NICHOLAS CARAH

Email
n.carah@uq.edu.au
Prof Nicholas Carah is a Chief Investigator at The University of Queensland node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making & Society (ADM+S).
Nicholas is the Director of the Centre for Digital Cultures and Societies in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and Professor in the School of Communication and Arts at The University of Queensland. He is Deputy Director of the Australian Internet Observatory.
Nicholas’ research examines the algorithmic, promotional and participatory cultures of digital media platforms. He is currently a Chief Investigator on the ARC Discovery Project ‘The Australian experience of automated advertising on digital platforms’ and Linkage Project ‘Young Australians and the promotion of alcohol and nightlife on social media’. He is an investigator on a New Zealand Marsden Fund project examining young people, digital media and limbic capitalism. Across these research activities Nicholas’ research has offered a sustained and unique account of the foundational role advertising plays in the development of digital and social media platforms and their cultures.
Nicholas has also undertaken significant engagement with policy-makers in Australia and internationally about the use of digital media by alcohol marketers. He has contributed to expert consultations, reports and public talks by the World Health Organisation, Australian Medical Association, Public Health Association of Australia, Vichealth and Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education.
His research has been published in Media, Culture & Society, Social Media & Society, New Media & Society, Television & New Media, Convergence, Consumption, Markets & Culture, and Mobile Media & Communication.
He is the author of Media & Society: Power, Platforms and Participation (2015, 2021, 2025), Brand Machines, Sensory Media and Calculative Culture (2016), and Pop Brands: branding, popular music and young people (2010). He is the co-editor of Digital Intimate Publics and Social Media (2018) and the forthcoming Conflict in My Outlook in partnership with curators at the UQ Art Museum.
Nicholas is also an award-winning teacher and has made contributions to developing cutting-edge curriculum in digital media, communication and cultural studies. He was a UQ Teaching Fellow (2018) and has been awarded the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Award for Teaching Excellence (2019) and The University of Queensland Award for Teaching Excellence (2020) for his contributions to student partnership, blended learning and curriculum development relating to digital media.


