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  • Dr Catherine Archer

    Dr Catherine Archer

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Dr Catherine Archer

Senior Lecturer

Staff Member Details
Telephone: +61 8 6304 863045486
Mobile: 0438 872 728
Email: catherine.archer@ecu.edu.au
Campus: Mount Lawley  
Room: ML6.112  
ORCID iD: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3710-0999

Catherine in a Senior Lecturer in the School of Arts and Humanities.

Current teaching

  • CMM6116 Methods of Enquiry
  • CMM5180 Public Relations Strategies
  • International examiner for LSPR Indonesia
  • Teaching into CPR6110.2 Communicating and Promoting Research

Background

Dr Catherine Archer is a researcher and senior lecturer specialising in strategic communication at Edith Cowan University. Catherine’s current research interests include social media, particularly related to families, health, influencers and ethics. Catherine has published in academic journals and presented at many international conferences. Prior to working as an academic, Catherine had more than 15 years in industry, working in health services marketing management as well as public relations, communications and consulting.

Professional associations

  • 2019 - Public Relations Institute of Australia - awarded the honour of Fellow, previously Member.

Awards and recognition

  • 2019 - Elevated to Fellow, Public Relations Institute of Australia. National recognition for service to society, my profession, industry and academia.

University and National Teaching Awards

  • 2020 -  Murdoch University College Team Teaching Recognition Citation Award for COM101 Social Media, with Deborah Williams
  • 2013 -  Curtin University Teaching and Learning Award 2013 for ‘Programs that enhance learning’ with Katharina Wolf
  • 2007 -  Curtin Business School Teaching and Learning Award
  • 2007 -  Team Teacher of the Year Commendation

National and International Research Awards

2020 - Best paper award, Asia Pacific Public Relations Research and Education network Conference (voted by peers at conference) with co-author Kate Delmo for “Using Instagram Children to Elicit Stakeholder Trust: How PR has adapted to the selling power of ‘kidfluencers’”

Research areas and interests

  • Social media and its impact on individuals, organisations and society
  • Families’ use of social media
  • Social media influencers
  • The ethics and regulation of social media use
  • Environment Society and Governance (ESG) in communication
  • International and cross-cultural communication
  • Children, motherhood, and family studies
  • Equity and diversity

Qualifications

  • Doctor of Philosophy, The University of Western Australia, 2017.

Research Outputs

2023

Journal Articles

  • Archer, C., Delmo, K. (2023). Play Is a Child’s Work (on Instagram): A Case Study of the Use of Children as Paid Social Media Influencers to Market Toys. M/C Journal, 26(2), x. https://doi.org/10.5204/mcj.2952.
  • Archer, C., Williams, D. (2023). #Parentlife: Key issues, benefits and advice for new parents using social media and mobile technology. International Journal of Birth and Parent Education, 10(4), 22-24. https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ecuworks2022-2026/3333.
  • Vlasich, E., Lee, D., Archer, C. (2023). Tourism as a transformative economic agent in regional Australia: a case study of operators' use of social media. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 15(1), 52-62. https://doi.org/10.1108/WHATT-08-2022-0102.

2022

Journal Articles

  • Williams, D., Archer, C., O’mahony, L. (2022). Calm the farm or incite a riot? Animal activists and the news media: A public relations case study in agenda-setting and framing. Public Relations Inquiry, 11(3), 403-425. https://doi.org/10.1177/2046147X211055192.
  • Archer, C., Sison, M., Gaddi, B., O'Mahony, L. (2022). Bodies of/at Work: How Women of Colour Experienced Their Workplaces and Have Been Expected to ‘Perform’ During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 43(6), 824-845. https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2022.2128091.

2021

Book Chapters

  • Archer, C., Leaver, T. (2021). Santa’s Little Helper and Star of Instagram, Elf on the Shelf: Gendered Labour, Normalising Surveillance and Digitising a Childhood Phenomenon. Young Children’s Rights in a Digital World (299-312). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-65916-5_22.

Journal Articles

  • Archer, C., Wolf, K., Nalloor, J. (2021). Capitalising on chaos – exploring the impact and future of social media influencer engagement during the early stages of a global pandemic. Media International Australia, 178(1), 106-113. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X20958157.
  • Archer, C., Johnson, A., Williams Veazey, L. (2021). Removing the Mask: Trust, Privacy and Self-protection in Closed, Female-focused Facebook Groups. Australian Feminist Studies, 36(107), 26-42. https://doi.org/10.1080/08164649.2021.1969518.

2019

Book Chapters

  • Archer, C. (2019). Pre-schooler as brand extension: A tale of Pixie’s Bows and birthdays. Digitising Early Childhood (58-73). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Journal Articles

  • Archer, C. (2019). Social media influencers, post-feminism and neoliberalism: How mum bloggers’ ‘playbour’ is reshaping public relations. Public Relations Inquiry, 8(2), 149-166. https://doi.org/10.1177/2046147X19846530.
  • Archer, C. (2019). How influencer ‘mumpreneur’ bloggers and ‘everyday’ mums frame presenting their children online. Media International Australia, 170(1), 47-56. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X19828365.

2018

Journal Articles

  • Archer, C., Kao, K. (2018). Mother, baby and Facebook makes three: does social media provide social support for new mothers?. Media International Australia, 168(1), 122-139. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X18783016.
  • Wolf, K., Archer, C. (2018). Public relations at the crossroads: The need to reclaim core public relations competencies in digital communication. Journal of Communication Management, 22(4), 494-509. https://doi.org/10.1108/JCOM-08-2018-0080.

2017

Journal Articles

  • Archer, C., Wolf, K., Kao, K. (2017). Engaged and/or enraged: the perils of ‘innovative’ digital engagement around health issues. Asia Pacific Public Relations Journal, 18(2017), 1-17.

2016

Journal Articles

  • Archer, C., Harrigan, P. (2016). Show me the money: How bloggers as stakeholders are challenging theories of relationship building in public relations. Media International Australia, 160(1), 67-77. https://doi.org/10.1177/1329878X16651139.
  • Pettigrew, S., Archer, C., Harrigan, P. (2016). A Thematic Analysis of Mothers’ Motivations for Blogging. Maternal and Child Health Journal, 20(5), 1025-1031. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10995-015-1887-7.

Research Student Supervision

Current Supervisions

Principal Supervisor

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Exploring the interplay of regulatory frameworks, stakeholder expectations, and the quality of environmental disclosures in the Philippine mining industry

Associate Supervisor

  • Doctor of Philosophy, Return Serve: The Dialogical relationship in Australian and Chinese media coverage on Australia-China relations
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Visual framing of female characters through the gaze of female key creatives; A comparative study between Australian and Egyptian drama series over ten years 2013-2023

Completed Supervisions

Principal Supervisor

  • Australian National Populism on Twitter: A mixed method analysis of communication strategy, attitudes and socio-economic influences during the 2019 Australian Federal Election cycle and beyond

Co-principal Supervisor

  • Ditching the Plough: A social history of how Western Australian farmers started a revolution in their paddocks that gave us modern farming
  • Exploring social media use by local tourism providers in rural Western Australia
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