Distinguished Professor
Jean Burgess
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Communication
Biography
Jean Burgess is Distinguished Professor of Digital Media in the Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC) and School of Communication. After serving as the DMRC's founding Centre Director from 2015-2020, she became Associate Director of the national ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society, as well as Convenor of its QUT node, in August 2020. Since 2024, she has been Director of the QUT GenAI Lab. Her research focuses on the social implications of digital media and AI technologies, platforms, and cultures, as well as new and innovative methods for studying and improving the public understanding of them. Her latest book is Everyday Data Cultures (Polity Press, 2022), co-authored with ADM+S colleagues Kath Albury, Anthony McCosker and Rowan Wilken. She is a past member of the ARC College of Experts, and an elected Fellow of the International Communication Association, the Australian Academy of Humanities, and the Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences.Personal details
Positions
- Professor - Digital Media Studies
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Communication
Keywords
generative AI, inernet history, digital media, digital methods, AI and society, automation, platforms, algorithmic culture, TikTok, YouTube
Research field
Communication and media studies, Artificial intelligence, Cultural studies
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- PhD (Queensland University of Technology)
- M.Phil (University of Queensland)
- B. Arts (Hons) (University of Queensland)
- B. Mus (Hons) (University of Queensland)
Professional memberships and associations
Fellow, International Communication Association
Fellow, Australian Academy of the Humanities
Fellow, Queensland Academy of Arts and Sciences
Member, Association of Internet Researchers
Member, International Communication Association
Teaching
Research project supervisor, Masters of Digital Communication, 2023-present.
Curriculum development, Masters of Digital Communication, QUT, 2019
Guest lectures across multiple undergraduate and postgraduate units in Creative Industries Faculty and School of Communication
Unit coordinator, KCZ105, Media and Communication Research Methods, QUT & Chinese University of Hong Kong, 2013 & 2014
Unit co-coordinator, KKP001, Entrepeneurship in the Creative Economy, Creative Industries Faculty, QUT, 2010.
Tutor, KXB101 Introduction to Entertainment, QUT, 2010
Course coordinator, MSTU2000 Music Subcultures and the Media, School of English, Media Studies and Art History, University of Queensland, Semester 1, 2004.
Experience
In addition to the full list of partners associated with the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (see https://admscentre.org.au ), my community, government and industry partnerships have included:
- National Film and Sound Archive
- Telstra
- Australia Post
- Open Data Institute Australian Network
- State Library of Queensland
- Cooperative Research Centres Association (CRCA)
- The Conversation
- True Relationships and Reproductive Health
- Queensland Department of Community Safety
- Eidos Institute
- The Australia Council for the Arts
- Australian Centre for the Moving Image
- Goolarri Media Enterprises
- Briz 31
- Community Broadcasting Association of Australia
- Queensland Museum
- Queensland Association for Healthy Communities
- Gold Coast City Council
Publications
- Burgess, J., Bartolo, L., Gray, J., Hutchinson, J., Kaye, D., Matamoros Fernandez, A., Pappalardo, K. & Wikstrom, P. (2025). 'Diversity' as multidisciplinary keyword for the politics of cultural recommender systems in global digital media platforms. International Journal of Cultural Studies, 28(1), 307–315. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/247860
- Carlon, D., Burgess, J. & Kasianenko, K. (2025). The lives and afterlives of community-created bots on Twitter: A minor history. Convergence, 31(6), 2006–2024. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/257037
- Burgess, J., (2024). Algorithms. In B. Griffen-Foley & S. Turnbull (Eds.), The Media and Communications in Australia (pp. 306–309). Routledge. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/242547
- Burgess, J., Carah, N., Angus, D., Obeid, A. & Andrejevic, M. (2024). Why Am I Seeing This Ad? The affordances and limits of automated user-level explanation in Meta's advertising system. New Media and Society, 26(9), 5130–5149. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/243923
- Burgess, J., (2023). Everyday data cultures: beyond Big Critique and the technological sublime. AI and Society, 38(3), 1243–1244. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/233024
- Burgess, J., Albury, K., McCosker, A. & Wilken, R. (2022). Everyday Data Cultures. Polity Press. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/230856
- Gillett, R., Stardust, Z. & Burgess, J. (2022). Safety for Whom? Investigating How Platforms Frame and Perform Safety and Harm Interventions. Social Media and Society, 8(4). https://eprints.qut.edu.au/237039
- Burgess, J., (2021). Platform Studies. In S. Cunningham & D. Craig (Eds.), Creator Culture: An Introduction to Global Social Media Entertainment (pp. 21–38). NYU Press. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/229183
- Burgess, J. & Baym, N. (2020). Twitter: A Biography. NYU Press. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/201368
- Burgess, J. & Green, J. (2018). YouTube: Online video and participatory culture (2nd Edition) (Digital Media and Society Series). Polity Press. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/215498
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Jean, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Filter publications:
A complete list of publications is available at: https://www.qut.edu.au/about/our-people/academic-profiles/jean.burgess
Awards
- Type
