Dr Sukhmani Khorana
Scientia Fellow (Level D)
PhD (University of Adelaide); Bachelor of Media Honours (First Class - University of Adelaide)
Arts, Design & Architecture (ADA)
School of the Arts and Media
Sukhmani Khorana is a Scientia Associate Professor in the Faculty of Arts, Design and Architecture, based in the School of the Arts and Media. She is a Co-Director of the Media Futures Hub, and an elected staff representative on the university's Academic Board.
A leading scholar in media and cultural studies, Sukhmani鈥檚 research focuses on how migrant communities use media and storytelling to foster belonging and agency. She is the author of Mediated Emotions of Migration: Reclaiming Affect for Agency (2023), The Tastes and Politics of Inter-Cultural Food in Australia (2018), and co-author of Migrants, Television and Australian Stories: A New History (2025). Her current work explores discourses of race and multiculturalism in the era of information disorder.
Sukhmani has been awarded two ARC Linkage Grants, including a current project as lead Chief Investigator on young migrant women in western Sydney. She has also advised the Federation of Ethnic Communities鈥 Councils of Australia (FECCA) on a media literacy program.
She is a speaker at national and international conferences in media, cultural studies, and sociology, and has also been invited for seminars and panels at leading research centres and cultural institutions. To date, she has partnered with 14 external organisations in the media and migration sectors and has been nominated for several awards recognising research impact and engagement.
Since 2007, Sukhmani has taught at regional and metropolitan universities in Australia, and supervised teaching at offshore campuses in Malaysia and Hong Kong. Her teaching in western and south western Sydney in particular has informed her research approach and topics.
Her work is underpinned by a commitment to research translation for disadvantaged communities, capacity-building for early career researchers, and fostering cultures of care within academia.
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E-mail
Location
Robert Webster 231F
- Publications
- Media
- Grants
- Awards
- Research Activities
- Engagement
- Teaching and Supervision
- ARC (LP220100456)
Funded in Feb 2023, Project title 'Place-based employment and enterprise of newly arrived young migrant women'; Lead CI with Dr Quah Ee Ling, A/Prof Nida Denson and Dr Teddy Nagaddya; Partner Organisations: Liverpool City Council, Liverpool Neighbourhood Connections, CORE Community Services, Western Sydney Migrant Resource Centre, Navitas, CuriousWorks, 15/15 Festival
Total: $150,000
- ARC (LP150100202)
Funded in July 2015, Project titled 鈥楳igration, Cultural Diversity and Television: Reflecting Modern Australia鈥; CI with Prof Kate Darian-Smith and Prof Sue Turnbull; Partner Organisations: Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), and Museum Victoria
Total: $222,470
- UOW Faculty Challenge Grant (Collaboration and Pilot Study)
Funded in April 2015 and November 2015, Project titled 鈥楥ommunity and Activist Media in the Illawarra鈥; CI with Assoc Prof Tanja Dreher and Prof Bronwyn Carlson
Total: $13,000
- 鈥楩oundations for Belonging鈥 Commissioned Research
Funded from 2019-2022; Partner: Settlement Services International; Lead CI with Associate Professor Liam Magee
Total: $20,000
- 鈥楥reative Equity Toolkit鈥 Commissioned Research
Funded in 2021; Partner: Diversity Arts Australia; Lead CI with Dr Zelmarie Cantillon
Total: $5,000
- Urban Living Futures and Society research theme champion funding
Funded in 2021; 鈥楶laces for Belonging鈥 project (with Assoc Prof Anna Pertierra, Dr Rachael Jacobs and THINK+DO Foundation)
Total: $5,000
鈥⑻ University of Wollongong 鈥業mpact-maker鈥 (2018)
鈥⑻ Faculty Arete Research Champion, University of Wollongong (2018)
鈥⑻ 鈥楻esearch Engagement鈥 Award winner, ICS local achievement awards at Western Sydney University (2021)