Dr Natalie Hendry

My research focuses on young people's everyday social media practices - what they do and why. I am especially interested in the increasing social and political pressures expected of young people to engage in practices of visibility and participation as young citizens, and young women's gendered experiences of exposure, excess and containment.

Other research interests include the ethics of digital and creative research methods with marginalized communities, the political dimensions of "student wellbeing" in schools and beyond, interdisciplinary theories and methodologies, and the relationship between health, education and media. I welcome research students who dabble (or would like to!) in any of those spaces.

My PhD thesis explored how young people experiencing mental illness engage with social media, focusing on visual practices related to identity, connection, intimacy and affect. This was undertaken in the School of Media and Communication at RMIT University, with support from the Young and Well Cooperative Research Centre, where I was a member of the RMIT Human Research Ethics Committee. The work has informed education with mental health services.

Prior to beginning my PhD studies, I was a teacher and consultant in a hospital school setting, working with inpatient adolescents engaged with youth psychiatric care. This included developing policies and resources for teachers, clinicians, GPs and health services related to the intersection of health and education. I have experience in mainstream education (health, home economics/food technology and humanities) and community education (relationship violence prevention and sexuality education).

Current Projects

The YeS Project, Office of the eSafety Commissioner: I am developing a framework and curriculum resources for secondary schools to support students to explore their digital cultures, develop skills to support friends and communities, and create projects for change.

Food Education and Social Media: This project develops research led and theoretically informed resources for teacher education and school teachers in relation to social media practices and health and wellbeing. Social media is often framed within risk-based discourses as to the effects for young people’s health (including bullying and mental health), or utilised along with Apps in a top-down health interventionist way. Working with Dr Rosie Welch at Monash University, we combine the techniques and disciplinary knowledges of media and communication studies to develop students and teachers’ socially-critically informed and strengths-based skills and knowledge in health education with a focus on food. This project is underpinned by a critical digital literacy model applied to the learning areas of health and food. This builds on food literacies research internationally.

Current Publications

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