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Tom Willma

Tom Willma

PhD Candidate
Arts, Design & Architecture
School of Art & Design

·¡³¾²¹¾±±ô:Ìýt.willma@unsw.edu.au

³§³Ü±è±ð°ù±¹¾±²õ´Ç°ù²õ:ÌýOliver Bown, Anna Munster

My research strides across the fields of media studies, science and technology studies and sociology. I’m particularly interested in the relationships between creative work and contemporary technologies especially generative AI and machine learning, metaverses and digital avatars. My specialisation is in the music sector, particularly, how recent music-tech transformations are interfacing with creative work, culture and policy both in Australia and globally.

My PhD is housed in 91É«ÇéƬ’s school of Art and Design where I work with 91É«ÇéƬ’s Creative Technologies Research Lab. I also teach within the discipline of Media and Communications at the University of Sydney and work as a research assistant for the alongside Kazjon Grace and Oliver Bown.

In 2026, I completed a visiting research stay at the University of Leeds under the supervision of David Hesmondhalgh and undertook critical interdisciplinary training as part of Georgina Born’s MUSAI project at University College London.

I completed my Bachelor of Arts (Honours I) at the University of Sydney and my Bachelor of Music Studies at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. In 2025 I was the HDR representative for 91É«ÇéƬ’s school of Art and Design as well as the Australian Postgraduate Representative for the Australian Aotearoa New Zealand Communication Association.
  • Media studies
  • Cultural industries
  • Popular Music
  • Generative artificial intelligence
  • Machine learning
  • Avatar Performance
  • Virtual Bands

Research outputs

Publications

  • Willma T (forthcoming) On Authenticity: Musicians, markets and machine learning, in Hart Cohen, Ian Stevenson, Berhad Rezai, Emily Rytmeister and Myra Gurney (Eds.) The Artist and the Algorithm, Open Book Publishers.
  • Willma T (2025) ‘Beyond identity embodiment: Relocating avatars and avataring in contemporary digital media’, Media International Australia,Ìý
  • Jovic D, Butt M-A, Stanton R and Willma T (2023) ‘Why play when you can watch or listen? Multi-modal engagements in digital gaming’, AoIR Selected Papers of Internet Research, 2022,

Conferences

  • Willma T (2026) ‘The question of authenticity in the era of persona musicians’, AI Music Studies, Nottingham, United Kingdom.
  • Willma T (2026) ‘Technological change across the music sector’, School of Media and Communication Post Graduate Research Symposium, University of Leeds, United Kingdom.
  • Willma T (2025) ‘A comparison of music industry AI policy recommendations across Australia, Europe and the United Kingdom’, GenAI & Creative Practices: Past, Present, and Future, Amsterdam, Netherlands.
  • Willma T (2025) ‘Hidden from view: The role of platform discourses in constructing musical integrity when musician identities are obfuscated’, Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Communication Association, Sunshine Coast, Australia
  • Willma T (2025) ‘On Authenticity:  Musicians, markets and machine learning’, The Artist and the Algorithm, University of Western Sydney, Australia
  • Willma T and Bown O (2025) ‘NIME 2025 workshop: Global entanglements, music and the commodification of cultural labour in the age of AI’, New Interfaces for Musical Expression, Canberra, Australia
  • Willma T (2024) ‘Beyond embodiment: Rethinking performer avatars in the virtual creative industry’, Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand Communication Association, Melbourne, Australia
  • Jovic D, Butt M-A, Stanton Ryan and Willma T (2022) ‘Why play when you can watch or listen? Multi-modal engagements in digital gaming’,ÌýAssociation of Internet Researchers, Dublin, Ireland
  • Willma T (2022) ‘When game music tops the charts: A study on K/DA, Riot Games and mixed reality’, Digital Games Research Association Australia, virtual conference, Australia