Research interests
Children's and youth literature and media; digital literacies; television studies; multiplatform textualities; narratology; screen media and children’s environmental and health knowledges and consumption practices; animation and graphic genres; fantasy; nineteenth-century women's poetry and publishing; media and publishing history; empirical social research methods; critical institutional analysis
Affiliations
- Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY)
- Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA)
- International Association for Communication and Media Research (IAMCR)
- Raising Children Australia
- International Communications Association (ICA)
-
Australian and New Zealand Communications Association (ANZCA)
Teaching interests
- Children's and Youth Literature and Multiplatform Textualities
- Adaptation
- Narrative Theory
- Research led writing projects
Units taught
- ALL228 - The Golden Age in Children's Literature
- ALL230 - Re-imagining literature for Young People
- ALL721 - Writing Fiction for Young Adults
- ALL 784 - Writing and Film
- ALL743 - Foundations in Narrative Theory
Knowledge areas
Children's and youth literature and media; multiplatform textualities; narratology; digital literacies; digital television industry; television studies; longitudinal data analysis; role of media on children's health and behavioural outcomes; nineteenth-century women's poetry and publishing; media and publishing history; empirical social research methods; critical institutional analysis
Research groups
- Leader: Teenagers Reading and Digital Practices Research Group, Affililated with the Strategic Research Centre for Educational Impact
- Crisis Energy Publication Syndicate
- The Warrnambool Collective
Projects
Current Research Projects
- Teen Reading and Digital Practices, http://www.teenreading.net
- Early childhood digital media practices and their health, sustainability and consumption behaviours.
Publications
No publications found
Funded Projects at Deakin
Australian Competitive Grants
Digital Natives: Growing up with new and old media in Australia
Prof Michael Bittman, A/Prof Leonie Rutherford, Prof Len Unsworth
ARC Linkage - Projects Rnd 2
- 2012: $10,000
- 2011: $10,000
- 2010: $10,000
Promoting healthy eating, active play and sustainability awareness in early childhood curricula: Addressing the Ben10 problem
Prof Helen Skouteris, A/Prof Suzy Edwards, A/Prof Leonie Rutherford, A/Prof Amy Cutter-McKenzie
ARC - Discovery Projects
- 2016: $73,619
- 2015: $73,845
- 2014: $72,236
Discovering a 'good read': Pathways to reading for Australian teens
A/Prof Leonie Rutherford, Dr Michael Dezuanni, Prof Katya Johanson, Prof Andrew Singleton, A/Prof Donald Matheson, Dr Susan La Marca
ARC Linkage - Projects
- 2022: $31,059
- 2021: $102,849
- 2020: $95,045
- 2019: $51,907
Other Public Sector Funding
Evaluation of a Healthy Lifestyle Intervention Targeting Young People Living in Out-of-home Care
Prof Helen Skouteris, A/Prof Leonie Rutherford, Miss Rachael Cox
NHMRC Scholarship
- 2015: $18,782
- 2014: $23,411
- 2013: $26,904
Industry and Other Funding
Australian Teenagers' Reading Behaviour in the Digital Era
Prof Katya Johanson, A/Prof Leonie Rutherford, A/Prof Lisa Waller, Dr Elizabeth Bullen, Dr Margaret Merga
Copyright Agency Limited
- 2019: $1,346
- 2016: $16,000
Australian adolescents and reading: discoverability, social enablers, and digital inclusion
A/Prof Leonie Rutherford, Prof Katya Johanson
Copyright Agency Limited
- 2022: $29,051
- 2020: $24,264
- 2019: $26,506
Supervisions
Samantha Stephens
Thesis entitled: From Conflict to Kinship: Renegotiating Age in Youth Fantasy Fiction
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Communication and Creative Arts
Michelle McRae
Thesis entitled: Textual Strategies for Promoting Deep Reading in Adolescents
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Communication and Creative Arts
Gabrielle Anne Ryan
Thesis entitled: The Gothic as Transgressive Mode of Representation in Australian Women's Historical Fiction
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Communication and Creative Arts
Heather Marie Morris
Thesis entitled: Fostering knowledge connections between healthy eating, active play and sustainability in early childhood education
Doctor of Philosophy (Psychology), School of Psychology
Mitchell David Cunningham
Thesis entitled: Performing the 'Fiction-Writer's Reader': David Foster Wallace and Critical Rhetoric
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Communication and Creative Arts
Catherine Sly
Thesis entitled: A Narratological Investigation of Australian Graphic Novels for Children
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Communication and Creative Arts
Grady Clare Hancock
Thesis entitled: Re-visioning Australian social realism through a feminine lens
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Communication and Creative Arts
Katrina Hansord
Thesis entitled: 'spirit-music' Unbound: Romanticism and Print Politics in Australian Women's Poetry (1830-1905)
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Communication and Creative Arts
Joanna Walkden Harris
Thesis entitled: Feminist Perspectives on Gender Ideology in Recent Young Adult Literature
Doctor of Philosophy, School of Communication and Creative Arts