I joined Macquarie University in 2024 as a Macquarie University Research Fellow (MQRF). My research is interested in how contemporary far-right, extremist and anti-democratic movements has exploited the profound shifts in media and communication systems in the twenty-first century. 

My three-year funded project Media populism, democracy, and the public sphere in Australia in School of Communication, Society and Culture explores the nexus between the media and the rise of far-right populism. The project aims to understand the implications of media populism for liberal democracy, pluralism, and a healthy and vibrant public sphere. 

In 2025 I awarded Early Career Researcher of the Year at the Faculty of Arts Research Excellence Awards. 

I have published extensively on populism, media, and the far-right in international media, communication, and political science journals, including; Television & New Media, Political Studies, Critical Discourse Studies, The Journal of Language and Politics, The Australian Journal of Political Science, Media and Communication, Communication Research and Practice, The Journal of Intercultural Studies, and Media International Australia.

My research has been featured in a range of international edited volumes, including; The Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics; The Routledge Handbook of Populism in Asia Pacific, Histories of Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Australia, The Ethics of Researching The Far-Right, and When Politicians Talk: The Cultural Dynamics of Public Speaking.

Most recently, my research agenda has focused on far-right humour, the global far-right's antigender movement, the role of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in extremist activism, and the threat of mis-and-disinformation to democracy and Australian scientific advancement. 

My book Far-Right Populism in Australia: Communication, Discourse, Performance will be published in with Bloomsbury.

Competitively Funded Research Projects

I am currently Primary Chief Investigator/CI on five competitively funded research projects totalling over $1.3 million:

• 2024: Media Populism, Democracy and the Public Sphere in Australia. Macquarie University Research Fellowship. $460,000
  
  
• 2025: From Amplification to Harm Minimisation: The Role of Constructive Journalism in CVE. NSW Premier's Department. $75,000
  
  
• 2025: Foreign Conflicts, Domestic Divides: Advancing a Deliberative Response. Australian Research Council Discovery Project (DP). $620,839
  
  
• 2025: Can the RNAissance” survive the (dis)information war? Transnational threats, emerging challenges, communicative solutions. Macquarie BioInnovation Initiative RNA Research Project Seed Funding scheme. $50,000
  
  
• 2026: Science in the Crossfire: RNA Innovation and the Global Disinformation War. Engineering Biology Challenge Grant, NSW RNA Research and Training Network. $100,000
   

• Populist Communication 
• The Far Right
• Far Right Communication 
• Generative Artificial Intelligence
• Mis-and-disinformation
• Democratic self-defence
• Right-Wing Media 
• Media and Communication
• Critical Discourse Studies
• Political Communication
• Countering Violent Extremism (CVE)
• Mediatisation 

I am the Secretary of the Australian Political Studies Association's (APSA) LGBTQIA+ Caucus and was NSW Representative for the Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Communication Association (AANZCA)

I currently sit on the editorial boards of Communication, Research and Practice and Springer's Language of Politics book series. 

I frequently engage with media as an expert contributor on the far right, populism and extremism, including The ABC, The New York Times, The Guardian Australia, Crikey, The Sydney Morning Herald, and The Conversation