Dr Susan Kerrigan

Work Phone	(02) 4985 4517
Fax	(02) 4921 5896
Email	Susan.Kerrigan@newcastle.edu.au
Position	Lecturer School of Design Communication and IT The University of Newcastle, Australia
Office	ICT3-53, Ict Building

Biography

Dr Susan Kerrigan has been the Bachelor of Communication Program Convenor for the University of Newcastle since 2011. Susan’s teaching and research, is informed by her past professional practice, as a TV Producer/Director for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, where she worked on the iconic children’s program ‘Play School’. During 2011/2012 Susan held the Vice-President's office for the Australian Screen Production, Education and Research Association (ASPERA). Susan has taught the Screen Production courses in the Media Production Major for the Bachelor of Communication program for nine years, the courses include: Screenwriting Documentary and Drama, Media Production Television, Music Video, Screen Drama and the final year course Media Production Project.

In 2010, Susan completed her PhD, on 'Creative Documentary Practice', she has presented this research at international conferences and has published internationally in the field of Creative Screen Practice. The creative work PhD investigated the Producer/Writer/Director's creative process for cross platform low budget documentary productions of two works titled 'Using Fort Scratchley' and 'Fort Scratchley a Living History' ( www.fortscratchley.org) .

Susan has successfully supervised First Class Honours students doing 'Creative Media Projects' and has examined both Honours and Master's works in the area of Screen Media Arts - Film and Television. Susan's research is closely aligned with her past employment at ABC Television Sydney (1987-2003), where she worked across a variety of productions using multi-camera and single camera approaches. Susan produced and directed 20 episodes of Play School and 18 months of Mixy Breakfast Hostings. Other highlights include 40 hours of continuity credits on Australian Drama TV productions (including Wildside, GP, Big Sky) and 150 hours as a DA/PA on studio -based, live and pre-packaged television programming.

Qualifications

PhD (Communication & Media Arts), University of Newcastle, 2011
Graduate Certificate Practice of Tertiary Teaching, University of Newcastle, 2006
Bachelor of Arts (Communication Studies), University of Newcastle, 1990

Research

Research keywords

Creativity
Documentary Practice
Media production
Screen Production

Research expertise

Susan's research is focused on trying to better understand 'creative screen and media practice', through the theoretical application of creativity theories to Screen Production Practice. Creativity is an idea, process or product that is recognised, by individuals or groups as being unique, novel or innovative (Csikszentmihalyi, 1999). The new knowledge created by this research helps to better explain the cultural and creative processes that practitioner's tacitly engage in during the making of a screen/media works. This research is significant as it generates new knowledge and understandings which bridges the theory/practice nexus by aligning creative process theories (Bastick, 1982; Csikszentmihalyi, 1996; Wallas, 1976) and cultural industries approaches (Hesmondhalgh, 2002) to film, television and media production personnel. This creative practice research can be conducted through a self-reflective methodological approach or using more traditional qualitative methods to investigate media practitioner's creative processes and practices.

Fields of Research

Code	Description	Percentage
190200	Film, Television And Digital Media	60
200299	Cultural Studies Not Elsewhere Classified	20
190499	Performing Arts And Creative Writing Not Elsewhere Classified	20

Teaching

Teaching keywords

Screen Production

Teaching expertise

My teaching is professionally focused, and I teach media, television and screen based productions to students in the Bachelor of Communication Degree.

The University of Newcastle, Australia