Dr. Maureen Engel is a Lecturer in Digital Culture in the School of Communication and Arts, Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences, at the University of Queensland. She holds a PhD in English from the University of Alberta, awarded in 2003. Previously, she served as Associate Professor of Digital Humanities at the University of Alberta, Canada, where she directed the Digital Humanities program from 2011 to 2013 and 2015 to 2019, and the Canadian Institute for Research Computing in Arts from 2011 to 2019. Formally trained as a textual scholar, Engel's academic background draws on cultural studies, queer theory, and feminist theory. She applies these perspectives to her research specializations in digital culture, with particular emphasis on locative media, extended reality (XR), and gaming. Her research interests encompass communication and media studies, communication technology and digital media studies, cultural studies, gender studies, language, communication, and culture.

Engel has produced a range of scholarly publications, creative works, and conference presentations that explore the intersections of digital technologies and cultural narratives. Key publications include the book chapter 'Deep mapping: space, place, and narrative as urban interface' (2018) in The Routledge Companion to Media Studies and Digital Humanities, the journal article 'Perverting play: theorizing a queer game mechanic' (2017) in Television & New Media, 'The space of simultaneity' (2016) in English Studies in Canada, and 'Burying dead projects: depositing the globalization compendium' (2014) in Digital Humanities Quarterly. She is the author of the locative media game Go Queer (2018), a ludic experience of queer history available on Google Play Store and iOS app store. Recent conference contributions include 'AI Bias and Communities of Practice: The Case of MidJourney' and collaborative works such as 'Critical Experiments with Computational Creativity' and 'How do you make a magical object? Co-creation in Multibrush VR' at HASTAC 2023, as well as 'Queering the digital: spatial orientations, temporal imaginaries, and communal aspirations' forthcoming at ISEA 2025. Engel is an affiliate of the Centre for Digital Cultures & Societies at the University of Queensland.

Professional Email: m.engel@uq.edu.au