Team - Australian Internet Observatory

AIO Steering Committee

The Australian Internet Observatory is governed by a Steering Committee with representatives from partners and external organisations.

AIO Director

Prof Julian Thomas

Julian Thomas is Distinguished Professor in the School of Media and Communication and Director of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making + Society at RMIT University. Julian is a Board member of the Australian Communications Consumers Action Network (ACCAN), and an Advisory Board member of Humanitech, an initiative of the Australian Red Cross.

AIO Deputy Director

Prof Nicholas Carah

Nic Carah is the Director of the Centre for Digital Cultures and Societies in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and a Professor in the School of Communication and Arts at The University of Queensland. Nic’s research examines the algorithmic, promotional and participatory cultures of digital media platforms.

Partner Lead, ARDC

Ms Jenny Fewster

Jenny Fewster is the HASS and Indigenous Research Data Commons Director at the Australian Research Data Commons (ARDC), with over 20 years of experience in collecting, managing, and disseminating research and cultural heritage data and resources. She is passionate about delivering high-quality research infrastructure and data that meets the diverse needs of HASS and Indigenous researchers.

External Representative

Prof Heather Ford

Dr Heather Ford is an ARC Future Fellow and Professor in the School of Communications at UTS. She is the Coordinator of the UTS Data and AI Ethics Cluster, Affiliate of the UTS Data Science Institute, Associate of the UTS Centre for Media Transition, and a member of the International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE).

Partner Lead, QUT

Prof Dan Angus

Dan Angus is a Professor of Digital Communication in the School of Communication at QUT and Director of the Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC). His novel computational methods have improved our understanding of the nature of communication in medical consultations, conversations in aged care settings, television broadcast, social media, and newspaper reporting.

Partner Lead, University of Melbourne

Prof Chris Leckie

Chris Leckie is a Professor in the School of Computing and Information Systems at The University of Melbourne. Chris has a strong interest in developing AI techniques for a variety of applications in telecommunications, such as cyber security, network management, fault diagnosis and the Internet-of-Things.

Partner Lead, Swinburne University

Prof Anthony McCosker

Anthony McCosker is Professor of Media and Communication and Director of the Social Innovation Research Institute at Swinburne University of Technology. His research addresses digital inclusion and inequalities associated with technology adoption. His current work includes researching community impacts of automation, machine vision and AI technologies.

University of Melbourne

Research Training Manager

Dr Bogdan Mamaev

Deakin University

Former AIO Members

AIO acknowledges the valuable contributions of our former team members, whose work has helped shape the platform, tools and research infrastructure we continue to build today.