Rate My Professor Bridget Backhaus

Dr. Bridget Backhaus is a Senior Lecturer in journalism and media studies and an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) Fellow at Griffith University. She is affiliated with the School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science and the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research. Backhaus earned her PhD from Loughborough University London in 2019 from the Institute for Media and Creative Industries. Her research examines the role of community and alternative media in social and environmental change, with a particular emphasis on community radio's contributions to identity formation, place-making practices, volunteer motivations, affective labour, and journalism accountability. Her ARC DECRA project, funded with $452,727 from 2024 to 2027, titled 'Beyond broadcasting: Community radio as a model community organisation,' investigates how community radio functions beyond traditional broadcasting roles.

Backhaus has published extensively on these topics. Key works include her sole-authored book Polyphony: Listening to the Listeners of Community Radio (2021); 'The Material Place-Making Practices of Community Radio' (2024); 'Connections, community, coconuts: exploring the history of regional community radio' (2023); 'Identity Formation in Community Radio for Social Change' (2020); 'News by any other name: community radio journalism in India' (2019); 'Unrelenting passion and selflessness: Theorising the affective labour of community radio practitioners' (2025); and 'Passion, purpose and pathways: A typology of volunteer motivations in community radio' (2025). Her scholarship has earned accolades such as the 2021 New Directions for Climate Communication Research Fellowship (with Anne Leitch), the 2021 Journalism Education and Research Association of Australia (JERAA) Research Award (with Heather Anderson), and the 2020 Journal of Radio & Audio Media Outstanding Article Award (with Juliet Fox and Charlotte Bedford). At Griffith University, she teaches journalism and media studies courses and supervises higher degree research students. Her work has over 160 citations across 30 publications, influencing discussions on community media's societal impact.