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Professor Verena Thomas

Associate Dean (Research)

Staff Member Details
Email: v.thomas@ecu.edu.au
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9851-1364

Verena is the Associate Dean (Research) within the School of Arts and Humanities.

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, University of Technology, Sydney, 2011.
  • Master of Media Arts and Production, University of Technology, Sydney, 2004.

Research Outputs

2024

Journal Articles

  • Langa, W., Kauli, J., Thomas, V. (2024). A Gendered Lens on Mediation and Market Governance: Experiences of Women Market Vendors in Papua New Guinea. Societies, 14(8), article number 155. https://doi.org/10.3390/soc14080155.

2023

Journal Articles

  • Witne, BD., Thomas, V., Kauli, J., Spurgeon, C. (2023). Kapori: researching local responses to sorcery accusation–related violence in Papua New Guinea through Indigenous storytelling. AlterNative: an international journal of indigenous peoples, 19(4), 814-823. https://doi.org/10.1177/11771801231197822.

2022

Journal Articles

  • Kauli, J., Thomas, V. (2022). Contextualising gender policies: encouraging parity of participation through applied theatre. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 27(3), 386-402. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2022.2083491.

2021

Book Chapters

  • Thomas, V., Kauli, J., Fufurefa, E., Apa, A., Peter, U. (2021). Igat wei bilong lukautim mipela yet istap (We Can Look After Ourselves): Community-Based Organisations Responding to COVID-19 in Papua New Guinea. COVID in the Islands: A comparative perspective on the Caribbean and the Pacific (443-462). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-5285-1_25.

Journal Articles

  • Molus, W., Thomas, V., Kauli, J., Buys, L. (2021). ‘I want to buy my own block of land’ Representation of urban settlement communities in Papua New Guinea. Pacific Journalism Review, 27(44958), 232-250. https://doi.org/10.24135/pjr.v27i1and2.1196.
  • Mek, A., Kelly-Hanku, A., Eves, R., Thomas, V. (2021). Resource Extraction, Gender and the Sexual Economy in Hela Province, Papua New Guinea: “Everything has Changed”. Sexuality and Culture, 25(5), 1852-1870. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12119-021-09854-5.

2020

Journal Articles

  • Kauli, J., Thomas, V. (2020). When you kill the body, do you kill the spirit? Curating affectual performances addressing violence related to sorcery accusations in Papua New Guinea. Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, 25(3), 351-363. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2020.1756766.
  • Thomas, V., Kauli, J. (2020). Strengthening the voices of human rights defenders in the media: A case study on addressing sorcery accusation-related violence in Papua New Guinea. Pacific Journalism Review, 26(1), 86-104. https://doi.org/10.24135/pjr.v26i1.1090.

2018

Journal Articles

  • Eggins, J., Papoutsaki, E., Thomas, V. (2018). Engaging youth in community action research: A visual methods approach to HIV and AIDS awareness. Whanake: The Pacific Journal of Community Development, 4(2), 48-66.
  • Thomas, V., Kauli, J., Borrey, A. (2018). Harnessing community-led innovations: the role of participatory media in addressing gender-based violence. Development in Practice, 28(3), 345-357. https://doi.org/10.1080/09614524.2018.1430748.

2017

Book Chapters

  • Thomas, V., Eby, M. (2017). Media and Public Health Communication at the Grassroots: Village Cinemas and HIV Education in Papua New Guinea. Health Communication in the Changing Media Landscape (115-133). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-33539-1_7.

Journal Articles

  • Inamara, A., Thomas, V. (2017). Pacific climate change adaptation: The use of participatory media to promote indigenous knowledge. Pacific Journalism Review, 23(1), 113-132. https://doi.org/10.24135/pjr.v23i1.210.

2016

Journal Articles

  • Thomas, V., Papoutsaki, E., Gouda, H. (2016). Integrating ICTs in Communication Campaigns for Noncommunicable Diseases in the Pacific. Information Technologies and International Development, 12(4), 35-45.
  • Eby, M., Thomas, V. (2016). Haus Piksa: The Informal Economy of Film Distribution in Papua New Guinea. Information Technologies and International Development, 12(4), 23-33.
  • Papoutsaki, E., Thomas, V., Horst, H., Tacchi, J., Noske-Turner, J., Eggins, J. (2016). A Review of the Pacific Media Landscape: A Baseline Study. Asia Pacific Media Educator, 26(2), 270-287. https://doi.org/10.1177/1326365X16668968.
  • Thomas, V., Eggins, J., Papoutsaki, E. (2016). Relational Accountability in Indigenizing Visual Research for Participatory Communication. Sage Open, 6(1), TBD. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244015626493.

Conference Publications

  • Niemöller, C., Metzger, D., Berkemeier, L., Zobel, B., Thomas, O., Thomas, V. (2016). Designing mhealth applications for developing countries. 24th European Conference on Information Systems, ECIS 2016 (16 pages). Association for Information Systems.

2014

Journal Articles

2011

Journal Articles

Research Projects

  • SHE Speaks: Intergenerational Wellbeing Through Self-Care , Department of Communities (WA), Grants for Women Program, 2025 ‑ 2026, $50,000.
  • SheSpeaks: Amplifying Women's Voices for Wellbeing, Department of Communities (WA), Grants for Women Program, 2024 ‑ 2025, $9,094.

Research Student Supervision

Current Supervisions

Principal Supervisor

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Frames of Our Voices. Iranian Women Documentary Filmmakers in Iran and the Disspora Amidst Iran's Socio Political Climate.

Completed Supervisions

Principal Supervisor

  • The use of creative media to promote Indigenous measures of climate change adaptation
  • Water is life: Using creative visual methods to facilitate community cultural engagement in water management in the Solomon Islands
  • Co-designing financial management capacities with community-based organisations in Papua New Guinea
  • Understanding Indigenous responses to sorcery accusation related violence: Peacebuilding by the Yuri people of Papua New Guinea
  • Buai: Music Identity of the Gunantuna people of Rabaul, Papua New Guinea
  • Olgeta Samting Senis: Sharing experiences of the social impacts of Papua New Guinea’s Liquefied Natural Gas resource extraction. A photovoice project by people living in Tari Town, Hela Province, Papua New Guinea

Associate Supervisor

  • The story of Aliko and Ambai: cinema and social change in Papua New Guinea
  • Embodied futures: Weaving futures thinking, applied theatre and community development in creative and participatory embodied practice
  • Peace Journalism and Conflict Reporting Practices in Myanmar
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