Deb Verhoeven

Professor and Chair of Media and Communication, Deakin University

Deb Verhoeven is Professor and Chair of Media and Communication at Deakin University. Until 2011 she held the role of Director of the AFI Research Collection at RMIT. A writer, broadcaster, film critic and commentator, Verhoeven is the author of more than 30 journal articles and book chapters. Her most recent book is Jane Campion published in 2009 by Routledge, a detailed case study of the commercial and cultural role of the auteur in the contemporary film industry.

In 2008 Verhoeven was appointed inaugural Deputy Chair, National Film and Sound Archive (Aust.). In 2011 she was elected to the inaugural committee of the Australasian Association for Digital Humanities (aaDH).

Verhoeven’s principal research interest lies in extending the limits of conventional film studies; exploring the intersection between cinema studies and other disciplines such as history, information management, geo-spatial science, statistics, urban studies and economics. This work has evolved through collaborations with academics such as A/Prof Colin Arrowsmith (a geo-spatial scientist at RMIT University); Professor Jill Julius Mathews (a historian at Australian National University); Professor John Sedgwick (an economist at London Metropolitan University); Dr Brian Morris (cultural studies at RMIT University) and staff from the Centre for Screen Business at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS); and in association with film studies academics such as Professor Richard Maltby and Dr Mike Walsh (Flinders University) and Dr Kate Bowles (University of Wollongong).

She is the Director of the Humanities Networked Infrastructure (HuNI) project, a national linked data initiative that will unite and unlock Australia's cultural datasets. The project is funded by NeCTAR (National eResearch Collaboration Tools and Resources) unil the end of 2013.

A former CEO of the Australian Film Institute, Professor Verhoeven is a member of the Australian Film Critics Association, the Fédération Internationale de la Presse Cinématographique (FIPRESCI), an Honorary Life Member of Women in Film and Television, an executive member of the International Cinema Audiences Research Group (ICARG), and a founding member of the Screen Economics Research Group (SERG). As a film critic Verhoeven is a regular critical contributor to various programs on ABC Radio National and appeared fortnightly on the high rating Jon Faine program on ABC Local Radio for 7 years. She was film critic for The Melbourne Times for 6 years and ran film programs on various public radio stations around Melbourne for many years prior to this.
Deb Verhoeven has an active role in film publishing. Until 2012 was Chair of the widely read film journal Senses of Cinema and was Editor for the journal Studies in Australasian Cinema (Intellect) in 2009/10.

Verhoeven’s recent awards and fellowships include:
2010 Winner (bonza), Australian Teachers of Media (ATOM) Awards
2009/2010 Honorary Creative Fellowship, State Library of Victoria
2007 Visiting Professor, Som e Imagem, Escola das Artes, Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Porto
2006 Media Star Award (Most Media Appearances), RMIT University
2006 Highly Commended Finalist (Sheep and the Australian Cinema), Film and History Research and Writing Awards
2006 Best Australian Cinema Book 2006-7 (Sheep and the Australian Cinema), Australian Film Critic’s Association