevier 2016), Emergent Identities: New Sexualities, Gender and Relationships in a Digital Era (Routledge, 2019), Flirting in the Era of #MeToo: Negotiating Intimacies (with A Bartlett and K Clarke; Palgrave 2019), Population, Mobility and Belonging: Understanding Population Concepts in Media, Culture and Society (Routledge 2020), Fake News in Digital Cultures (with A Haw and JD Thompson, Emerald 2022), Identity and Digital Communication: Concepts, Theories, Practices (Routledge 2023), Identity in the COVID-19 Years: Communication, Crisis, and Ethics
(Bloomsbury, in press).
He is a co-editor of the anthologies Youth, Sexuality and Sexual Citizenship (Routledge 2019), Queer Studies and Education: An International Reader (Oxford University Press, 2024) and The Routledge Handbook of Sexuality, Gender, Health and Rights (Routledge 2024).
Recent books
- Queer Youth Suicide, Culture and Identity: Unliveable Lives?
- Vulnerability and Exposure: Footballer Scandals, Masculine Identity and Ethics
- Digital Identities: Creating and Communicating the Online Self
- Emergent Identities: New Sexualities, Genders and Relationships in a Digital Era
- Flirting in the Era of #MeToo: Negotiating Intimacy (with A Bartlett and K Clarke)
- Population, Mobility and Belonging: Population Concepts in Media, Culture and Society
- Fake News in Digital Cultures (with A Haw and JD Thompson)
- Identity and Digital Communication: Concepts, Theories, Practices
- (Coming soon, November 2023) Identity in the COVID-19 Years: Communication, Crisis and Ethics
Current and recently-completed arc projects
- AusQueerScreen: Representation of Gender and Sexual Diversity in Australian Film and Television, 1990-2010 (ARC Discovery DP180103321)
- LGBTQ Migrations: Life Story Narratives in the South Australian GLAM Sector(ARC Linkage LP180100251)
- Queer Generations: Belonging and sexual citizenship among gender and sexual minority youth (ARC Discovery (ARC Discovery DP150101292)
- Addressing Online Hostility in Australian Digital Cultures (ARC Discovery DP230100870)
- BA Hons (UWA), PhD (Monash)
- Communication strategist, Queensland Government (2006-2007)
- Freelance journalist (1990s)
- Cover, R. (2023). Straight and cisgender actors playing queer and trans characters: the views of Australian screen stakeholders In: Media, Culture and Society, 45, 57 - 73
- Cover, R.,Parker, L.,Ostapets, E. (2023). Entertaining information: Third-party influencers’ role in COVID-safety health communication In: Media International Australia, , 1 - 15
- Parker, L.,Cover, R.,Young, C.,Ostapets, E. (2023). Culture and Health Communication: Engaging Social Media Influencers to Reach Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Communities In: Beyond the Dark Arts: Advancing Marketing and Communication Theory and Practice, World Scientific, Singapore
- Cover, R. (2023). Identity and Digital Communication: Concepts, Theories, Practices, Taylor and Francis, United Kingdom
- Cover, R. (2022). Australian queer screen stakeholders and creative artists: perceptions of value, motivation and impact of LGBTQ+ Australian film In: Studies in Australasian Cinema, 16, 35 - 48
- Cover, R. (2022). Digital hostility: contemporary crisis, disrupted belonging and self-care practices In: Media International Australia, 184, 79 - 91
- Cover, R. (2022). Deepfake culture: the emergence of audio-video deception as an object of social anxiety and regulation In: Continuum, 36, 609 - 621
- Cover, R. (2022). Digital hostility, subjectivity and ethics: Theorising the disruption of identity in instances of mass online abuse and hate speech In: Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, , 1 - 14
- Cover, R.,Haw, A.,Thompson, J. (2022). Remedying disinformation and fake news? The cultural frameworks of fake news crisis responses and solution-seeking In: International Journal of Cultural Studies, 26, 216 - 233
- Cover, R.,Thompson, J.,Haw, A. (2022). The Spectre of Populist Leadership: QAnon, Emergent Formations, and Digital Community In: Media and Communication, 10, 118 - 128
- Addressing Online Hostility in Australian Digital Cultures. Funded by: ARC-Discovery Projects from (2023 to 2026)
- Evaluation of CALD Youth Content Campaign (OPP-68827). Funded by: Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (Victoria Government) from (2021 to 2022)
- LGBTQ Migrations: Life Story Narratives in the South Australian GLAM Sector (Administered by University of Adelaide). Funded by: ARC Linkage Project Grants 2018 from (2020 to 2023)
- LGTBQ Representation in Australian Film and TV: Culture, Pedagogy, Health. Funded by: ARC Discovery Projects 2018 from (2018 to 2022)
6 PhD Current Supervisions