Centre for Communication and Social Change

Mairead MacKinnon

PhD Candidate
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4930-4844

Overview:

Mairead’s research is interested in understanding the way Australian media report on refugees and how journalists and editors make decisions when reporting on refugee-related issues. She is interested in how former refugees perceive the impact of media coverage on their sense of belonging and how they are accepted by the larger Australian society. Mairead is also one of the School of Communication and Art’s HDR Student Representatives and President of the Communication and Arts Postgraduate Society (CAPS). She has published in both the communication and journalism field and teaches courses across these disciplines.

Research Interests:

  • Refugees
  • journalism
  • media
  • communication
  • asylum seekers
  • cross-cultural communication

Qualifications:

Master of Journalism, University of Queensland
Bachelor of Arts (Political Science), University of British Columbia

 

Current Research Topic: Representations of refugees in Australia: Impact of media coverage on refugee perceptions of belongingness

Supervisors: Associate Professor Levi Obijiofor & Dr Aparna Hebbani

 

Publications:

Refereed journal articles

Khawaja, N.G., Hebbani, A., Gallois, C., & MacKinnon, M. (2019) Predictors of employment status: A study of former refugee communities in Australia. Australian Psychologist, 1–11. doi:10.1111/ap.12388

Hebbani, A., Colic-Peisker, V., & MacKinnon, M. (2018). Know Thy Neighbour: Residential Integration and Social Bridging among Refugee Settlers in Greater Brisbane. Journal of Refugee Studies, 31(1), 82-103. doi:10.1093/jrs/fex016

Obijiofor, L., & MacKinnon, M. (2016). Africa in the Australian press: Does distance matter? African Journalism Studies, 37(3), 41-60. doi:10.1080/23743670.2016.1210017

MacKinnon, M. (2015). Representations of homelessness in ‘The Australian’ newspaper, 2008-2012. Australian Journalism Review, 37(1), 165-176.

Book chapter

Hebbani, A., & MacKinnon, M. (2020). Examining Communication and Identity within Refugee Families. In J. Soliz & C.W. Colaner (Ed.), Navigating Relationships in the Modern Family: Communication, Identity, and Difference. ISBN: 9781433162374

Research reports

Hebbani, A., Khawaja, N., Colic-Peisker, V., Obijiofor, L., Gallois, C., & MacKinnon, M. (2016). Refugee settlers in South-east Queensland: Employment, aspirations and intergenerational communication about future occupational pathways: Final Report.  School of Communication and Arts, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland.

Conference papers and presentations

MacKinnon, M. (2019, July). Impact of media coverage on refugee belongingness. Paper to be presented as part of a symposia titled ‘The role of intercultural interaction in developing a socially and culturally inclusive Australia’ at the International Academy for Intercultural Research (IAIR) Conference, Shanghai, China.

MacKinnon, M., & Hebbani, A. (2019, July). Refugee parents’ engagement with their children’s school: An opportunity for intercultural interaction/contact. Paper to be presented as part of a symposia titled ‘The role of intercultural interaction in developing a socially and culturally inclusive Australia’ at the International Academy for Intercultural Research (IAIR) Conference, Shanghai, China.

MacKinnon, M. (2018, December). ‘We support refugees but we must be mindful of their religion’: Refugee discourses in Queensland/Australia. Paper presented at the International Australian Studies Association (InASA) Conference, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland.

MacKinnon, M. (2018, October). International Metropolis Conference, Sydney, 2018
PhD Student Workshop pitched an overview of my PhD project.

MacKinnon, M. (2018, October). Analysing Australian media coverage of refugees:
Initial challenges. Presentation for the Centre for Digital Scholarship Text Analysis and Distant Reading workshop, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland.

MacKinnon, M. (2018, September). ‘Vilification of the ‘Other’: Australian media
coverage of refugees. Paper presented at the School of Communication and Arts Work-in-Progress (WiP) Conference, University of Queensland, St Lucia, Queensland.

MacKinnon, M. (2018, July). Agenda-setting effects: Impact of media coverage on refugee belongingness. Paper presented at the 50 Years in Agenda Setting Research: Past and Future Perspectives Conference, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado.

Panel Discussion at the 50 Years in Agenda Setting Research: Past and Future Perspectives Conference, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado: Digging Deeper with Qualitative Agenda-Setting Analyses. (2018, July). Moderator: Donald Lewis Shaw. Panellists: Mairead MacKinnon, Vanessa de Macedo Higgins Joyce, Jennifer Kowalewski, Tammy Rae Matthews, Angelica Kalika.

Hebbani, A., Obijiofor, L., & MacKinnon, M. (2018, May). Examining intergenerational cultural transmission in refugee families: A study of Congolese, Burmese, and Ethiopian refugee families resettled in Australia. Paper presented at the International Communication Association Preconference: Inclusivity and Family Communication Research: Advances and Innovations from across the Discipline, Prague, Czech Republic.

Hebbani, A., Colic-Peisker, V., & MacKinnon, M. (2016, July). If you have a neighbour, you know each other, it’s like a family: Examining social bridging of refugees in Australia. Paper presented at the International Association for Cross-Cultural Psychology Conference, Nagoya, Japan.

Khawaja, N., Hebbani, A., Gallois, C., & MacKinnon, M. (2015, May). Acculturation as a predictor of employment: An Australian study of refugee communities. Paper presented at the International Communication Association Conference, San Juan, Puerto Rico.

MacKinnon, M. (2013, December). Media representations of homelessness in The Australian newspaper, 2008-2012. Paper presented at the Journalism Education Association of Australia Conference, Sunshine Coast, Queensland.