Fae Heaselgrave

Fae is currently the Program Director for the Master of Communication degree and coordinator of the year-long capstone industry placement, providing ongoing academic and professional mentoring to students and strategic support to industry partners. She has more than 12 years academic experience, teaching the theory and practice of public relations and professional communication to students in the classroom and online at UniSA, Flinders University and Charles Sturt University. Fae also has ten years prior industry experience as a strategic communications professional in the UK and in Adelaide, having working in public health for the Department of Health, the disability sector and in primary health care research. Fae's research focuses on the impact of digital media use on everyday life. Her PhD thesis (2021) examined mothers' interactions with digital media as users and facilitators of children's use, utilising theories of mediatisation, domestication of technology and parental mediation to identify changes in the communicative practices of contemporary mothers. The study revealed that children's increasing use of digital media for schooling, entertainment and social interaction, coupled with societal expectations about a mother's role, adds an additional layer of responsibility on mothers to provide unpaid digital care to children (Heaselgrave 2023). Current projects include researching the challenges and opportunities of video gaming for parent players and, specifically, any differences in the gameplay practices of mothers compared to fathers, and building an evidence-based framework with an industry partner to inform future policy decisions about Australia's media classification system, making it more accurate and useful for families. The impact of digital media use on everyday life; mothers' interactions with digital media as users and facilitators of children's use; mediatisation, domestication of technology and parental mediation; unpaid digital care work; video gaming for parent players; differences in gameplay practices of mothers compared to fathers; media classification system for families

[2026] Heaselgrave, F., & Borgkvist, A. (2026). 'Gaming is my main source of relaxation and stress relief': the wellbeing benefits of gaming for mothers. Communication Research and Practice, 16 pages. DOI: 10.1080/22041451.2026.2708566 [2025] Heaselgrave, F. (2025). Unpaid digital care work: unmasking the parental mediation practices of contemporary mothers. New Media and Society, 27(1), 281-296. DOI: 10.1177/14614448231174420 [2023] Handsley, E., & Heaselgrave, F. (2023). Australia's media classification system is no help to parents and carers. It needs a grounding in evidence. The Conversation.