Sue Nichols

Prof Sue Nichols

Professor

School of Education

College of Education, Behavioural and Social Science

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.

Available For Media Comment.

Sue Nichols is a professor in UniSA Education Futures. Her research in the fields of literacy, parent involvement, children's digital engagement, practitioner inquiry and inclusive education has been supported by international, national and university grants.  Her research crosses diverse contexts including health services, libraries, universities, school classrooms, kindergartens, shopping malls and religious organisations. As society increasingly moves into online spaces, her research and teaching has followed, investigating changing literacy and learning practices. She has written about these issues from the perspectives of learning ecologies, networks, social relations and identity formation. In 2023, Sue was awarded a British Academy Fellowship to conduct research on children's digital engagement in the UK. She is the author of five scholarly books and numerous chapters and journal articles. 

Children's Digital Lives, Participatory Inquiry and Creative Engagement, British Academy International Fellowship, 2023

Parent Involvement Goes Online: Towards new ecologies of school-home connectivity, Australian Research Council ARC DP 210101226, with K. Dooley (QUT), H. Soong, UniSA & M. Neumann (USC), 2021 - 2024

Year Citation
2025 Soong, H., Nichols, S., Dooley, K., & Neumann, M. M. (2025). Contesting the framing of digital risk: An analysis of Australian children's experiences. Journal of Children and Media, 19(1), 175-193.
DOI
2025 Mehar, D. E. N., Nichols, S., Jordan, A., Moseley, L. G., Noel, M., & Wallwork, S. B. (2025). Representation of pain and injury in children's picture books-a content analysis. European Journal of Pain, 29(8, article no. e70102), 1-15.
DOI
2024 Neumann, M. M., Park, E., Soong, H., Nichols, S., & Selim, N. (2024). Exploring the social media networks of primary school children. Education 3-13, 52(8), 1252-1266.
DOI
2024 Yoshida, R., & Nichols, S. (2024). The multiple resources of refugee students: a language portrait inquiry. International Journal of Multilingualism, 21(1), 379-399.
DOI
2024 Wallwork, S. B., Nichols, S., Jordan, A., Noel, M., Madden, V. J., & Moseley, G. L. (2024). Harnessing children's picture books to socialize children about pain and injury: a qualitative study. Journal of Pain, 25(8, article no. 104520), 1-12.
DOI
2023 Nichols, S. (2023). Love matters: the case for an inclusive, contemporary approach to romance themes and texts in subject English. Australian Journal Of Language And Literacy, 46(3), 271-284.
DOI
2022 Nichols, S., & Selim, N. (2022). Digitally mediated parenting: a review of the literature. Societies, 12(2, article no. 60), 1-15.
DOI
2021 Nichols, S., & Stahl, G. (2021). The performance of masculine identities in a mediated world: young men's commentary on male celebrities. Norma, 16(4), 235-250.
DOI
2021 Leach, M. J., Nichols, S., Trenholm, S., & Jones, M. (2021). Health literacy of parents and carers in a regional community: a cross-sectional study. International Quarterly of Community Health Education, 43(3), 275-282.
DOI Scopus7 WoS6 Europe PMC6
2020 Nichols, S., & Hill, S. (2020). New word hunters: a family engagement strategy to extend year 1 children's vocabulary. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy, 43(2), 129-139.
2019 Nichols, S., & Loh, C. E. (2019). Challenging the visual discourse of reading: or, do teen readers look like Google images?. Changing English: studies in culture and education, 26(2), 150-162.
DOI
2019 Nichols, S., & Stahl, G. (2019). Intersectionality in higher education research: a systematic literature review. Higher education research and development, 38(6), 1255-1268.
DOI
2017 Nichols, S. (2017). Aussie kids, global citizens: cultural nationalism and cosmopolitanism in service providers' and parents' accounts. Global studies in childhood, 5(1), 19-32.
DOI
2017 Webb, S., Burke, P. J., Nichols, S., Roberts, S., Stahl, G., Threadgold, S., & Wilkinson, J. (2017). Thinking with and beyond Bourdieu in widening higher education participation. Studies in continuing education, 39(2), 138-160.
DOI
2017 Nichols, S., & Stahl, G. (2017). 'She started to get pretty concerned': young men's relationships with parents through senior schooling and beyond. Gender and education, 29(5), 648-664.
DOI
2015 Nichols, S., & Snowden, C. M. (2015). "We don't tend to have that here": exploring child and adult relationships to trans-contextual objects in early childhood education institutions. Social semiotics, 25(4), 465-483.
