Faculty/School

Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice

Topic status

We're looking for students to study this topic.

Research centre

Digital Media Research Centre

Primary Supervisor

Dr Kim Osman
Position
Senior Research Fellow
Division / Faculty
Faculty of CI, Education & Social Justice

External supervisors

  • Dr Aimee Hourigan, Research Fellow, ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child

Overview

Parents and carers are having to respond to significant changes in the digital media environment, like the social media ban and AI to support their children’s education and play. This project will explore what resources parents and carers want to support their digital parenting, and what is currently available to them. This topic is part of a larger 3-year interdisciplinary project aimed at improving opportunities for parents to improve their digital media literacies. Parents and community members in five communities around Australia will participate in Social Living Labs to develop resources for digital parenting.

The topic is attached to the ARC Linkage Project “Promoting low-income parents’ digital media literacies” (LP240200695).

Research engagement

Students will be engaged with data collection & analysis, resource mapping, data visualisation, report writing, and the creation of an information resource for parents.

Research activities

Students will be working with key members of the Creating Better Digital Futures Research Program in QUT’s Digital Media Research Centre and research fellows from the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child. Students will be supervised by Dr Kim Osman and Dr Aimee Hourigan on a project that explores parents digital media literacy needs and the current resources available to them. Students will be responsible for key parts of the project and have the chance to share their work with both research centres and industry partners like The Smith Family, Good Things Foundation and WorkVentures. Activities will include gathering data from existing sources about parents’ digital literacy needs, and mapping resources like videos, information sheets or courses that are available to Australian parents. Students will analyse data and resources in collaboration with the project team and create a report that synthesises the findings from the two activities, along with an information sheet for parents and care. This report will inform future work in the “Promoting low-income parents’ digital media literacies” research project, and the information sheet will be made available to participating parents and carers.

Research skills

Students will develop a variety of skills including:

-              Project management & independent research capabilities

-              Creative approaches to research translation

-              Technical skills in commonly used collaborative research platforms

-              Data analysis & evaluation

-              Professional research writing skills

-              Subject knowledge in digital media literacy and family-focused policy

Outcomes

The aim of the research project is to understand what digital media literacy resources parents and carers need to support their families, and what resources are currently available to them. The findings will inform future research with parents, carers and their families.

Skills and experience

Students should have an interest in digital media and how it used in Australian families. Skills in data visualisation and/or creative design will also be highly regarded, but are not essential.

Start date

2 November, 2026

End date

19 February, 2027

Location

Digital Media Research Centre, Kelvin Grove

Additional information

Students will be part of two vibrant CIESJ research centres, with desk space at the DMRC on Level 5 in Z9 at KG, and the opportunity to participate in activities offered by both centres.

Keywords

Contact

Kim Osman

31380800

kim.osman@qut.edu.au