The Centre is still basking in the glow left from visitors to our first CCI Winter School and our 12th Symposium. Both events were a huge success, with plenty of praise from our Winter School participants on their experience, and from renowned broadcasting and communications expert Malcolm Long on CCI’s contribution to the creative industries in Australia.
As always Centre staff have been nationally and internationally prominent over the past couple of months, with funding success, deepening collaborations, new publications, and significant appointments to external bodies. Four of our PhD candidates have embarked on the two-week Oxford Internet Institute Summer Doctoral Programme, an extraordinarily high representation in such a competitive program.
The feedback from our first Winter School cohort has been overwhelmingly positive. While we’ve much to learn for next time, we’re thrilled with the response and excited by the prospect of the Winter School being an annual event on the CCI calendar. The commitment by participants and mentors to what was an intensive five-day program was extraordinary, the levels of enthusiasm and collaboration as evident at the end of day 5 as in the opening session. A big thanks to Jean Burgess and Julian Thomas and all in our RHD/ECR subcommittee for developing such a stimulating and challenging academic (and social!) program, and to all the mentors who expertly and wholeheartedly shared their experience at such a busy time of the year. A photo stream has been set up on the Winter School website to give you a flavour of how it all unfolded.
The Centre’s 12th Symposium was full of highlights. We were thrilled to welcome the Acting CEO of the Australian Research Council, Leanne Harvey, to open day 1, and QUT’s Vice-Chancellor, Peter Coaldrake, to open day 2. Our international guest speakers Stuart Allan, Anne Galloway Jack Qui and Yong Xiang gave us new insights and fresh directions for our research, while renowned broadcasting and communications expert Malcolm Long reminded us of the rich contribution the CCI has already made and will continue to make to the creative industries in Australia (Read the full speech). We heard from a number of the Centre’s graduates, including international filmmaker Cathy Henkel, about their blossoming careers and CCI’s contribution to their success. It was also wonderful to have displayed all of the recent book and major reports out of the CCI, and to hear from their authors about how their ideas were developed out of their CCI work. We also welcomed members of the International Assocation of Cultural and Creative Industries (IACCI), and we ended the program on a high note with the official handover and invitation by Chiharu Nakamura, Vice President of Kobe University, Japan, to IACCI's 6th symposium.
An exciting program for the next CCI symposium, to be held in Perth, is already well developed and will be publicised soon.
CCI Centre Fellow Jo Tacchi and Associate Researcher Heather Horst are investigators on the new ARC Linkage grant ‘Mobilising media for sustainable outcomes in the Pacific region’, with Linkage partner ABC International Projects. ARC funding for the project is $290,621 from 2012 to 2015.
Jo and Heather have also won a research contract to undertake baseline research for PACMAS, leading a consortium bid that includes strong partnerships with colleagues at Unitec Institute of Technology in New Zealand and the University of Goroka in Papua New Guinea. The research will cover fourteen Pacific island countries across Polynesia, Melanesia and Micronesia to deliver a detailed understanding of the status of Pacific media at a local and regional level. The funding is $281,239 for work to be completed by end of 2012.
John Hartley has recently been elected as one of only six new fellows to the International Communication Association, recognition of a distinguished scholarly contribution to the broad field of communication. The significance of John’s election is difficult to overstate. The ICA is over 60 years old, with over 4,300 members in 80 countries, and only 89 ICA Fellows have ever been elected, including such greats as George Gerbner and James Carey. Only 12 of these have been elected from outside of the US, and the only other Australian Fellow is Cindy Gallois (Emeritus Professor at the University of Queensland). We congratulate John on this deserved recognition of his scholarly influence and productivity.
Another significant ICA appointment is Terry Flew’s appointment to its Executive Board. Terry will serve as an ICA Board Member-at-Large representing Oceania and Africa during 2012-13.
Stuart Cunningham has been appointed to the NSW Government's Creative Industries Taskforce, a new industry-led body set up to develop strategies to drive growth, innovation and productivity in the creative industries sector. NSW Deputy Premier and Minister for Trade and Investment Andrew Stoner said Stuart’s appointment to the Creative Industries Taskforce will ensure that the Taskforce has a strong data and research base and that his passion and expertise will be invaluable. Stuart is, notably, the only taskforce member from outside New South Wales.
Stuart has also been appointed a director of Screen Queensland. Queensland Arts Minister Ros Bates said "... new members have invaluable experience across a broad range of industries and will bring a wide range of expertise to the table". He also continues this year on the National Cultural Policy reference group.
Jo Tacchi has been appointed as the Communication for Development (C4D) specialist to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s PACMAS program Technical Advisory Group. The position is part of an AusAID funded initiative which is managed by ABC International Development.
Wiley have recently published John Hartley’s latest book, Digital Futures for Cultural and Media Studies. The book is an ambitious rendering of the digital future from a pioneer of media and cultural studies, a wise and witty take on a changing field, and our orientation to it. Here are some of the reviews:
‘Hartley remains one of the most fearless and original thinkers in contemporary cultural studies.’
- Henry Jenkins, University of Southern California
‘As so often in the past, John Hartley provides a shrewd and honest guide to the cultural and societal implications of the technological and social turbulence we are facing.’
- Larry Gross, University of Southern California
‘The book overflows with smart observations about the state of the media and of media and cultural studies as an academic field, and should be read by all who swim in these waters.’
- Jonathan Gray, University of Wisconsin
‘Hartley roars across disciplines to connect the digital dots between cultural studies, creative industries, journalism, television and much else. This is truly ambitious scholarship which deserves the widest audience.’
- Ian Hargreaves, Cardiff University
CCI researcher and Vice-Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Research Fellow Lucy Montgomery is co-author of the Big Innovation Centre research report UK design as a global industry: International trade and IP. This recently launched report is an investigation into the international supply chain of the UK’s design industry and helps to explain the diverse and international nature of the design supply chain sector, the UK’s role within that chain, and areas where more informed use of IP could benefit the sector.
Four of our PhD candidates have embarked on the two-week Oxford Internet Institute Summer Doctoral Programme. This is an outstanding result in a highly competitive international context. Congratulations to Darryl Woodford, Jonathon Hutchinson, Pip Shea and Sandra Hanchard. We are proud to continue our association with the OII through the programme and we know these four will do us proud. Follow the twitter feed searching #oiisdp.
The latest issue of Cultural Science Journal, ‘New Work in the Cultural Sciences’, showcases the PhD research of eight CCI/QUT doctoral students/graduates. It is part of the CCI's effort to mentor, train and promote its research students. Not only is the issue devoted to their work, but also it was edited by two of them, Thomas Petzold and Krystina Benson.