I am a Senior Lecturer in Internet Studies at Curtin University where I am responsible for developing and teaching the introductory unit, Web Communications, and an upper level unit, Writing on the Web. I supervise Honours, Masters and PhD research students.

My research is focused on developing ways to recognise and respect otherness and difference in communication. I write about communication theory and practice, drawing on varied examples—taken from science and technology, science fiction and creative art—to illustrate my ideas. Much of my work explores the communicative possibilities illustrated by human interactions with humanoid and non-humanoid robots, looking to fact and fiction, science and art, for inspiration. Some of my research has been published in a book, Robots and Communication (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015), with more recent writing in the form of journal articles, book chapters and conference proceedings.

I maintain a strong interest in examples of human-robot interaction in fact and fiction, as well as human perceptions of autonomous robots that have not been designed specifically to support communication with humans. These machines provide great examples of different forms of communication, as well as appearing within popular cultural texts (thus helping to make them appealing to a wide audience). I have extended my research to consider software bots (including generative AI) as well as physical robots.

My first degree was in Natural Sciences (Cambridge University, UK). After that I worked in Information Technology for over ten years before emigrating to Australia and moving into academia.

Dr Eleanor Sandry
Senior Lecturer
Internet Studies
School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry
Curtin University

elsan[at]cantab[dot]net
e.sandry[at]curtin[dot]edu[dot]au
@elsand

2024