Dr Kim Barbour
Senior Lecturer
School of Communication, Media and Journalism
College of Creative Arts, Design and Humanities
Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.
I am a qualitative new media scholar and tenured Senior Lecturer in the Department of Media at the University of Adelaide. My research looks at online persona, the strategic production of identity through digital media, and particularly focuses on the domestic use of social media. I teach into the undergraduate Bachelor of Media degree, and supervise Honours and Post-Graduate student research. I am course coordinator for level 1 course Image and Brand, level 3 course Popular Media: Text, Audience, Industry, the Honours and Masters level Media Research Methods courses, and the semester 2 iteration of the Masters level Media Masters Thesis course. I am the Honours Coordinator for the B.Media (Hons) program (2023-2025), and Post-Graduate Coordinator for Masters by Research and PhD students in Media, Philosophy, and European Languages and Linguistics (2024-2025).In 2023, my sole-authored book Women and Persona Performance was published by Palgrave. My co-authored book Persona Studies: An Introduction (with P. David Marshall and Christopher Moore, Wiley Blackwell) was released in 2019. I have published articles in Convergence, Continuum, Celebrity Studies, TDR: The Drama Review, M/C Journal, Media International Australia, and First Monday, and have chapters in edited collections published by Palgrave McMillan, Routledge, and Adelaide University Press. I am the co-founding and managing editor of the Persona Studies journal, an online, open access journal exploring the construction of the public self that launched in 2015.In addition to my teaching, research, and current leadership positions, I was the Faculty of Arts Director, Gender Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (2021-2022), sitting on the central Staff Gender Equity Committee for the University, and GEDI Champion for School of Humanities in 2023. From 2020-2023, I was co-facilitator of the Diversity and Inclusion in Teaching Community of Practice (DITCoP), engaging with ways that the university can best support and engage the student cohort in all of its diversity. I am a member of The University of Adelaide Ally Network, supporting LGBTIQA* students and staff to have a safe, equitable, and positive engagement with university life, as well as a member of the Wellbeing Champions Network for Faculty of ABLE, focused on identifying challenges and opportunities for student wellbeing. I have served as Chair of the School of Humanities Teaching and Learning Committee (2017-2018), including representing the School at Faculty level, and was the 2018 Early Career Researcher Representative on the Faculty of Arts Research Committee.
Kim Barbour is a qualitative new media scholar. As a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Media, Kim’s work focuses on digital and online media. Kim’s research looks at online persona, the strategic production of identity through digital media, and particularly focuses on the use of social media.
Kim is the co-founding editor of the Persona Studies journal, an online, open access journal based at Deakin University. She is sole author of Women and Persona Performance (2023, Palgrave MacMillan), and co-author of Persona Studies: An Introduction (2020, Wiley Blackwell). She has published articles in Convergence, Continuum, TDR: The Drama Review, Celebrity Studies, M/C Journal, First Monday, and Media International Australia. Kim presents regularly at national and international conferences, and is Secretary of the Australia New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA).
Current research projects:
- Minecraft YouTube and storytelling
- Fan personas
| Date | Position | Institution name |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 - ongoing | Director - Gender Equity, Diversity and Inclusion | University of Adelaide |
| 2020 - ongoing | Senior Lecturer | The University of Adelaide |
| 2015 - 2019 | Lecturer | University of Adelaide |
| 2009 - 2015 | Research Assistant | Deakin University |
| 2009 - 2015 | Sessional Tutor | Deakin University |
| Date | Type | Title | Institution Name | Country | Amount |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Teaching Award | Faculty of Arts Prize for Excellence in Teaching | The University of Adelaide | Australia | $1000 |
| 2014 | Award | Grant Noble Prize for Best Paper submitted by a Postgraduate Student | Australian & New Zealand Communication Association | - | 1000 |
| Date | Institution name | Country | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 - 2014 | Deakin University | Australia | PhD |
| 2006 | University of Waikato | New Zealand | MA |
| 2001 - 2005 | The University of Waikato | New Zealand | Bachelor of Communication Studies, Honours (1st Class) |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2021 | Barbour, K., & Ali, S. (2021). A sense of home: Two migrant persons during COVID-19. Poster session presented at the meeting of Persona Studies. |
| 2021 | Barbour, K., & Ali, S. (2021). A sense of home: Two perspectives of migrant persona building in 2020. Poster session presented at the meeting of Diversifying Persona Studies. Online. |
| 2018 | Barbour, K., Ankeny, R., Plewa, C., & Conduit, J. (2018). Engaging the public: scientific persona performance in online, public-facing biographical statements. Poster session presented at the meeting of Scientific Persona in Cultural Encounters (SPICE) Conference. Stockholm, Sweden. |
| Year | Citation |
|---|---|
| 2014 | Barbour, K. (2014). Finding the edge: online persona creation by fringe artists. (PhD Thesis, Deakin University). |
| 2006 | Barbour, K. (2006). Constructing artistic integrity : an exploratory study. (Master's Thesis, The University of Waikato). |
Kim regularly receives funding from School and Faculty research schemes to support her research.
