Rate My Professor Simon Weaving

Dr Simon Weaving serves as a Lecturer in Communication and Media and Honorary Senior Lecturer in the School of Creative Industries at the University of Newcastle, part of the College of Human and Social Futures. He earned his Doctor of Philosophy in Communication from the University of Canberra in 2014 and a Bachelor of Business from the University of Technology Sydney. His research specializations include film production and distribution, narrative theory, Australian cinema, screenwriting, and the role of film genre in production, distribution, and consumption processes. Weaving has made significant contributions to virtual reality filmmaking, producing the cinematic VR work 'Entangled' in 2022 and authoring the chapter 'The Nature of Narration in Cinematic Virtual Reality' (2024). He investigates neurophysiological responses in audience testing through collaborations with NeuroIS experts, as published in 'The cinematic moment: improving audience testing of movies' (2018, Studies in Australasian Cinema, with S. Pelzer and M. Adam).

Weaving's career spans academia, filmmaking, and industry consulting. Prior to his academic roles, he worked as a management consultant for international firms across the Asia-Pacific region, including Papua New Guinea—where he received an international award with PriceWaterhouseCoopers—Fiji, Singapore, and Indonesia. He directed the Canberra International Film Festival from 2009 to 2012, founded and co-directed the Stronger Than Fiction Documentary Film Festival, and curated the Winter Film Series at the National Gallery of Australia from 2012 to 2018. As lead film critic for The Canberra Times from 2004 to 2014, he provided regular cinema commentary on ABC Radio. His films include 'Waiting For Robbo' (2011, Best Film at Canberra Short Film Festival, world premiere at Cannes Film Festival), with twice Tropfest finalist honors. Additional key publications are 'Evoke, don’t show: Narration in cinematic virtual reality and the making of Entangled' (2021, Virtual Creativity), 'Working with the Australian cinema industry to understand the movie-going experience' (2020, Studies in Australasian Cinema, with C. Hight, K. Nobes, C. Pasvolsky), 'Creating the Low-Budget Feature Film Script: Development as Emergence' (2022), and editorial contributions to Studies in Australasian Cinema (2020). He is a member of the Australian Film Critics Association, FIPRESCI, and a founding member of the ACT Screen Industry Association.