DOI
2015 Abu, H., & Nichols, S. (2015). Parent partnership in the education of children with learning disabilities in inclusive classes in Malaysia. CAISE review, 3, 60-74.
DOI
2014 Nichols, S. (2014). Mothers and fathers resourcing early learning and development. Australasian journal of early childhood, 39(4), 64-71.
2013 Nichols, S., & Rainbird, S. (2013). The mall, the library and the church: inquiring into the resourcing of early learning through new spaces and networks. International journal of qualitative studies in education, 26(2), 198-215.
DOI
2012 Nichols, S., Thompson, K., & Blunden, S. (2012). Advising the alien : investigating young children's learning of dog safety messages. Children Australia, 37(3), 115-123.
DOI
2012 Nichols, S., Maynard, A., & Brown, C. (2012). Teacher resources online. Language and literacy, 14(2), 62-74.
DOI
2011 McInnes, E., & Nichols, S. M. (2011). Partnerships in integrated early childhood centres: getting from policies to practices. New Zealand research in early childhood education, 14, 81-93.
2011 Bullen, E., & Nichols, S. (2011). Dual audiences, double pedagogies: representing family literacy as parental work in picture books. Children's literature in education, 42(3), 213-225.
DOI
2011 Nichols, S., Nixon, H., & Rowsell, J. (2011). Researching early childhood literacy in place. Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, 11(2), 107-113.
DOI
2011 Nichols, S. (2011). Young children's literacy in the activity space of the library: a geosemiotic investigation. Journal of early childhood literacy, 11(2), 164-189.
DOI
2011 Connellan, K., & Nichols, S. (2011). Personal objects in institutional places. Studies in material thinking, 5, 1-13.
2010 Nichols, S. (2010). Perspectives on inclusivity and support in organised and informal activities for parents of preschool children. New Zealand research in early childhood education, 13, 29-41.
2009 Nichols, S., Nixon, H., Pudney, V., & Jurvansuu, S. (2009). Parents resourcing children's early development and learning. Early years, 29(2), 147-161.
DOI
2009 Nichols, S. M., & Cormack, P. (2009). Making boys at home in school? : theorising and researching literacy (dis)connections. English in Australia, 44(3), 47-59.
2009 Nichols, S. M., Nixon, H. P., & Rowsell, J. (2009). The 'good' parent in relation to early childhood literacy : symbolic terrain and lived practice. Literacy (Oxford), 43(2), 65-74.
DOI
2008 Nichols, S. M. (2008). Ghosts, houses and the psycho brother: a young girl working on gendered and schooled identities through text production.. Redress, 17(2), 22-30.
2008 Nichols, S. M., & Jurvansuu, S. M. (2008). Partnership in integrated early childhood services: an analysis of policy framings in education and human services. Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood, 9(2), 117-130.
DOI
2008 Nichols, S. M. (2008). Changing gears : literacy for all rethinking links between behaviour motivation and learning. Practically primary : giving voice to literacy, 13(3), 4-6.
2007 Nichols, S. M. (2007). Children as citizens : literacies for social participation. Early years : an international journal of research and development, 27(2), 119-130.
DOI
2006 Nichols, S. M. (2006). Scolding: Why it hurts more than it helps. Journal of early Childhood Literacy, 6(2), 224-228.
DOI
2004 Nichols, S. M. (2004). Literacy learning and children's social agendas in the school entry classroom. Australian journal of language and literacy.
2004 Nichols, S. M. (2004). Questioning development : introduction to special issue. Australian journal of language and literacy.
2004 Comber, B. M., & Nichols, S. M. (2004). Getting the big picture : regulating knowledge in the early childhood literacy curriculum. Journal of early childhood literacy, 4(1), 43-63.
DOI
2002 Nichols, S. M., & Read, P. (2002). 'We never knew it was that bad': parent-school communication about children's learning difficulties. Australian journal of language and literacy.
2002 Nichols, S. M. (2002). Parents' construction of their children as gendered, literate subjects : a critical discourse analysis. Journal of early childhood literacy, 2(2), 123-144.
DOI
2001 Briggs, F., & Nichols, S. M. (2001). Pleasing yourself and working for the teacher: children's perceptions of school. Early child development and care.
2000 Nichols, S. M. (2000). Unsettling the bed-time story: parents' reports of home literacy practices. Contemporary issues in early childhood.

