Robbie Fordyce

Dr

Accepting PhD Students

PhD projects

Please see below for details about my areas of research. For further information about the PhD programs in our Faculty, please visit the following links:

https://www.monash.edu/arts/graduate_research

https://www.monash.edu/arts/graduate_research/how-to-apply

20132025

Research activity per year

Personal profile

Biography

Robbie completed his PhD, Radical Platforms, at the University of Melbourne, graduating in 2019. His thesis engaged in a critique of autonomist Marxist theories of imperialism. This included a wide engagement with the work of post-fordist and autonomist scholars, as well as platform studies, theories of globalisation and imperialism, and media theory. The thesis involved an investigation into activist and disruptive technologies; this included 3D-printing, blockchain services, wikileaks, interactive entertainment, social media, and pirate networks. 

Robbie's research continues and advances these interests, expanding into research areas such as digital ethics, smart cities, infrastructure, automation, surveillance, and fabrication. 

Research interests

Robbie's areas of research interest include

Games, play, and interactive entertainment:

  • esports, games cultures, games fandom
  • the avatar, subjectivity, identity, and identification
  • game politics and economies, both in-game and in community
  • play, narratives, meta-play, meta-narratives

Media infrastructures and technologies:

  • platform studies, infrastructure studies
  • e-governance, platforming of government systems
  • smart city projects, surveillance, online/offline tracking
  • study of networks and networked cultures
  • digital economies, digital fabrication
  • questions of data value, digital ethics, 

Media theory

  • politically conscious media theories (feminism, post-colonial, anti-racist, queer approaches)
  • theories for new technologies, new subjectivities
  • digital economic theories and/or 4th industrial revolution
  • Marxist media theory and changing systems of labour
  • theories of the post-digital
  • theories of globalisation, imperialism, and the role of automation in these

Innovative methods projects

  • mixed-methods approaches
  • social network analyses, platform analysis via API or scraped datasets
  • critical engagement with epistemologies of digital research

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):

  • SDG 3 - Good Health and Well-being
  • SDG 5 - Gender Equality
  • SDG 10 - Reduced Inequalities
  • SDG 11 - Sustainable Cities and Communities

Research area keywords

  • videogames
  • games
  • media theory
  • marxism
  • intellectual labour
  • networks
  • activism
  • disruptive technology
  • 3D printing
  • platforms
  • data sharing
  • Communication Theory
  • video games
  • networked publics
  • networked cultures
  • open data
  • data policies
  • media and time
  • media piracy
  • Media and Communications Studies
  • Media and Cultural Activism
  • media industries
  • media governance

Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years

Recent external collaboration on country/territory level. Dive into details by clicking on the dots or