School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, Griffith University

05/10/2026

📚 Publication Alert

Can AI help create emergency alerts that are clearer, more relatable, and easier for communities to act on?

Senior Lecturer in Communication Dr Susan Grantham and PhD Candidate Manolo Iachizzi explore this question in their new article in Media International Australia, ‘Human versus AI-generated emergency alerts: a comparative study for AI emergency communication applications'.

Using Tropical Cyclone Kirrily as a case study, their research examines the capabilities of artificial intelligence to generate emergency alerts and compares AI-generated messages with those created by humans.

The findings highlight the potential of AI as a tool for emergency communication, while emphasising the importance of combining structured risk communication frameworks with human oversight to ensure messages remain effective and trustworthy.

👉 For those with an interest in AI, crisis communication, and media, check it out here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1329878X261490628

30/09/2026

🌟 September HLSS Staff Feature – Dr Bridget Backhaus

This month, we’re featuring Dr Bridget Backhaus, media studies scholar and Senior Lecturer in HLSS.

Bridget’s research explores the role of community and alternative media in social and environmental change. A former community radio journalist and producer, her work examines questions of voice, listening, identity, and participation, drawing on critical and participatory approaches to understand the impacts and interconnections of community media.

Bridget is currently an ARC DECRA Fellow, leading the project 'Beyond Broadcasting: Community Radio as a Model Community Organisation'. The fellowship explores the broader role of community radio within communities, examining how stations function as community infrastructure rather than ‘just’ media outlets.

In this feature, Bridget reflects on her research and DECRA, including a history project undertaken with Triple T in Townsville, as well as her teaching and the development of a new third-year course for our Bachelor of Communication.

Reflecting on her work, Bridget continues to highlight the importance of community media as a space for connection, participation, and social change, and how the humanities and social sciences give us the tools to think critically and to ask tough questions of ourselves and the world around us.

28/09/2026

📖 HLSS in The Conversation

Following the Australian Government's announcement on Federal limits to backpacker numbers and an overhaul of the working holiday-maker visa system, Dr Kaya Barry (HLSS) and Dr Dr Donna James (Western Sydney University) examine what these reforms could mean for regional Australia.

Drawing on research with more than 600 backpackers, as well as employers, industry groups, and community members, the article explores how working holiday makers have become an important part of regional labour markets, particularly in agriculture, and why industry groups have expressed concern about the changes.

🔗 Read "'I want a visa, so I have to do farm work': how new visa rules will hit regional Australia" in The Conversation here:

Expecting backpackers to work in tough conditions for months, only to be entered into an uncertain visa ballot, is a gamble for farmers and regional communities.

14/09/2026

🌎 Looking for a unique study opportunity in 2027?

Dr Matthew Callaghan (HLSS) is leading the Cusco (Spanish Language) Study Tour, offering Griffith students the opportunity to immerse themselves in Spanish language and Peruvian culture while receiving credit towards their degree.

Based in Cusco, Peru, the program combines intensive language learning with cultural experiences, including homestays with local families, cooking classes, market visits, and a day trip to Machu Picchu. Designed to build language proficiency, intercultural understanding, and global confidence, the tour provides students with the opportunity to learn beyond the classroom.

There are also ten $3,000 IEIS Grants available to support student participation.

📅 Provisional dates: 17–30 January 2027
📍 Cusco, Peru

For further information, contact Dr Matthew Callaghan at [email protected].

09/09/2026

🎙️ Politics in the Pub: Our Changing Seas and Us

What does a warming ocean mean for our environment, economy, and sense of place?

Tomorrow night, Associate Professor Kerrie Foxwell Norton (HLSS) will join a panel of experts for 'Politics in the Pub: Our Changing Seas and Us', a conversation exploring the impacts of warming seas, including coral bleaching, species migration, biodiversity loss, and increasingly frequent extreme weather events.

Kerrie will bring her expertise in environmental communication to a discussion that also features oceanographer Professor Helen Bostock, Zoe McLeish (Surf Life Saving Queensland), and marine scientist Jennah Williams, with the event hosted by Elly Pashen (4ZZZ).

The panel will consider how communities are responding to environmental change and what these shifts mean for a nation whose identity is so closely connected to the sea.

📍 The event is being held at Brisbane Powerhouse, and is free to attend. Learn more here:

Our seas are warming, with coral bleaching, species migration and species loss, and extreme weather events becoming more frequent. Already the impacts are being felt- on fishing, tourism, recreation and food security.

08/09/2026

📚 Research Student Feature

For teachers working in under-resourced English as a Second Language (ESL) settings, the promise of a sophisticated learning management system can often feel out of reach. Sometimes there is just a teacher, a classroom of mobile phones, and a determination to provide students with meaningful feedback.

