Skip to content

Assoc Prof Jess Carniel

Name Jess Carniel
Pronoun She/Her/Hers
Position Associate Professor (Humanities)
Section School of Business, Law, Humanities and Pathways
Office Q203
Location Toowoomba Campus
Phone +61 7 4631 1050
Extension 1050
Email
Qualifications PhD University of Melbourne
Homepage https://research.usq.edu.au/researcher/80x0y/dr-jess-carniel
The views expressed on staff homepages may not reflect the views of the University.

Biography

Jess Carniel is an Associate Professor in Humanities in the School of Business, Law, Humanities, and Pathways. She is also Chair of the UniSQ Human Research Ethics Committee and an Executive Member of the Centre for Heritage + Culture (CHC). Jess is currently a non-residential Research Fellow (2024-2026) at the Center for Public Diplomacy, University of Southern California. She is co-editor of the Journal of Australian Studies and of the forthcoming Oxford Handbook of Eurovision Song Contest Studies (2029).

Drawing upon a broad humanistic tradition, she teaches international relations, ethics, and critical theory. She has previously taught into the areas of Australian Studies, Gender Studies, Sports Studies, International Studies, and History at the University of Melbourne, Monash University, and Victoria University.

Located at the intersection of Cultural Studies and International Studies, her research reveals how various cultural phenomena — from the Eurovision Song Contest to the British royal family — deepen our critical understanding of multicultural and globalised communities. Her research interests span popular culture, globalisation, transnationalism, cosmopolitanism, multiculturalism, and gender in Australian and global society.

Jess is Australia's preeminent scholar of Eurovision, examining its meaning and significance for Australian audiences amid a changing context of multiculturalism, globalisation, and shifting regional geopolitics. She is the author of Understanding the Eurovision Song Contest in Multicultural Australia (Palgrave, 2018) and the co-editor, with Chris Hay, of Eurovision and Australia: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Down Under (Palgrave, 2019).

With her expertise in cultural studies and international studies, Jess is keen to supervise research projects that seek to understand how cultures, communities, and identities navigate contemporary society and politics in Australia and globally. This can include popular culture, local communities, and global movements and events. She is particularly interested in projects centred on ideas of soft power and cultural diplomacy.

Research Career


  • Cultural Studies not elsewhere classified ( 200299 )
  • Language Studies not elsewhere classified ( 200399 )
  • Literary Studies not elsewhere classified ( 200599 )
  • Historical Studies not elsewhere classified ( 210399 )
  • Studies in Human Society not elsewhere classified ( 169999 )
  • Other Human Society not elsewhere classified ( 449999 )
  • Historical Studies not elsewhere classified ( 430399 )
  • Cultural Studies not elsewhere classified ( 470299 )
  • Other Human Society ( 449900 )
  • Historical Studies ( 430300 )
  • Cultural Studies ( 470200 )
  • Migrant Cultural Studies ( 470211 )
  • Screen And Media Culture ( 470214 )
  • Political Science ( 440800 )
  • Globalisation And Culture ( 470210 )
  • Multicultural ( 470212 )
  • Environment And Culture ( 470209 )
  • International Relations ( 440808 )
  • Culture ( 470208 )

Eurovision Song Contest, popular culture, multiculturalism, soft power, cultural diplomacy, Pop Culture World Politics (PCWP - IR), Australian migration and migrant cultures, globalisation, transnationalism, race and ethnicity, cultural studies, fan studies, sport (esp. soccer), Australian studies, gender studies, international relations


International Australian Studies Association, Executive Committee member
Cultural Studies Association of Australasia (member)
Australian Insititute of International Affairs (member)


  • Institute for Communities and Regional Development (ICRD)
  • Centre for Heritage and Culture (CHC)

Teaching


INR1003 Human Security
CCI3000 Popular Culture & Identity


23 Years


Chair, UniSQ Human Research Ethics Committee
Executive Member, Centre for Heritage + Culture

Supervision


  • Studies in Human Society not elsewhere classified ( 169999 )
  • Cultural Studies not elsewhere classified ( 200299 )
  • Language Studies not elsewhere classified ( 200399 )
  • Literary Studies not elsewhere classified ( 200599 )
  • Historical Studies not elsewhere classified ( 210399 )
  • Historical Studies ( 430300 )
  • Historical Studies not elsewhere classified ( 430399 )
  • Political Science ( 440800 )
  • International Relations ( 440808 )
  • Other Human Society ( 449900 )
  • Other Human Society not elsewhere classified ( 449999 )
  • Cultural Studies ( 470200 )
  • Culture ( 470208 )
  • Environment And Culture ( 470209 )
  • Globalisation And Culture ( 470210 )
  • Migrant Cultural Studies ( 470211 )
  • Multicultural ( 470212 )
  • Screen And Media Culture ( 470214 )
  • Cultural Studies not elsewhere classified ( 470299 )