Having taught in the core of the Bachelor of Media program since joining the University of Adelaide in 2015, Kim is teaching the following courses in 2024:
Semester 1:
- MDIA 3331 Popular Media: Text, Audience, Industry
- MDIA 4002/7007 Advanced Media Research Methods
Semester 2:
- MDIA 1019 Image and Brand
- MDIA 7003 Media Masters Thesis\
Kim is Honours coordinator for the Bachelor of Media (Honours) program, and Postgraduate Coordinator for Media, European Languages and Linguistics, and Philosophies within the School of Humanities.
Regularly supervising Honours, Masters by research, and PhD candidates, a full list of Kim's supervisions is available here.
| Date | Role | Research Topic | Program | Degree Type | Student Load | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | Principal Supervisor | Becoming Neurodivergent: Algorithmic Identity and Historical Discourse | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Miss Aislinn Dale Rossi |
| 2025 | Principal Supervisor | Becoming Neurodivergent: Algorithmic Identity and Historical Discourse | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Ms Aislinn Rossi |
| 2024 | Principal Supervisor | Online Feminist Activism in Iran: The Case of MeToo Movement | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Ms Elmira Nouri |
| 2024 | Principal Supervisor | What is a Narrative? Emergent Narrative in Gaming and Audience Reception | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Sean Lin |
| 2024 | Principal Supervisor | Online Feminist Activism in Iran: The Case of MeToo Movement | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Ms Elmira Nouri |
| 2024 | Principal Supervisor | What is a Narrative? Emergent Narrative in Gaming and Audience Reception | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr Sean Lin |
| Date | Role | Research Topic | Program | Degree Type | Student Load | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 - 2023 | Principal Supervisor | Capturing simultaneity: International students’ connectedness and identity perceptions during the Covid-19 pandemic. | Master of Philosophy | Master | Full Time | Ms Thanh Nguyen |
| 2020 - 2024 | Co-Supervisor | Representations of Optional Romance in AAA Role-playing Games: Love, Lust and Limerence | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Dr Amy Matilda Brierley-Beare |
| 2020 - 2023 | Co-Supervisor | Oscar Bait: Exploring Links Between an Academy Awards Institutional Persona and Perceptions of Oscar-Worthiness | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Dr Robert Penn Boucaut |
| 2020 - 2024 | Principal Supervisor | Media Mimicry - How ‘Mimic Vlogs’ Emulate User-Generated Content in Online Stories. | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Dr Caitlin Anne Adams |
| 2020 - 2023 | Co-Supervisor | The Evolution of the Body in Contemporary Art and Digital Media: Asger Carlsen, Julie Rrap, Leah Schrager, Juliana Huxtable | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Part Time | Ms Alexandra Mowbray |
| 2017 - 2020 | Co-Supervisor | Remediation or Replacement: Masthead Stakeholders' Perception of News Digitalisation in Nigeria | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Dr Ayodeji Boluwatife Aiyesimoju |
| 2017 - 2020 | Co-Supervisor | The Art of Selling Arts: Marketing Culture Using Digital Media at Fringe Arts Festivals | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Dr Amy Elizabeth Nancarrow |
| 2017 - 2019 | Co-Supervisor | Contested Kingdom: The Role of Online Media in the Relationship between Disney and Fans over Disneyland | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Mr William McCarthy |
| 2017 - 2021 | Co-Supervisor | Representations of Women in Pakistani Cinema: Role, Image, and Characterisation | Doctor of Philosophy | Doctorate | Full Time | Ms Nazia Hussain |
| 2016 - 2019 | Co-Supervisor | Crafting true stories: an interpretation of four Australian journalists' nonfiction writing practices | Master of Philosophy | Master | Part Time | Mrs Varunika Sonani Hapuwatte Ruwanpura |
| Date | Role | Board name | Institution name | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 - ongoing | Board Member | Chair of Ethic and Policy, Executive Board | Fame and Persona Research Consortium | Australia |
| 2013 - ongoing | Member | - | Australia New Zealand Communication Association | Australia |
| Date | Role | Committee | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 - ongoing | Member | Faculty of Arts Research Committee | The University of Adelaide | Australia |
| 2017 - ongoing | Chair | School of Humanities Learning and Teaching Committee | The University of Adelaide | Australia |
| 2017 - ongoing | Member | Faculty of Arts Teaching and Learning Committee | The University of Adelaide | Australia |
| Date | Role | Membership | Country |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 - ongoing | Member | Cultural Studies Association of Australasia | Australia |
| Date | Role | Editorial Board Name | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 - ongoing | Editor-In-chief | Persona Studies | Deakin University | Australia |
| Date | Topic | Presented at | Institution | Country |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 - ongoing | A sense of home: Two perspectives of migrant persona building in 2020 | Diversifying Persona Studies: Online International Conference | University of Adelaide | Australia |