A video camera on a tripod, led floodlight, headphones and microphone in front of a green screen.

Media and Communications

Creating and communicating in a disrupted media environment
Combining scholarly knowledge, industry experience and technical expertise, we are at the forefront of media and communications research and teaching, positioned to respond to the challenges of an ever-changing media landscape.

We bring the critical power of the humanities to bear on all forms of media to investigate rapidly emerging technologies and contemporary content practices. Some of our teaching areas include news and feature journalism, audio and video production, digital cultures, media theory and ethics, social media, public relations and health communications.

Our wide-ranging research and spirit of enquiry leads us to collaborate across the University, and indeed the world, in research partnerships targeting complex issues. We have a particular focus on digital media and digital cultures scholarship.

Our study offering

Digital Cultures critically investigates the internet, new media and digital technologies and examines the roles these play in contemporary life. Explore intelligent, interactive, mobile and networked technologies and become a skilled communicator and critical analyst of new technologies and digital media in Australian and global contexts.

*Available to all students studying the Bachelor of ArtsBachelor of Economics and Bachelor of Visual Arts, as well as all combined Bachelor of Advanced Studies degrees.  

Digital Communication and Culture provides a comprehensive platform from which to engage with digital technologies and their cultural contexts. You will develop a critical understanding of the following areas: aesthetics and politics of computer games and mobile media production; circulation of knowledge in the digital era; diverse meanings and operations of networks; and diverse forms of regulation of the internet.

We encourage research that explores themes in digital communication and culture. We can supervise projects on themes such as social media; new media arts; social robotics; computer games; interactive entertainment and cultural aspects of new technologies.

Media and Communications will provide you with a broad array of skills tailored to meet the needs of this fast-changing landscape. Gain real-world experience in media writing, radio, video and digital media production, and media relations as well as a scholarly and critical education in media and communications theory and practice. 

For research students, supervision is available in many specialised media and communications fields, including communication technologies and digital cultures, literary and slow journalism, public and community broadcasting, media policy and regulation, strategic corporate communication, media literacies, media and youth culture, disability and the media, media relations, magazine studies, philosophy of communications, and cultural politics.

Health Communication delivers core skills to help you become an effective communicator across health and medicine, public affairs, public relations, community relations, and public health journalism. Our unique health communication degrees are the most comprehensive and specialised of their kind in Australia, incorporating the expertise of academic staff in the School of Public Health. 

Media Practice focuses on media industry content production. Areas of study include writing for media, media liaison, broadcast and online journalism, social media communication, ethical and legal issues in the media, and international media practice.

We will teach you the latest skills required for the dynamic world of book, magazine, digital and online publishing, including website production, design and marketing. You will receive professional training with direct vocational applications, as well as a scholarly understanding of publishing, its cultural significance and changing directions.

Strategic Public Relations provides you with an understanding of public relations theory and practice. The course offers a critical approach that encourages you to determine your influence as a practitioner and reflect on how you, in turn, are influenced by dominant discourses and meta-narratives in your own practice.

Our research

  • Digital media transformations
  • Journalism studies
  • Digital cultures
  • Health communications
  • Political communication, media activism and social movements
  • Media political economy and policy
  • Communications, political ecology and the environment

Our people

Events

Visit the Media@Sydney events calendar to see upcoming events and seminars for Media and Communications.

Discipline Chair

Dr Jonathon Hutchinson

Media and Communications

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