Year Citation
2022 Nichols, S. (2022). The undead children's book and the persistent 'bedtime' story. In S. Nichols (Ed.), Source details - Title: Traversing old and new literacies: the undead book and other assemblages (pp. 43-55). Gateway East, Singapore :: Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd..
DOI
2022 Nichols, S. (2022). Healthy literacies: old and new literacy hygienes. In S. Nichols (Ed.), Source details - Title: Traversing old and new literacies: the undead book and other assemblages (pp. 91-108). Gateway East, Singapore :: Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.,.
DOI
2022 Nichols, S. (2022). Dividing ourselves from the past: the constitution of 'old' and 'new' literacies. In S. Nichols (Ed.), Source details - Title: Traversing old and new literacies: the undead book and other assemblages (pp. 27-41). Gateway East, Singapore :: Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd..
DOI
2022 Nichols, S. (2022). Cyborg assemblages, heritage literacies, and agendas for literacy research. In S. Nichols (Ed.), Source details - Title: Traversing old and new literacies: the undead book and other assemblages (pp. 139-148). Gateway East, Singapore :: Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd..
DOI
2022 Nichols, S. (2022). Children telling their lifetimes: temporality as a resource for meaning-making. In S. Nichols (Ed.), Source details - Title: Traversing old and new literacies: the undead book and other assemblages (pp. 123-138). Gateway East, Singapore :: Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd..
DOI
2022 Nichols, S. (2022). By virtue of association: the precarious and resilient library. In S. Nichols (Ed.), Source details - Title: Traversing old and new literacies: the undead book and other assemblages (pp. 27-74). Gateway East, Singapore :: Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.,.
DOI
2022 Nichols, S. (2022). Where is the time? Temporality in literacy assemblages. In S. Nichols (Ed.), Source details - Title: Traversing old and new literacies: the undead book and other assemblages (pp. 13-26). Gateway East, Singapore :: Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd..
DOI
2022 Nichols, S. (2022). Tools and times: beyond the technology native/immigrant binary. In S. Nichols (Ed.), Source details - Title: Traversing Old and New Literacies: the undead book and other assemblages (pp. 109-122). Gateway East, Singapore :: Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.,.
DOI
2022 Nichols, S. (2022). Assembling literacies: beyond binaries. In S. Nichols (Ed.), Source details - Title: Traversing old and new literacies: the undead book and other assemblages (pp. 1-11). Gateway East, Singapore :: Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd..
DOI
2022 Nichols, S. (2022). A powerful 'jumble': magazines assembling the world for children. In S. Nichols (Ed.), Source details - Title: Traversing Old and New Literacies: the undead book and other assemblages (pp. 75-89). Gateway East, Singapore :: Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.,.
DOI
2020 Nichols, S. (2020). Health services in the literacy landscape. In L. A. Henry, & N. A. Stahl (Eds.), Source details - Title: Literacy Across the Community: Research, praxis and trends (pp. 197-208). UK: Taylor and Francis.
DOI
2018 Nichols, S. (2018). Introducing Learning Cities. In Source details - Title: Learning cities: multimodal explorations and placed pedagogies (pp. 1-6). Singapore: Springer Nature.
DOI
2018 Nichols, S. (2018). Commercial ethnography: what are education researchers doing in the mall?. In Source details - Title: Learning cities: multimodal explorations and placed pedagogies (pp. 131-146). Singapore: Springer Nature.
DOI
2018 Caldwell, D., & Nichols, S. (2018). Images of 'Asia literacy': an analysis of online representations. In H. Soong, & N. Cominos (Eds.), Source details - Title: Asia literacy in a global world: an Australian perspective (pp. 101-123). Singapore: Springer.
DOI
2017 Nichols, S. (2017). The parenting magazine as g/local genre: the mobilisation of childhoods. In S. Nichols, & C. Snowden (Eds.), Source details - Title: Languages and literacies as mobile and placed resources (pp. 30-47). UK: Routledge.
2017 Nichols, S. (2017). Introduction: languages and literacies as mobile and placed resources. In S. Nichols, & C. Snowden (Eds.), Source details - Title: Languages and literacies as mobile and placed resources (pp. 1-9). Oxon: Routledge.
DOI
