The university for the real world
Staff profiles

Personal details

Name
Professor Susan Carson
Position(s)
Head of School (acting)
Creative Industries Faculty,
School of Communication
Program Director
Creative Industries Faculty,
School of Communication
Professor
Creative Industries Faculty,
School of Communication
Discipline *
Other Language, Literature and Culture, Other Studies in Human Society, Performing Arts and Creative Writing
Phone
+61 7 3138 8115
Fax
+61 7 3138 0185
Email
Location
View location details (QUT staff and student access only)
Identifiers and profiles
ORCID iD
Qualifications

PhD (University of Queensland)

Professional memberships
and associations

Dr Susan Carson is an Associate Professor in the Creative Writing and Literary Studies discipline in the Creative Industries Faculty. Sue has two key research streams, being postgraduate teaching and Australian writing and cultural studies. Sue has won two Category 1 grants from the Office of Learning and Teaching (Australia) (2013; 2014) and in 2013 she won a national citation from the OLT for an Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning.

Her current research focus is in cultural tourism with a specific interest in digital and community engagement with the practices of cultural tourism. Sue leads the Creative Industries Cultural Tourism research group and publishes internationally in the field of cultural tourism studies. This research combines Sue’s prior work experience in information technology with her recent research in Australian culture and writing.  She is a specialist in women’s writing namely the work of Charmian Clift, Christina Stead and Eleanor Dark and continues to publish on Australian literature.  Sue supervises a range of postgraduate students, most of whom are creative writing and cultural studies scholars.

Keywords

Cultural Tourism, e-trails, Australian literature, Literary tourism, Modernism, Postgraduate pedagogy

* Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008

Biography

Background Professor Sue Carson taught in the Creative Writing and Literary Studies discipline in CIF for some years and developed courses in Shakespearean studies and popular culture before moving to the CIF Research Office. As a former information technology journalist, she maintains an interest in Australian media. Her MA (Research), ‘Seeking a life in the literary position: the writing of Charmian Clift‘, was awarded by the University of Queensland in 1994. Susan’s doctorate, ‘Making the Modern: the writing of Eleanor Dark’ was awarded by the University of Queensland in 1999.  Professor Carson was Head of Postgraduate Studies (Research) in the Creative Industries Faculty and now researches in the field of higher degree research pedagogy as well as in cultural tourism.  In 2013 she won an Australian Award for University Teaching (a citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning).  In 2014 she was appointed Research Leader for the school of MECA, Media Entertainment and Creative Arts, CIF. In 2017 she was appointed Academic Program Director in the CIF School of Communication. She supervises a range of PhD and MA (Research) and Honours students in the area of creative writing practice and cultural studies.  Research interests are:

  • HDR pedagogies
  • cultural tourism in Australia
  • Indigenous tourism in Australia
  • Australian writing and the environment

Awards:

Dean’s Award for Leadership (2008)

Dean’s Award for Outstanding Contribution for Student Management (2006)

This information has been contributed by Professor Susan Carson.

Teaching

Sue teaches undergraduate programs in creative writing and literary studies, chiefly in 20th century literature, popular culture and science communication. In 2013 Sue won an Australian Award for University Teaching : being a Citation for Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning for “Leadership in pioneering an innovative, staged, developmental, practice-led program for undergraduate, Honours, and postgraduate students in creative industries, leading to enhanced student success. Sue is now a Professor in the School of Communication where she is Academic Program Director. She supervises PhD candidates researching in the fields of creative writing and Australian studies, and has supervised doctoral and masters candidates to completion. Sue is a Level 3 Mentoring Supervisor.

This information has been contributed by Professor Susan Carson.

Experience

Sue has a strong interest in the relationship between literature and the environment, in particular literary walking trails, and she has conducted field research in this context.

In 2014 she was part of a team that won a University of Sunshine Coast seed grant ‘Cultural Ecology and the Common Reader: Community Book clubs as Vehicle for Eco-critical Reading beyond the Academy,’ University of Sunshine Coast Seed Grant (2013–2014)  The project is a study into the artistic happenings occurring between communities outside the academy, literary works and established theoretical frameworks of eco-criticism.

In 2012-2013 she won a  Royal Historical Society of New South Wales (2012–2013) grant  on community engagement and literary heritage.  The grant,  ‘Katoomba Lives: Environmental Heritage, Literature, Technology’ (acquitted) produced a report for the RAHS and demonstrates national recognition of CIF expertise in heritage, environment and with mobile technologies.

In 2012 she was a member of a team that won an Arts Queensland (2012) $25 000 [environmental literature content for gallery trails in 2012–2013] for the Gold Coast City Gallery.

In 2010 she was part of a team that won an QUT Early Career Researchers Grant (2010) of $10,000 for ‘Walk the Book’ to design e-literary trails (completed). This grant provided the data that is the basis of four international journal publications to date.

In 2008 she walked the then newly-opened ‘Coleridge Trail’ in Somerset, England, to conduct field work on the relationship of literature, walking, and community engagement in the context of the poetry of Samuel Coleridge.

This information has been contributed by Professor Susan Carson.

Publications


For more publications by this staff member, visit QUT ePrints, the University's research repository.

Awards

Awards and recognition

Type
Editorial Role for an Academic Journal
Reference year
2012
Details
Editorial panel member Australian Women's Book Review
Type
Membership of Learned Societies
Reference year
2012
Details
Membership of Society and assistance to the organizing committee of the 2011 D. H. Lawrence Society of North America 12th international conference (Sydney).
Type
Membership of Learned Societies
Reference year
2012
Details
Membership of Romantic Studies Associatin of Australia and delivery of conference papers.
Type
Membership of Learned Societies
Reference year
2012
Details
Membership of Modern Lnaugaegs Association of America and delivery of papers to a series of MLA conferences (the premier USA scholarly organization in literary studies).
Type
Membership of Learned Societies
Reference year
2012
Details
Membership of Modernist Studies Association of America and regular attendance at MSA conferences.

Research projects

Grants and projects (Category 1: Australian Competitive Grants only)

Title
Good Practice Report: Postgraduate Research and Coursework Degrees
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
SP13-3265
Start year
2013
Keywords
Postgraduate; courses; PhD; Report; HDR
Title
Building distributed leadership for effective supervision of creative practice higher research degrees
Primary fund type
CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
Project ID
OLT LE12-2264
Start year
2012
Keywords

Supervision

Completed supervisions (Doctorate)

Completed supervisions (Masters by Research)