STAFF PROFILE
Dr. Jessica Balanzategui
Jessica Balanzategui is a Senior Lecturer in Media in the School of Media and Communication. She is the Founding Editor of Amsterdam University Press's book series, Horror and Gothic Media Cultures.
Jessica's research on the interface between technological and industrial change and entertainment cultures has been widely published in the leading international journals in her field, including New Media and Society, Convergence, The Journal of Visual Culture, Television and New Media, Celebrity Studies, The Velvet Light Trap, and NECSUS: European Journal of Media Studies.
A particular focus of Jessica's research is screen genres for and about children - particularly those that trouble expectations and definitions of "child appropriateness" - and horror and the Gothic. As part of these areas of specialty, her research illuminates how genre, storytelling, and aesthetics operate in digital cultures (such as YouTube, subscription video on demand services, and online scary storytelling cultures), and in tandem, the impacts of technological, industrial, and cultural change on screen genres and their audiences, including child audiences.
Jessica is the author or co-editor of 5 books, including The Uncanny Child in Transnational Cinema: Ghosts of Futurity at the Turn of the Twenty-first Century (Amsterdam University Press, 2018), which is available in full online via OAPEN after being selected via the "Knowledge Unlatched Select" open-access publishing scheme.
Jessica was awarded the 2020 Australian Film Institute Research Fellowship to examine how Australian children's television genres have changed in accordance with industrial, technological, and policy developments. She is also Chief Investigator on the large-scale industry-funded project, Australian Children's Television Cultures, funded by the Australian Children's Television Foundation. The four year project aims to better understand the multi-faceted cultural impact of Australian children's TV in the era of streaming video services and significant policy change. Jessica previously led other grant-supported interdisciplinary research projects including: one on the futures of cinema exhibition, with a particular focus on the rise of the immersive experience and entertainment destination, and another which examined how digital technologies are reshaping how children play, combining perspectives from media and children's development studies.
Jessica welcomes applications from prospective PhD students in cinema and screen, digital cultures, and childhood studies.
Jessica welcomes applications from prospective PhD students in cinema and screen, digital cultures, and childhood studies.
Research
Digital Media, Film and Television
Teaching areas
Digital Media, Film and Television
Affiliations
- 2021 (current): Vice President, Screen Studies Association of Australiasia and New Zealand, Australia
- 2019 (current): Editor, Amsterdam University Press (Horror and Gothic Media Cultures Series, Founding + Chief Editor), International
- 2018 - 2021: Treasurer, Screen Studies Association of Australiasia and New Zealand, Australia
- 2017 (current): Member, Society for Cinema and Media Studies, United States
- 2019 (current): Member, Association of Internet Researchers, United States
- 2019 (current): Member, European Network for Cinema and Media Studies, Netherlands
- 2016 (current): Member, Gothic Association of New Zealand and Australia, Australia
Awards
- 2021, National, Australian Awards for University Teaching Citation, AAUT
- 2021, Swinburne, Adobe Innovation Grant: Learning By Doing, Digital Paratexts, Adobe/ Swinburne Univeristy of Technology
- 2020, Swinburne, Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence, Swinburne University of Technology
- 2020, Swinburne, Faculty of Health, Arts, and Design Teaching Excellence Award, Swinburne University of Technology
- 2020, National, Australian Film Institute Research Collection Fellowship, Australian Film Institute
- 2019, Swinburne, Outstanding Researcher Award (Early Career), Swinburne University of Technology
- 2019, International, Knowledge Unlatched Select Open Access Publishing Grant, KU Select/Amsterdam University Press
- 2018, Swinburne, Dean's Award for Emerging Researcher, Swinburne University of Technology
- PhD (Screen and Cultural Studies), The University of Melbourne
- Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours (Double Major in Cinema and Communication/English Literature)
- Associate Diploma in Music, Australian Music Examinations Board
- Chief Investigator - Australian Children's Television Cultures (funded by Australian Children's Television Foundation)
- Chief Investigator - Scene Hunter and Film Language, New Technology (funded by Village Roadshow)
- Regular popular culture critic and film/TV reviewer - ABC
- Lead Organiser - Mapping Global Horror: Australia, Japan & beyond, ACMI
- Baker, D.,Balanzategui, J. (2023). Heritage child stars on Disney+: the liquidities of child stardom in the SVOD era In: Celebrity Studies, 14, 186 - 199
- Balanzategui, J.,Lynch, A. (2023). “Shudder” and the Aesthetics and Platform Logics of Genre-Specific SVOD services In: Television and New Media, 24, 156 - 172
- Baker, D.,Balanzategui, J.,Sandars, D. (2023). Netflix, Dark Fantastic Genres and Intergenerational Viewing, Routledge, Abingdon, United Kingdom
- McIntyre, J.,Burke, L.,Baker, D.,Balanzategui, J. (2023). Kids’ TV Memories: Audience Perspectives on the Roles and Long-term Value of Australian Children’s Television In: Australian Children's Television Foundation Melbourne, Australia
- Balanzategui, J.,Albarran-Torres, C. (2023). Salad Fingers: Pre-YouTube digital uncanny and the ‘weird’ future of animation In: Convergence, , 1 - 18
- Burke, L.,McIntyre, J.,Balanzategui, J.,Baker, D. (2022). Parents’ Perspectives on Australian Children’s Television in the Streaming Era In: Australian Children's Television Foundation Melbourne, Australia
- Nansen, B.,Balanzategui, J. (2022). Visual tactility: ‘Oddly satisfying’ videos, sensory genres and ambiguities in children’s YouTube In: Convergence, 28, 1555 - 1576
- Balanzategui, J. (2022). TV horror-fantasy for children as transnational genre: Round the Twist, generic subversions, and quality Australian children's television In: Children, Youth, and International Television, Routledge, United Kingdom
- Balanzategui, J. (2022). Nicolas Cage In: Senses of Cinema, , 1 - 21
- Balanzategui, J.,Burke, L.,McIntyre, J. (2021). ‘What would Bandit do?’: reaffirming the educational role of Australian children’s television during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond In: Media International Australia, 178, 54 - 62
2 PhD Current Supervisions
- "From the other side": The Monstrous Feminine and Horror's Transgressive Social Power. Funded by: Creative Australia - Competitive from (2024 to 2024)
- Tracking, Evidencing, and Maximising the Impact of the Australian Children Television Foundation’s Activities, 2021-2024. Funded by: The Australian Children's Television Foundation- competitive from (2021 to 2024)