Ash Watson Email & Phone Number

My research analyses the promise and the reality of emerging technologies. I am interested in new digital tools like AI and how these are changing the fabric of society - what they are doing to our big institutions like healthcare, how they can connect communities at new scales, and who is getting left behind in mass digital change. I am a sociologist and Scientia Fellow/Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney). My research unites in-depth qualitative methods with creative participatory approaches to examine the patterns and roots of people’s perceptions, practices, feelings and desires. Understanding the stories we tell as a society is key to my work. I am passionate about making space for others to engage critically with storytelling. As Fiction Editor of The Sociological Review I support and publish stories that radically expand the sociological imagination. I am the creator/editor of an independent, twice-yearly publication for experiments in creative social inquiry called So Fi Zine. My debut novel Into the Sea (2020, Brill) holds a mirror up to the "Australian way of life".