Heather and Axel AAH fellows
Prof Axel Bruns and Prof Heather Horst elected Fellows of AAH

ADM+S researchers elected Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities

Author  Natalie Campbell
Date 23 November 2023

ADM+S Chief Investigators Prof Heather Horst from Western Sydney University, and Prof Axel Bruns from Queensland University of Technology, have been elected two of 31 new Fellows of the Australian Academy of the Humanities – the highest honour for humanities scholars in Australia.

Academy Executive Director Inga Davis announced the new Fellows on 22 November 2023.

“Our new Fellows represent remarkable achievement across the breadth of the humanities. Their contributions to the cultural and social tapestry of Australia cannot be overstated,” said Inga.

Prof Horst was acknowledged for her research around human and cultural aspects of digital technologies.

A sociocultural anthropologist by training, Heather researches material culture and the mediation of social relations through digital media and technology.

Her current research examines the circulation of music in Melanesia (especially PNG) through mobile technologies, the global Fijian fashion system as well as ethnographic research on Automated Decision-Making in different national contexts.

Prof Horst said, “it’s an honour to be recognised and to join such an esteemed group of colleagues to further strengthen and sustain the humanities in Australia and internationally.”

Prof Bruns was acknowledged for his journalistic work in aspects of digital media, news & politics.

Axel’s current work focusses on the study of user participation in social media spaces, and its implications for our understanding of the contemporary public sphere, drawing especially on innovative new methods for analysing ‘big social data’.

“Well beyond my own efforts, this is also a great recognition of the strengths of our collective work in the QUT Digital Media Research Centre and Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society – so much of the work I do relies on the great team of researchers we have assembled in these centres,” said Axel.

The Australian Academy of the Humanities is an independent, not-for-profit organisation with a Fellowship of over 700 humanities leaders championing their unique role in understanding the past, explaining the world we live in, and imagining and shaping the future.

In total 40 new members were elected to the Australian Academy of Humanities Fellowship including Fellows, Corresponding Fellows, and Honorary Fellows. Read the full list of new members on the Australian Academy of the Humanities website.

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