Associate Professor Catherine Gomes

Catherine Gomes is an Associate Professor in RMIT's School of Media and Communication.

Catherine is an ethnographer whose work contributes to the understanding of the evolving migration, mobility and digital media nexus. As a migration and mobility scholar, Catherine specialises on the social, cultural and communication spaces of transient migrants, especially international students, their wellbeing and their digital engagement. 

Catherine's work covers the themes of identity, ethnicity, race, memory and gender. She is a specialist on the Asia-Pacific with Australia and Singapore being significant fieldwork sites. Catherine has also written about gender and audience reception in Chinese cinemas, and multiculturalism in Singapore cinema. 

Catherine's research has appeared in numerous journals (e.g. Current Sociology, Journal of Youth Studies, Creative Industries and Asian Ethnicity). Her recent books include Siloed Diversity: Transnational Migration, Digital Media and Social Networks (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), Transnational Migrations in the Asia-Pacific: Transformative Experiences in the Age of Digital Media (with Brenda S.A. Yeoh, Rowman & Littlefield, 2018), Transient Mobility and Middle Class Identity: Media and Migration in Australia and Singapore (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), International student connectedness and identity: transnational perspectives (with Ly Thi Tran, Springer, 2017), The Asia Pacific in the Age of Transnational Mobility: The Search for Community and Identity on and through Social Media (Anthem Press, 2016), Quality Assurance in Asia-Pacific Universities Implementing Massification in Higher Education (with Deane E. Neubauer, Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) and Multiculturalism through the Lens: A Guide to Ethnic and Migrant Anxieties in Singapore (Ethos Books, 2015).

Catherine is leader of the Migration, Digital Mobilities and Diverse Communities Research Lab (formerly Migration and Digital Media Research) housed in the Digital Ethnography Research Centre (DERC), co-convenes the AsiaPacific@RMIT Seminar Series and leads the Mobilities Reading Group. She is also founding editor of Transitions: Journal of Transient Migration (Intellect Books). Catherine was also a recipient of an Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher (DECRA) in 2013-2016. She has held Visiting Research Fellowships at the Singapore Management University and Nanyang Technological University.

Currently Catherine teaches in the Asian Media and Culture stream.

ARC DECRA Research Website: http://translatingimpermanence.org/