Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Brady Robards is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Monash University in the School of Social Sciences. Prior to this Brady was Associate Lecturer at Griffith University, and Lecturer in Sociology at the University of Tasmania. His research explores how young people use and produce digital social media, such as Facebook, Instagram, Tumblr, Snapchat, and Reddit. Brady's current projects include:
- Social Media & Employment: Brady is currently working on a three year Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (DECRA) project on social media and employment. This project aims to investigate how a) young people present professional identities on social media when preparing for employment, and b) how employers use social media in recruitment.
- Growing up on Facebook: With Sian Lincoln, since 2014 Brady has been studying sustained or longitudinal social media use among people in their 20s who have grown up using social media. Brady and Sian developed the 'social media scroll back' method to examine longitudinal digital traces inscribed on social media through regular use over years, where researchers can work with research participants as co-analysts of their own digital traces.
- Scrolling Beyond Binaries: With Brendan Churchill, Paul Byron, Son Vivienne, and Benjamin Hanckel, since 2016 Brady has been studying social media use among LGBTIQ+ young people. This project employed mixed-methods, including a survey conducted in 2016 and interviews conducted in 2017. Key findings cover the ways in which different platforms are used to manage different audiences and networks, and how networked publics operate to build a sense of connection, community, and facilitate learning among queer and gender-diverse young people.
- Young People's Experiences of Australian Public Services: On behalf of the Australian Public Service and with Steven Roberts, Jo Lindsay, Barbara Barbosa Neves, Zareh Ghazarian, Jonathan Smith, Jacqueline Laughland-Booy, and Verity Trott. This study aims to understand young people’s experiences and perceptions of Australian public services and how young people connect with them at different times in their lives.
- Social Media & Unhealthy Marketing: We have partnered with VicHealth to study how marketing of products like alcohol, fast food, sugary drinks, and gambling are advertised to young people via social media. This project is with Nic Carah (UQ), Amy Dobson (Curtin), Karla Elliott, Claire Tanner, Steven Roberts, Michael Savic, and Chiara De Lazzari. We are taking a citizen science approach, recruiting young people to take screenshots of the advertising they see, collect them for us, and discuss them with us as part of our analysis.
Brady is a member of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) and The Australian Sociological Association (TASA).
With Akane Kanai, Brady is also the co-convenor of the Monash Digital Cultures Research Group.
Brady is currently at capacity with PhD supervision and is not taking on additional students. Brady currently supervises the following research projects being undertaken by PhD candidates:
- Selectively Revealing Myself: an exploration of young LGBTIQ+ jobseekers' social media engagement
- Anti-social networks: mapping the coordination, key figures and ideology of Australia's far-right
- Encouraging drivers to stay focused on the road
- Sexual Risk Behaviours in Australian-Asian/Pacific Islander Men who have Sex with Men
- Digital Belonging: Polymedia and Adolescent Migrants in Australia
- Emotion, touch and male bonding: An in depth investigation of masculinity and male friendship
- Traces of the self in digital tracking practices
- Assembling fitspirational bodies: Social media and gender identity work
Profile photo by T.J. Thomson.
Research interests
- Social media (long-term use, memory, and impact on employment)
- Youth culture and internet cultures
- Gender and sexuality
- Digital research methods and ethics
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
External positions
Member, Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR)
2011 → …
Member, The Australian Sociological Association (TASA)
2008 → …
Research area keywords
- social media
- youth
- gender
- sexuality
- qualitative methodology
- internet research
- digital society
Network
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Alcohol consumption practices in crisis
Savic, M., Roberts, S., Elliott, K., Robards, B. & Dwyer, R.
12/05/21 → 30/03/24
Project: Research
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The impact of social media on the employment prospects of young Australians
Australian Research Council (ARC)
1/06/19 → 30/05/22
Project: Research
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Young Australians and the promotion of alcohol on social media
Carah, N., Dobson, A., Robards, B., Angus, D. & Crane, M.
University of Queensland , FARE - Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education Limited, Australian Research Council (ARC), Monash University – Internal Department Contribution, Queensland University of Technology , Curtin University
Project: Research
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Barriers and drivers into young people aged 15-24 years utilising the National Careers Institute’s School Leavers Information Service
Roberts, S., Lyall, B., Smith, J., Robards, B., Trott, V., Wright, B., Waite, C. & Smith, J.
30/06/21 → 31/10/21
Project: Research
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A Citizen Science Approach to Monitoring unhealthy industry digital marketing to young people
Robards, B., Carah, N., Elliott, K., Tanner, C., Roberts, S., Dobson, A. & Savic, M.
1/09/20 → 17/09/21
Project: Research
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“Looking after yourself is self-respect”: The limits and possibilities of men’s care on a night out
Duncan, T., Roberts, S., Elliott, K., Ralph, B., Savic, M. & Robards, B., 1 Mar 2022, In: Contemporary Drug Problems. 49, 1, p. 46-63 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Open AccessFile1 Citation (Scopus) -
Queering the Map: Stories of love, loss and (be)longing within a digital cartographic archive
Kirby, E., Watson, A., Churchill, B., Robards, B. & La Rochelle, L., 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: Media, Culture and Society. 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
4 Citations (Scopus) -
“Does that mean I can't use my phone to pay when I'm in the Maccas drive thru?”: Younger drivers’ uncertainty and attitude toward smartphone law and punishment
Kaviani, F., Benier, K., Robards, B., Young, K. L. & Koppel, S., Sep 2021, In: Accident Analysis and Prevention. 160, 13 p., 106314.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
3 Citations (Scopus) -
“Like it's wrong, but it's not that wrong:”: Exploring the normalization of risk-compensatory strategies among young drivers engaging in illegal smartphone use
Kaviani, F., Young, K. L., Robards, B. & Koppel, S., Sep 2021, In: Journal of Safety Research. 78, p. 292-302 11 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
2 Citations (Scopus) -
Confessional data selfies and intimate digital traces
Robards, B., Lyall, B. & Moran, C., 29 Jun 2020, (Accepted/In press) In: New Media and Society. 18 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › Research › peer-review
Prizes
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Special Commendation, Faculty of Arts Dean's Awards for Research Excellence 2021, Excellence for Research Enterprise
Robards, Brady (Recipient), Roberts, Steven (Recipient), Lyall, Ben (Recipient), Barbosa Neves, Barbara (Recipient), Ghazarian, Zareh (Recipient), Trott, Verity (Recipient), Lindsay, Jo (Recipient), Smith, J. (Recipient) & Laughland-Booy, J. (Recipient), 2021
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Special Commendation - 2017 Dean's Award for Excellence in Research by an Early Career Researcher
Robards, Brady (Recipient), 4 Jul 2017
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
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Winner - 2019 VicHealth Awards, Research into Action Category
Roberts, Steven (Recipient), Ralph, B. (Recipient), Elliott, Karla (Recipient), Robards, Brady (Recipient), Savic, Michael (Recipient), Lindsay, Jo (Recipient), O'Brien, Kerry (Recipient) & Lubman, Dan (Recipient), 2019
Prize: Prize (including medals and awards)
File
Press / Media
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The race that almost stops the nation: Young take the holiday but shun the Cup (The Age)
6/11/21
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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Whether on Tinder or at the gym, Melbourne singles are hooking up after Covid lockdown (Herald Sun)
26/06/21
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Interphobia & Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) (ABC + JoyFM)
17/05/21
2 Media contributions
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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Bridging social divide - communicating and socialising via their gadgets is a way of life for kids (Herald Sun)
21/07/20
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment