Associate Professor
Sean Maher
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Creative Practice,
Film, Screen & Animation
Biography
Associate Professor Sean Maher (PhD) is a researcher and teacher in Film, Screen & Animation in the Faculty of Creative Industries, Education and Social Justice (CIESJ). He is a Faculty Ethics Chair in CIESJ and a Visiting Professor at the University of Greenwich, London (Sept 2023 - Sept 2028). In 2019 he was ranked as 'Australia's leading researcher in Film' by The Australian in an independent study in collaboration with citation data supplied by League of Scholars. In 2017 he was Visiting Scholar at the UCLA Film and TV Archives that contributed to his 2021 monograph Film Noir and Los Angeles - urban history and the dark imaginary, published by Routledge. He inaugurated the annual Film, Screen & Animation Study Tour, Los Angeles - in partnership with School of Theatre, Film and TV at UCLA. Between 2016- 2018 he served as one of three Australian representatives on the Steering Committee of a British Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) Grant investigating filmmaking based research. In 2016 he was President of ASPERA (Australian Screen Production Education and Research Association), the national peak body for Film Schools. He received an Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship for his PhD conducted in QUT's ARC Centre of Excellence for Innovation in the Creative Industries. Prior to his appointment at QUT he has held research and lecturing positions at the Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) and University of New South Wales, as well as a media policy researcher at the Communications Law Centre (UNSW). He is an award-winning independent filmmaker and writer/director of The Brisbane Line which, received official selection into the 2012 Brisbane International Film Festival. He wrote and directed a documentary on Queensland Parliament House distributed across Fairfax Digital’s Brisbane Times, Sydney Morning Herald, and The Age news websites. He has contributed feature articles for Sydney Film Festival and worked as a film festival organiser for New York Anthology Film Archives.Personal details
Positions
- Associate Professor (Documentary)
Faculty of Creative Industries, Education & Social Justice,
School of Creative Practice,
Film, Screen & Animation
Research field
Film, Television and Digital Media, Communication and Media Studies
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- Ph.D. (Queensland University of Technology)
- Masters (University of New South Wales)
Professional memberships and associations
- Steering Committee AHRC funded Filmmaking Research Network
- Board Member, Cinema Ventures
Teaching
- Unit Coordinator KPB220 Factual Screens
- Program lecturer in eGRad School (Australia) Practice Led Research in Creative Arts, Media and Design.
Experience
Visiting Professor University of Greenwich 2023-2028, Australia's Leading Researcher in Field of Film (The Australian, Research - Best of the Best, Sep 25, 2019) 2019 Senior Fellow Higher Education Academy (HEA), 2021 HEA Fellow - Indigenous, 2017 Scholar in Residence at UCLA Film and Television Archives, UCLA School of Theatre, Film &Television 2012 - 2016 Post Graduate Coordinator Film, Screen & Animation, QUT 2008 - 2012 Study Area Coordinator Film, Screen & Animation,QUT 2015 Inaugurated Los Angeles Study Tour in partnership with UCLA School of Theatre, Film and TV 2014 President ASPERA (Australian Screen Production Education and Research Association) national peakbody of Australian film schools 2013 National Conference Convenor for ASPERA at QUT
Publications
- Maher, S., (2021). Film Noir and Los Angeles: Urban History and the Dark Imaginary. Routledge. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/200616
- Maher, S., (2020). Cinema Studies. In M. Filimowicz & V. Tzankova (Eds.), Reimagining Communication: Mediation (pp. 40–54). Routledge. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/200615
- Maher, S. & Kerrigan, S. (2019). Digital disruption and innovation in distribution: Opportunities for research-based filmmaking in the new global screen ecology. In S. Kerrigan (Ed.), The Palgrave handbook of screen production (pp. 347–362). Palgrave Macmillan. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/197035
- Vang, J., Maher, S. & Brambini, A. (2018). Emergence of film industries in small countries: On the needs for an integrated cluster and branding strategy. World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 14(5), 637–656. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/200614
- Maher, S., Silver, J. & Kerrigan, S. (2016). Australian feature films and distribution: industry or cottage industry? Studies in Australasian Cinema, 10(1), 114–128. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/220997
- Maher, S. & Kerrigan, S. (2016). Noirscapes: Using the screen to rewrite Los Angeles noir as urban historiography. Journal of Writing in Creative Practice, 9(1 - 2), 87–104. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/221244
- Elkington, R. & Maher, S. (2015). Education paths for documentary distribution: DAF, ATOM and the study guides that bind them. Studies in Australasian Cinema, 9(1), 77–88. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/82129
- Maher, S. & Elkington, R. (2015). Re-thinking ancillary: Australian screen content in education. Studies in Australasian Cinema, 9(2), 152–170. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/87483
- Kerrigan, S., Berkeley, L., Maher, S., Sergi, M. & Wotherspoon, A. (2015). Screen production enquiry: a study of five Australian doctorates. Studies in Australasian Cinema, 9(2), 93–109. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/87486
- Maher, S., (2012). The People's House : Queensland Parliament House [Film/Video]. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/55077
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Sean, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2019
- Details
- Dr Sean Maher (QUT) announced as Australia's National "Field Leader" in Film Research. On September 25, 2019, The Australian's Supplement Special "Research" conducted a national survey in collaboration with research analytics firm, League of Scholars announcing Australia's national and world leaders in research.
- Type
- Advisor/Consultant for Industry
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- 2013 - ongoing: Serving four years as Board Member of Screen Queensland funded Cinema Ventures, an organisation that supports exhibition and distribution of documentary films across Australia.
- Type
- International Collaboration
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- Steering Committee Member on 2016 Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK) Filmmaking Research Network 50K Pounds Sterling Grant
- Type
- Visiting Professorships/Fellowships
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- 2017 Scholar-in-Residence at the UCLA Film and TV Archives in Los Angeles, USA.
- Type
- Appointment to Prestigious Positions
- Reference year
- 2015
- Details
- Elected President of ASPERA (Australian Screen Production Education & Research Association) the national peak body for tertiary programs in screen education.
- Type
- Keynote Speaker/Expert Panel Member/Invited Speaker for a Conference
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- ASPERA Annual Conference June 21-23, 2017. Panel member reporting on UK AHRC Grant Filmmaking Research Network
Supervision
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Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- Documentary Pitching, Pre-sales and Funding: Succeeding in a Transforming Digital Landscape (2017)
- The Education Market for Documentary Film: Digital Shifts in an Age of Content Abundance (2016)
- Maintaining our rage: inside Australia's longest-running music video program (2015)
- International Acclaim: The Role(s) of the International Film Festival in Supporting Emerging Women's Cinema (2013)
- The Australian Beachspace: Flagging the Spaces of Australian Beach Texts (2013)