Aphra Kerr - Biography#

Aphra Kerr has been at Maynooth University since 2005. She is a Professor of Sociology, co-convenor of the university’s Technology and Society interdisciplinary research network, and a member of the Maynooth Social Sciences Research Institute and the Assisted Living and Learning Institutes, all at Maynooth University. She is also the Maynooth lead and academic collaborator and Maynooth University lead with the ADAPT Centre for Digital Media Technology, a multi-institutional research centre in Ireland (https://www.adaptcentre.ie/).

Her research focuses on the design, governance and impact of media and technology in everyday life. Aphra has particular expertise in digital content and network technologies and has worked on interdisciplinary projects for over two decades. Her research on digital games was recognised with a Distinguished Scholar award from the international Digital Games Research Association in 2016.

She is the author of two monographs on digital games published by Sage and Routledge respectively (2006 and 2017), was associate editor of the Digital Communication and Society three volume encyclopaedia (Wiley-Blackwell, 2015), and has published over 60 peer reviewed publications. Her journal articles have appeared in several important journals in the field.

She is currently co-PI on a project exploring the gambling industry and its impact in Ireland (2019/2020) and is collaborating on projects exploring transparent digital governance in online spaces. She was co-PI on the 'Refiguring Innovation in Digital Games' project funded by the Canadian SSHRC (http://www.refig.ca/) which explores diversity and inclusion in the digital games industry. The Irish project explored informal education initiatives to support diversity in creative cultural productions (2016-2020).

She is on the organising committee of the Association of Internet Researchers 2020 which will take place in Dublin, was elected chair and vice chair of the Communication Policy & Technology (CPT) section of the International Association for Media and Communications Research (2012-2019) and was a founding member of the international Digital Games Research Association in 2003. She is also a member of the Media Literacy Network in Ireland and an invited advisory expert for the Pan European Game Information System (PEGI).

Aphra has over 20 years’ experience of educating at higher educational institutions in Ireland, the UK and the United States. She is programme chair of the MA Internet and Society programme in Maynooth University (from 2015).