That was the starting point for a doctoral case study by Kyan Mortazavi, a PhD candidate in HLSS, recently featured by Advance HE Australasia and included in the Assessment and Feedback Case Study Compendium 2026.

Rather than asking what new technologies might be needed, Kyan's research explores a simpler question: how might the digital tools students and teachers already use every day be repurposed to support learning?

Focusing on the messaging platform Telegram, the project reimagines familiar features as the building blocks of a lightweight, informal learning management system, demonstrating how meaningful feedback can be supported in resource-constrained educational contexts.

🔗 The feature, titled 'Could Telegram be the unlikely answer to feedback in low-resource classrooms?', can be viewed here:

For teachers working in under-resourced English as a Second Language (ESL) settings, the promise of a slick learning management system can feel pie in the sky. There’s just a teacher, a classroom of mobile phones and a determination to give students meaningful feedback anyway.

31/08/2026

🌟 August HLSS Staff Feature – Dr Kayla Mildren

This month, we’re featuring Dr Kayla Mildren, an ECR and Research Fellow in HLSS.

After completing her PhD in HLSS, Kayla recently joined us as a Research Fellow. In this feature, Kayla discusses her team-based research, teaching, and other independent projects she is currently undertaking with various teams across the School. This includes her work on a major project led by Dr Clarissa Carden and with Professor Barbara Pini and Associated Professor Margaret Gibson. The project, funded by the TAFE Centre of Excellence Health Care and Support, investigates training needs for disability support workers in relation to clients with complex and challenging behaviours. She also regularly teaches both in HLSS and other Schools, and reflects on how teaching across the University informs her practice as an educator.

Kayla is one of many ECRs in HLSS making important contributions across research, teaching, and industry engagement, while helping to shape interdisciplinary research collaborations across the School.

28/08/2026

🗞️ HLSS in the media

Last week, Dr Susan Grantham Senior Lecturer in Communication, joined Steve Austin on ABC612 for a live radio segment. The segment was made even more meaningful because it was produced by Harrison Jan, a former HLSS student who graduated from Griffith University last week and is now filling in at ABC Studios after completing an internship there earlier this year.

Current student Emma Standen was also invited to observe the broadcast and gain firsthand insight into how live radio works. From current student to graduate to industry professional, it was a great example of education coming full circle and the opportunities that emerge when learning and industry connect.

27/08/2026

🏆 Research Student Success

Congratulations to Yasmin Khan, PhD candidate in HLSS, on winning Griffith University's Three Minute Thesis (3MT) Final.

Yasmin's presentation, 'Behind the Bridal Henna', spoke to her PhD thesis which examines the experiences of South Asian women in Australia who experience domestic abuse from mothers-in-law. Through a series of podcasts, her research seeks to amplify the voices of women whose stories are often overlooked and to explore how these experiences are shaped by cultural expectations, migration, and Australian legal and social contexts.

The research resonated strongly with the judges, highlighting the power of humanities research to bring complex social issues into public conversation and give voice to experiences that often remain hidden.

In reflecting on her win, Yasmin also acknowledged the support of her supervision team, Professor Susan Forde (HLSS), Associate Professor Heather Anderson (HLSS), and Dr Zoe Rathus (Law School), as well as colleagues across HLSS who supported her throughout the competition.

With her win, Yasmin receives $1,500 and will go on to represent Griffith University at the Asia-Pacific 3MT Final in October, where she will compete against research students from across the region.

🔗 Read more about Yasmin's 3MT success here: https://lnkd.in/gEZbCNuc

21/08/2026

🎓 PhD Scholarship Opportunity

Dr Clarissa Carden and Associate Professor Drew Rae are seeking expressions of interest for an industry PhD scholarship exploring how organisations measure and report safety information.

Supported through a partnership with Global Safety Innovation, the scholarship provides $50,000 per year for three years. The project will explore the conditions under which innovation in safety measurement is possible, and it involves working between Griffith and industry and will include focused blocks of time embedded in industry.

The supervisory team brings together expertise in organisational safety, human factors, community-engaged research, and social justice, and includes Dr Clarissa Carden, Associate Professor Drew Rae, and industry human factors and safety specialist Zoë Nation.

Applications are particularly encouraged from candidates with a background in sociology or safety studies, with experience in heavy industry or applying safety in the workplace highly regarded.

📅 Expressions of interest close 11 September 2026.

Find out how to express your interest, or learn more here:

There are multiple scholarships available within the Uni-Start Equity Scholarship - which are available ti students in financial hardship, and/or education disadvantage .