My research sits at the intersection of library and information studies, knowledge production, and critical theory, with connections to International Relations scholarship and open knowledge practices.
I work across two related research streams: doctoral research examining open scholarly practices through the lenses of knowledge and library diplomacy and critical disability studies, with a focus on openness, knowledge translation, and knowledge equity; and practice-led research focused on evidence-based library and information practice (EBLIP) that aligns with strategy, values, and public impact.
Current projects
Open Knowledge Diplomacy: The role of Australian university libraries in open practices
2022 – Current | Curtin University
Supervisors: Professor Lucy Montgomery and Dr Karl Huang
This doctoral research examines how Australian university libraries contribute to open and collaborative scholarship on global challenges, such as climate change. Engaging with concepts of knowledge diplomacy and library diplomacy, the project investigates questions of openness, knowledge translation, and equity in local and global contexts. A strand of this research examines the governance of open scholarship through the lens of critical disability studies, asking how principles such as interdependence and ‘collective access’ might reshape the processes through which knowledge is produced and shared.
Evidence Based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP)
2022 – Current | University of Southern Queensland and Murdoch University
I have led several Evidence-Based Library and Information Practice (EBLIP) research initiatives, including values-based and critical approaches, as well as the development of an OPEN Framework for developing evidence-based questions.
Evidence should help guide our decisions in universities and libraries, but many of the tools available were designed for healthcare, not education. The result is lost insight, unclear stories, and a public value that doesn’t get the recognition it deserves. The OPEN framework (Objective, Purpose, Evidence, and Narrative) helps to close that gap. OPEN supports practitioners in moving beyond output metrics to articulating the strategic, values-driven, and public impact of education, particularly for students facing cost, access, and digital barriers.
- Developing an OPEN Framework for Asking EBLIP Questions in Open Education
- Values Based Approaches to Evidence for OER Advocacy
- Values-Based Practice in EBLIP: A Review
Past projects
Users’ experiences in a regional academic library makerspace
2022 | University of Southern Queensland
Co-investigators: Emilia C. Bell and Stephanie Piper
A qualitative case study of a makerspace in a regional university Library at the University of Southern Queensland. This project explored users’ experiences of participation using a visual research method alongside semi-structured interviews.
The library as soft power actor: Understanding soft power discourse in the National Library of Australia
2021 | Charles Sturt University
Supervised by Adjunct Associate Professor Mary Anne Kennan
This research sought to understand the relationship of libraries with concepts of soft power, public diplomacy, and cultural diplomacy. It asks how the National Library of Australia engages with soft power in its Annual Report 2019–20 through a critical discourse analysis that applied a discourse-historical approach.