CQCM Research

The School of Creative and Performing Arts fosters a dynamic, innovative and collaborative research culture with a focus on applied research with a practical or professional focus. Staff and higher degrees students conduct research in both arts practice and scholarship. Staff and postgraduate students are conducting research in a wide range of creative areas that include music, theatre, performance, multimedia design, visual arts, creative and professional writing and the creative industries. As creativity lies at the core of all our programs, it is also reflected in not only the topics of our research but also the approach we take. Whether internal or studying by distance, research students can complete a creative work, which they present for examination together with a written exegesis dealing with the critical and cultural contexts of the work, or a conventional thesis on an aspect of the creative and performing arts. The School also hosts an annual research symposium for staff and research students that focuses on sharing research in progress and collaboratively assisting participants towards achieving high-level publication outcomes.

Staff Research Profiles

Professor Donna Lee Brien

Assistant Dean, Research and Postgraduate

BEd Deakin, MA (By Research) UTS, PhD QUT, GCHighEd UNE

AAWP (Executive Committee), Convenor, Creative and Performing Arts Special Interest Group, LTERC, AHA, PopCAANZ

Professor Brien researches in the areas of creative nonfiction writing and publishing particularly food writing and memoir, as well as in the creative industries, creativity, the ethical dimensions of nonfiction writing and publishing, and postgraduate supervision and examination. Current work focuses on food writers and their influence. She is on the editorial committees of a number of scholarly journals, and has won a national award for her postgraduate supervision.

Dr Judith Brown

EdD CQU, MAA CQ, Dip Ed UQ, Hons B Mus U. Adelaide, LMusA, AMusA

ISME, ANZARME

Dr Brown’s research interests include autoethnography, flow in collaborative music performance, lifelong learning in the performing arts, and the education of the professional performer with a particular interest in piano accompaniment and all forms of collaborative performance.

Dr Ian Gaskell

BA (Hons) Waterloo, MA Toronto, PhD Toronto

Actors’ Equity Association

Dr Gaskell researches in the areas of applied theatre, drama (especially South Pacific drama), acting, rhetorical theory and documentary fi lm.

Dr Clive Graham

BA Syd, MA Syd, MEdAdmin UNE, Dip Ed UNE, EdD CQU

Dr Graham specialises in transdisciplinary knowledge production with particular application to the creative industries. His diverse research interests include the socio-economic development of Thailand where he spends part of each year with doctorate students and the economics of American musical theatre. He is a frequent conference keynote speaker on the creative knowledge economy, Mode-2 knowledge production and transdisciplinarity.

Dr Ashley Holmes

BAFA UniSA, PhD UniSA

Dr Holmes’ research includes fi ne art practice especially lens-based and interactive media, interactivity in public art, interactivity in social media, interaction design, virtual collaboration, team-based work integrated learning, and creativity in science and art. He trains and examines emerging researchers in these and related fields and is an active editorial reviewer.

Dr Derrin Kerr

BMus Queensland Conservatorium, MMus Michigan State, EdD CQU

LTERC

Dr Kerr’s research interests include performance training within jazz education and music education in general. He has published in peer-reviewed journals in the field of music education and has wide experience in contemporary music education.

Peter McKenzie

BJazz CQU, Grad Dip L&T CQU, MLM CQU

LTERC

Peter McKenzie’s research interests are in the area of music performance, including beginner jazz improvisation and composition.

Brendan Murphy

B AppSci (Phys) CIAE, BA (Hons) CQU

Brendan Murphy’s research interests are in photomedia, an art form in which he is a practitioner, and in the relationship between artistic practice, social media and digital technology.

Dr Steven Pace

BAppSc UCCQ, MAppSc CQU, PhD ANU

MACS (Snr) CP

Dr Pace’s research includes work in the areas of digital media, human-computer interaction, experience design, game design, web design, the flow experiences of computer users, autoethnography and grounded theory.

Jeffery Sams

BA Hum Griffi th Board member, Multimedia Art Asia Pacifi c

Jeffery Sams’ research interests are in the areas of Indigenous media engagement, augmented learning environments, game based learning, multiuser immersive learning environments, archiving and transferring the experience of multimedia art practice, contemporary multimedia arts practice.