Katarina Damjanov

PhD University of Melbourne

MA (Research) University of Arts Belgrade

BA (1st class Honours), University of Arts Belgrade

Katarina is a Senior Lecturer and the Discipline Lead in Media and Communication at the University of Western Australia. She joined UWA in 2013, having previously taught in the School of Culture and Communication and the School of Social and Political Sciences at The University of Melbourne, where she also completed her PhD. Prior to commencing her academic career, Katarina had an extensive professional background across media industries in a range of key creative and executive roles and now translates this industry experience into her teaching.

Katarina’s research spans digital media and cultures; media infrastructures, platforms and practices; social studies of science and technology; human-computer interactions; the socio-cultural and ethical implications of emerging technologies; XR/VR; robotics and AI; communication design and strategies; digital advocacy, governance and policy; commons; media ecologies and the environmental impact of technological progress.

One of the main trajectories of Katarina’s current research interests concerns outer space and the techno-environmental transformation of the human condition.

Katarina’s research features in high-ranking journals of international and national standing and in many cases has been granted free access by the editors. She has been invited to contribute to edited collections and present her work and give keynotes at a range of national and international academic and industry events, with some recent talks including:

• 2021 invited presentation on Cosmic Environments and Immersive VR experiences at the Roger That! conference, Michigan.
• 2020 invited presentation on SPACE UX: VR and Authentic Space Experiences at the Remote Task Guidance in High-Latency Situations workshop, CSIRO’s Space Technology Future Science Platform & Data61, Canberra.
• 2020 invited keynote on Humans and Technologies in Outer Space at The Australian Conference on Human-Computer Interaction (OzCHI).

Katarina’s work has received a number of academic and industry awards, grants, scholarships and fellowships, most recently:

• 2020 Emerald Award for Outstanding Contribution to Tourism and Social Sciences, for a chapter on VR and Space Tourism
• 2018 Visiting Fellowship at the Centre for Mobilities Research, Lancaster University, for her work on space infrastructure and mobilities 

In 2018, Katarina co-organized the symposium on Multi-Planetary Futures with colleagues from the Centre for Mobilities Research and the Institute for Social Futures at Lancaster University.

Katarina’s teaching is grounded in her interdisciplinary and industry expertise and empowers students to make a positive impact upon the world, nurturing their capacity to be confident professionals, responsible citizens and engaged members of communities. She seeks to support the development of each student’s capacity to participate ethically and effectively in contemporary digital environments, encouraging their independent thinking, the application of problem-solving and networking skills, and ability to cultivate professional and personal resilience within a fast-changing industry.

At UWA Katarina is regularly nominated for teaching excellence awards. She has designed innovative curricula and subjects/units and teaches across undergraduate, honours and postgraduate levels of study, including

• COMM2002 Digital Media
• COMM3002 Media Production Project
• COMM4103 iGeneration
• COMM4105 Research Methods in Media and Communication
• COMM5200 Digital Advocacy
• COMM5604 Media Governance

2021–        Discipline Lead, Media and Communication

2021–        Coordinator, UG major in Communication and Media Studies

2017–2020 Coordinator, Masters of Strategic Communication,

2013–2015 Coordinator, Masters of International Journalism

Katarina is available for the supervision of MA and PhD projects engaging broadly with the areas of her research interests.

digital media and cultures

media technologies, infrastructures and platforms

media and communication ethics, governance and policy

digital communication design and strategies

social studies of science and technology

emerging digital technologies

robotics, AI and VR

outer space

commons and communities