Dr Ben Eltham is a Lecturer in Media and Communications at Monash University’s School of Media, Film and Journalism. Ben is a passionate teacher who leads several of the core subjects in Monash's innovative Masters of Cultural and Creative Industries. Before taking up his position at Monash, he lectured at Deakin University in the School of Communications and Creative Arts. After completing his doctoral thesis at Western Sydney University's Institute of Culture and Society in the field of cultural policy, he held a three year post-doctoral fellowship at Deakin in the Centre for Memory, Imagination and Invention.

Ben’s primary research interest is the public policy of culture in Australia, particularly at federal level. He has published peer-reviewed journal articles, conference presentations, creative works, and edited book chapters. His monograph, When the Goal Posts Move: Patronage, power and resistance in Australian cultural policy 2013-2016 was published by Currency House in 2016. Ben's key research collaborations are currently with Associate Professor Xin Gu within the Masters of Cultural and Creative Industries program at Monash, and with Professor Deb Verhoeven’s Kinomatics Group for digital humanities at the University of Alberta.

Ben is also sought out as a cultural policy consultant by federal, state and local policymakers, authoring reports and working with policymakers and arts industry organisations, including the federal Department of Industry, Creative Victoria, the Victorian Music Development Office, the City of Sydney and the National Association for the Visual Arts. 

Ben also works extensively in the popular media as a journalist and essayist. He is a regular contributor to journals such as Crikey, Guardian Australia, Overland, Meanjin and the Sydney Review of Books. In 2020, Ben's professional standing as a journalist was recognised when he served as a judge for the Walkley Awards for Excellence in Journalism. 

Ben is active within the union movement. He is the current President of the National Tertiary Education Union at Monash branch, and a member of the national freelance committee of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance.