DR KIERAN HEGARTY
Email
kieran.hegarty@rmit.edu.au
Website
kieranhegarty.com
Dr Kieran Hegarty is a Research Fellow at the RMIT University node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making & Society (ADM+S).
Kieran’s research explores the social and digital infrastructures required for an inclusive and equitable digital society. He is particularly interested in the role of public and community-based institutions, such as libraries and neighbourhood houses, in underpinning an alternative model of the current digital ecosystem that is grounded in public values.
His research on the entanglement of public libraries in online politics and cultures has been published in Information, Communication and Society, New Media & Society, and Internet Histories.
At the ADM+S, he works on a suite of projects that explore these themes. These include projects on the role of public investment in digital infrastructure in improving outcomes, the role of neighbourhood houses in fostering digital equity, and the role of public libraries in more evenly distributing resources and capabilities around AI technologies.
A sole-authored monograph, on how public library collections are changing in a digital age, will be published by Routledge in 2026.
