Ash Watson

Dr Ash Watson is a Scientia Fellow and Senior Lecturer at UNSW Sydney within the School of the Arts and Media. Her research focuses on the intersection of digital technology and social life, with expertise in artificial intelligence, digital futures, belonging, wellbeing, and fiction and storytelling.

Education:

• Doctor of Philosophy (2018)

Her work examines digital culture through sociological lenses, exploring topics like DIY practices, queer cartographies, health information ecologies, and creative methods for sociological inquiry. She combines science and technology studies with art-based research to analyze automated futures and sociotechnical imaginaries.

The latest publications reveal trends in more-than-human wellbeing, digital privacy, health technologies, and experimental research methods. Her work bridges qualitative research with creative writing and sensory ethnography.

Scientific Awards:

• Endeavour Research Fellowship (2017)
• Scientia Fellowship

Advising and Grants: Currently supervising two PhD candidates, Ash received a major Australian Research Council Discovery Project grant ($561,545) for mapping DIY cultural economies (2024-2026). She contributes to editorial roles at The Sociological Review, Qualitative Research, and as founder of So Fi Zine, an open-access platform for experimental social inquiry.

Labs and Teams: Ash is creator/editor of So Fi Zine and runs the independent publisher Frances St Press, fostering DIY academic publishing and creative research outputs.