Dr Amber Marshall

Biography

Dr Amber Marshall is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at QUT's Digital Media Research Centre, and an Adjunct Research Fellow at The Cairns Institute, James Cook University.

Dr Marshall’s research focuses on digital inclusion and sustainable rural development. Drawing on communication and organisation sciences, she employs socio-technical theoretical perspectives to investigate how individuals, organisations and communities become digitally connected and adopt digital technologies. Her research interests include digital AgTech and data, digital inclusion ecosystems, remote telecommunications infrastructure (both technical and social), and digital skills and capability development. Amber principally employs ethnographic methods (co-design, participant observation, interviews, focus groups) to immerse herself in rural contexts, and strives to develop research outputs that translate into actionable options for local stakeholders.

Aside from her focus on rural communities, Amber’s work takes in other groups with significant digital inclusion challenges, such as low-income families, people living with a disability, and Indigenous communities. Amber has published in top communication and rural studies journals, presented her work at national and international conferences, produced many high-quality industry/policy-focused reports, and developed several evidenced-based resources for use by front line agencies. She has attracted substantial government and commercial research funding through her extensive network of partner organisations in Australia.