- Fellowship of a Learned Academy or Membership of AIATSIS
- Reference year
- 2021
- Details
- Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities
- Type
- Appointment to State/National/International Reference Group or Government Committees
- Reference year
- 2020
- Details
- Member of the ARC College of Experts (2020-2023)
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2018
- Details
- Recipient of a Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence
- Type
- Editorial Role for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2018
- Details
- Co-editor, International Journal of Cultural Studies, 2018-
- Type
- Keynote Speaker/Expert Panel Member/Invited Speaker for a Conference
- Reference year
- 2015
- Details
- Invited keynote speaker, opening plenary, International Communication Association conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
- Type
- Visiting Professorships/Fellowships
- Reference year
- 2013
- Details
- Visiting Researcher, Microsoft Research New England, February-June 2013
- Type
- Recipient of a Nationally Competitive Research Fellowship
- Reference year
- 2010
- Details
- DP1094281, APD, 2010-2012"New Media and Public Communication: Mapping Australian User-Created Content in Online Social Networks"
Selected research projects
- Title
- Generative AI and the Future of Academic Writing and Publishing
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- DP250100074
- Start year
- 2025
- Keywords
- Title
- Australian Experiences of Algorithmic Culture on TikTok
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- DP240102939
- Start year
- 2024
- Keywords
- Title
- ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADMS)
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- CE200100005
- Start year
- 2020
- Keywords
- Title
- Using Machine Vision to Explore Instagram's Everyday Promotional Cultures
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- DP200100519
- Start year
- 2020
- Keywords
- Title
- Amplifying Public Value: Scholarly Contributions' Impact on Public Debate
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- LP160100205
- Start year
- 2016
- Keywords
- Title
- Developing an innovative entertainment-evaluation model to evaluate the efficacy of digital comedy in engaging young men with sexual health knowledge
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- LP140100226
- Start year
- 2015
- Keywords
- Media And Gender; Healthy Sexual Development; Digital Communication
- Title
- Social media in times of crisis: learning from recent natural disasters to improve future strategies
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- LP120100627
- Start year
- 2012
- Keywords
- Natural Disasters; Social Media; Communication; Media; Internet
- Title
- Digital Storytelling and Co-Creative Media: The Role of Community Arts and Media in Propagating and Coordinating Population-wide Creative Practice
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- LP110100127
- Start year
- 2011
- Keywords
- Co-Creative Media; Community Cultural Development; Digital Storytelling; Digital Media; Community Arts; Community Broadcasting
- Title
- New Media and Public Communication: Mapping Australian User-Created Content in Online Social Networks
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- DP1094281
- Start year
- 2010
- Keywords
- User Created Content; New Media; Public Communication; Internet Studies; Social Networks; Web 2
- Title
- ARC Centre of Excellence - Australian Creative Innovation System
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- SR0590002
- Start year
- 2005
- Keywords
- Creative Industries; Digital Content; Creative Workforce; Intellectual Property; Innovation; International Creative Markerts
Projects listed above are funded by Australian Competitive Grants. Projects funded from other sources are not listed due to confidentiality agreements.
Supervision
Current supervisions
- Generating Truths: Exploring the Intersection of Generative AI and Independent Fact Checking
PhD, Mentoring Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Michelle Riedlinger - Care-Full Alignment: Operationalizing Care Ethics for Human-LLMs Relationships
PhD, Mentoring Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Aaron Snoswell, Dr Ehsan Dehghan - Traditional Chinese Culture Meets Generative AI on Platforms: Rethinking Authenticity in AI-generated Visual Content
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Kevin Witzenberger - Putting the 'You' in 'For You': Understanding User Agency and the Algorithmic Curation of Taste on TikTok
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Patrik Wikstrom, Dr Ariadna Matamoros Fernandez - AI-generated content and internet celebrity: A cross-platform analysis
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Kevin Witzenberger
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- Bots and Other Platform Inhabitants: Stories of Inter-Bot Governance, Automated Play, and Protest on Reddit (2025)
- Decoding the Political Ideology of Dank Meme Subcultures Using Pragmasemiotic Methods (2024)
- Everyday autonomous transactional media: A platform biography of the decentralized video streaming platform DTube (2024)
- The 'Brazilian-ness' of Brazilian YouTube: New Voices, New Platforms, New Television? (2022)
- Queer Diaspora and Digital Intimacy: Chinese Queer Women's Practices for Using Rela and Her in Australia (2021)
- Digitally Mediated Martyrdom: The Visual Politics of Posthumous Images in the Popular Struggle for Social Justice (2020)
- The Logics of Social News: How BuzzFeed, Junkee and Pedestrian.tv are Making News More Engaging, Sociable and Personal (2019)
- Contesting Rumours on Social Media during Acute Events: the 2014 Sydney Siege and 2015 Tianjin Blasts (2018)
- Platformed Racism: The Adam Goodes War Dance and Booing Controversy on Twitter, YouTube, and Facebook (2018)
Completed supervisions (Masters by Research)
Supervision topics
The supervisions listed above are only a selection.