Kate Rossmanith

Kate Rossmanith is an Associate Professor in the School of Communication, Society and Culture at Macquarie University and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow. She co-leads research on imagination's role in knowledge-making and world-building, with particular expertise in narrative and emotion-concepts within legal processes. Her work bridges academic research and public engagement through writing in diverse forms including scholarly publications, creative nonfiction, and documentary film.

Rossmanith's research centers on remorse in criminal justice and everyday life, as demonstrated in her acclaimed book Small Wrongs: How we really say sorry in love, life and law (2018), which was longlisted for the Mark & Evette Moran Nib Literary Award. Her current ARC Future Fellowship project investigates 'closure' as an emotional expectation in justice systems and personal lives. She has developed influential research on writing forms and voice, particularly through her widely read essays 'Ditching the New Yorker Voice' (2022) and 'On Not Asking 'Should I Insert Myself in the Text?'' (2023), which have appeared in Public Books, Lit Hub Daily, Sydney Review of Books, and other prominent publications.

Her research outputs reveal a consistent trajectory exploring the intersection of narrative, emotion, and legal processes, with increasing attention to writing methodologies and forms. Recent publications focus on emotion research methods in law, judicial assessment of remorse, and conceptualizing closure in death investigations. Her work has informed the practices of judges, coroners, lawyers, police, and parole authorities, improving outcomes for people in criminal justice processes.

Rossmanith has received significant recognition including the Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (2021), CHASS Distinguished Visiting Researcher Fellowship (2021), and Macquarie University Faculty of Arts Award for Research Excellence (2018). Her documentary film Unnatural Deaths is used to counsel bereaved families on viewing crime scene images.

As a dedicated supervisor, Rossmanith has guided numerous PhD and Master's students to completion, with research topics spanning creative nonfiction, disability studies, true crime narratives, and postcolonial identity. She will be a Visiting Scholar at the Oxford Centre for Life-Writing in 2026, continuing her exploration of narrative and emotional experience.