2017 Nichols, S., & Stahl, G. (2017). 'Gotta get that laziness out of me': Negotiating masculine aspirational subjectivities in the transition from School to University in Australia. In Source details - Title: Masculinity and aspiration in an era of neoliberal education: International perspectives (pp. 166-183). US: Routledge.
DOI
2015 Nichols, S. (2015). Ecological approaches to literacy research. In J. Rowsell, & K. Pahl (Eds.), Source details - Title: The Routledge handbook of literacy studies (pp. 104-123). New York: Routledge.
DOI
2014 Nichols, S. (2014). Geosemiotics. In P. Albers, T. Holbrook, & A. Flint (Eds.), Source details - Title: New methods of literacy research (1 ed., pp. 177-192). US: Taylor and Francis.
2013 Nichols, S., & Nixon, H. (2013). Space, place and early childhood literacy. In J. Larson, & J. Marsh (Eds.), Source details - Title: The Sage Handbook of Early Childhood Literacy (2 ed., pp. 279-294). UK: Sage Publications.
DOI
2013 Hill, S. E., & Nichols, S. (2013). Early literacy: towards a semiotic approach. In O. N. Saracho, & B. Spodek (Eds.), Source details - Title: Handbook of research on the education of young children (3 ed., pp. 583-619). US: Routledge.
2012 Nichols, S. (2012). Young children and sustainable consumption: an early childhood education agenda. In S. Lehmann, & R. Crocker (Eds.), Source details - Title: Designing for zero waste: consumption, technologies and the built environment (pp. 53-66). Oxon, England: Earthscan.
2011 Nichols, S. (2011). Girls and boys, work and play: gendered meanings and participation in early childhood education. In B. Irby, & G. Brown (Eds.), Source details - Title: Gender and early learning environments (pp. 29-46). USA: Information Age Publishing.
2009 Hill, S., & Nichols, S. M. (2009). Multiple pathways between home and school literacies. In A. Anning, J. Cullen, & M. Fleer (Eds.), Source details - Title: Early childhood education : society and culture (2nd ed. ed., pp. 169-184). England: Sage.
2008 Nichols, S. M., & Zannettino, L. (2008). Making interpretive knowledge focal: developing an inter-disciplinary dialogue on research into integrated early childhood services. In D. Bottrell, & G. Meagher (Eds.), Event/exhibition information: Communities and Change Conference, Sydney, Australia, 22/10/2007-24/10/2007
Source details - Title: Communities and change: selected papers (pp. 263-283). Sydney: Sydney University Press.
2006 Nichols, S. M. (2006). From boardroom to classroom : tracing a globalised discourse on thinking through internet texts and teaching practice. In K. Pahl (Ed.), Source details - Title: Travel notes from the new literacy studies : instances of practice (pp. 179-194). Clevedon [England] ; Buffalo: Multilingual Matters.
2006 Hill, S., & Nichols, S. M. (2006). Emergent literacy : symbols at work. In Source details - Title: Handbook of research on the education of young children (2 ed., pp. 153-165). United States: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
2004 Hill, S., & Nichols, S. M. (2004). Multiple pathways between home and school literacies. In A. Angela, C. Joy, & F. Marilyn (Eds.), Source details - Title: Early childhood education : society and culture (pp. 159-172). England: Sage.
2004 Nichols, S. M., & Bayetto, A. (2004). The four resources : an integrated approach to literacy for children with learning difficulties. In Source details - Title: Text Next : New Resources for Literacy Learning (pp. 101-117). NSW, Australia: Primary English Teaching Association.
2003 Clennell, C. A., & Nichols, S. M. (2003). Collaboration, accomodation and co-construction: toward a model for TESOL, research and pedagogy. In Source details - Title: Interaction and Language Learning (pp. 64-79). USA: TESOL Inc.
2003 Nichols, S. M. (2003). "They just won't critique anything" : the "problem" of international students in the western academy. In Source details - Title: Discourse, Power and Resistance: Challenging the Rhetoric of Contemporary Education (pp. 135-148). UK: Trentham Books.
2003 Clennell, C. A., & Nichols, S. M. (2003). Collaboration, accomodation and co-construction as indicators of pragmatic competence in culturally and linguistically diverse academic contexts. In J. Burton, & C. Clennell (Eds.), Source details - Title: Interaction and Language Learning (pp. 69-92). Jaume: Publicacions de la Universitat Jaume.
2003 Nichols, S. M. (2003). Reading the Social world. In B. Comber, & J. Barnett (Eds.), Source details - Title: Look again: Longitudinal Studies of Children's Literacy Learning (pp. 85-98). Australia: Primary English Teaching Association.

