STAFF PROFILE
Professor Julian Thomas
Julian Thomas is Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, and a Distinguished Professor in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University. He has written widely about digital inclusion, automation and other topics relating to the pasts and futures of new communications and computing technologies. His publications include Wi-Fi (Polity 2021; with Ellie Rennie and Rowan Wilken), Measuring the Digital Divide: the Australian Digital Inclusion Index (Telstra, 2016-2021), Internet on the Outstation: The Digital Divide and Remote Aboriginal Communities (INC, 2016), and The Informal Media Economy (Polity, 2015).
Thomas was elected to the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2017, and is a member of the Academy's Council. Among other roles he is also a member of the Board of the Australian Communications Consumers Action Network, Humanitech (a venture of the Australian Red Cross), and the OECD's Global Science Forum's Expert Working Group on Mobilising Science in Crises.
- BA (Honours), PhD, Australian National University.
- Thomas, J. (2022). Reframing culture: Stuart Cunningham's legacies In: Media International Australia, 182, 44 - 47
- Lobato, R.,Thomas, J. (2021). The media geographies of Tom O’Regan In: Media International Australia, 180, 42 - 46
- Thomas, J.,Wilken, R.,Rennie, E. (2021). Wi-Fi, Polity, United Kingdom
- Thomas, J. (2021). ‘Amazon and Automated Recommendations: Distribution and Discovery in the Book Trade’ In: Digital Media Distribution, New York University Press, United States
- Thomas, J.,Barraket, J.,Parkinson, S.,Wilson, C.,Holcombe-James, I.,Kennedy, J.,Mannell, K.,Brydon, A. (2021). Measuring Australia’s digital divide: the Australian digital inclusion index 2021 In: Telstra Melbourne, Australia
- Lobato, R.,Thomas, J. (2020). Formats and Formalization in Internet Advertising In: Format Matters: Standards, Practices, and Politics in Media Cultures, Meson Press, Lüneburg, Germany
- Marshall, A.,Dezuanni, M.,Burgess, J.,Thomas, J.,Wilson, C. (2020). Australian farmers left behind in the digital economy – Insights from the Australian Digital Inclusion Index In: Journal of Rural Studies, 80, 195 - 210
- Thomas, J.,Barraket, J.,Wilson, C.,Holcombe-James, I.,Kennedy, J.,Rennie, E.,Ewing, S.,MacDonald, T. (2020). Measuring Australia’s digital divide: the Australian digital inclusion index 2020 In: Telstra Melbourne, Australia
- Richardson, M.,Thomas, J.,Klein, J. (2019). From ‘Oomoo’ to ‘Oro’: nostalgia labels and cultural policy on the Australian trademarks register In: The Object and Purpose of Intellectual Property, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, United Kingdom
- Thomas, J. (2019). Inside the institutions: Culture and communication from digital transformations to automation In: Cultural Studies Review, 25, 89 - 95
2 PhD Completions5 PhD Current Supervisions
- Digital Inclusion Research Project - Umbrella Agreement. Funded by: Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions (Vic Gov) - Contract from (2022 to 2025)
- Automated Decision Making (VHESIF Pool 1). Funded by: Victorian Higher Education State Investment Fund (VHESIF) - Pool 1 from (2021 to 2025)
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S). Funded by: 009-ARC Centres of Excellence 2014 onward from (2020 to 2027)
- Linked semantic platforms for social & physical infrastructure & wellbeing (administered by Swinburne University of Technology). Funded by: ARC Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) Grant 2018 from (2018 to 2020)
- Cyber Safety in remote Aboriginal Communities. Funded by: Telstra Corporation Limited Contract from (2017 to 2022)