Year Citation
2008 Nichols, S. M., & Bullen, E. (2008). The story told and the story shown : analysing visual and linguistic representations of reading in picture books for young children. In AARE 2008 International Education Conference : Changing Climates: Education for Sustainable Societies. Brisbane: Australian Association for Research in Education.
2008 Nichols, S. M. (2008). A conceptual framework for researching geographies of opportunity and the networking of knowledge. In AERA 2008 Annual Meeting : Research on schools, neighborhoods and communities: toward civic responsibility. Washington, DC.: American Educational Research Association.
2007 Nichols, S. M., Nixon, H. P., Rainbird, S. J., & Rowsell, J. (2007). Exploring a Methodology for Tracing Spatial, Social and Textual Networks through Neighbourhoods. In 3rd State Of Australian Cities National Conference 2007 - SOAC. CD-ROM: UniSA/Uni of Adelaide/Flinders University.
2007 Nichols, S. M. (2007). Redesigning education for inclusivity through inquiry. In Redesigning Pedagogies Conference. Singapore: Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice.
2006 McInnes, E. M., & Nichols, S. M. (2006). Parent partnership in a new service landscape: Getting form policy to practice. In 10th New Zealand Early Childhood Research Conference. Wellington, New Zealand.
2006 Grant, P. A., & Nichols, S. M. (2006). Connecting research and literacy practices for pre service teachers. In Proceedings of the 2006 Australian Teacher Education Association Conference. Western Australia: School of Education Edith Cowan University.
2006 Nichols, S. M., McInnes, E. M., & Jurvansuu, S. (2006). Parent partnership in integrated early childhood contexts : policy and practitioner perspective. In 10th New Zealand Early Childhood Research Conference. Wellington, New Zealand.
2004 Nichols, S. M. (2004). A multimedia online resource for learning the skills of classroom inquiry. In Proceedings IEEE international conference on advanced learning technologies. USA: IEEE Computer Society.
2001 Nichols, S. M., & Cormack, P. (2001). Literacy for the future? Mapping literacy requirements of the senior secondary curriculum. In Education futures and new citizenships : proceedings of the 10th National Biennial Conference of the Australian Curriculum Studies Assocation. Deakin West, A.C.T.: Australian Curriculum Studies Association.
2001 Nichols, S. M., & Najar, R. (2001). Making knowledge claims in a postcolonial world: assisting international students to formulate and authorise topics. In The Oxford Centre for Staff and Learning Development.
2001 Nichols, S. M., & Cormack, P. A. (2001). Researching the Literacies of Senior Secondary Schooling. In Australian Association for Research in Education Abstracts (AARE) 2000: Annual Conference, Sydney 2000.
2000 Nichols, S. M., & Najar, R. (2000). Making knowledge claims in a postcolonial world: international postgraduate students' academic writing. In J. Donaldson (Ed.), Creating Futures for a New Millennium. Brisbane: Queensland University of Technology.

  • Parent involvement goes online: New ecologies of school-home relations, ARC - Discovery Projects, 12/04/2021 - 13/12/2024

Courses I teach

  • EDUC 1112 English Curriculum: Language (2025)
  • EDUC 5258 English Education (Birth to 5) (2025)
  • EDUC 1112 English Curriculum: Language (2024)
  • EDUC 5258 English Education (Birth to 5) (2024)

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2024 Co-Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Sophie Crouch
2021 Principal Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Narelle Robertson
2018 Principal Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Therese Lovett
2016 Principal Supervisor - Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Sarah Forrest

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