Dr Giselle Newton

Research Fellow

Centre for Policy Futures & Digital Cultures & Society, HASS

giselle.newton@uq.edu.au

Level 6
Forgan Smith Building (1)
UQ St Lucia Campus

Researcher biography

Dr Giselle Newton (she/her) is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Digital Cultures and Societies Hub nd Centre for Policy Futures, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. Giselle also holds an appointment as Adjunct Associate Lecturer at the Centre for Social Research in Health at UNSW, Sydney.

Giselle is a social researcher of health, family and technology with a background in sociology, media studies and linguistics. Giselle's research agenda focuses on how developments in digital and bio- technologies facilitate the emergence of new identities, communities and family structures; shifts in knowledge practices and positionings; and changes in power dynamics particularly between laypeople, experts and institutions.

Giselle complete her PhD at the Centre for Social Research in Health at UNSW, Sydney in August 2022. Giselle's PhD study explored how digital technologies such as social media and direct-to-consumer DNA testing have afforded donor-conceived people new opportunities to bond, sleuth, educate and strategise. Giselle’s thesis entitled “Everyday belongings: Exploring Australian donor-conceived adults’ social, linguistic and digital practices across private and public domains” won Dean’s Award for Outstanding PhD Theses in 2022.

In Semester 1, 2023, Giselle is the course coordinator for COMU2030 Communication Research Methods.

Areas of supervision: Giselle welcomes research proposals focused on social research in digital media identities and cultures; digital family practices; sexual and reproductive health; DNA and genetic testing/screening; reproductive donation.

Publications

Book Chapters (3)

Journal Articles (8)

Thesis (1)

Research Reports (2)

Newspaper Articles (4)

Book Chapters

Kirby, Emma, Newton, Giselle, Smith, Louisa, Strnadová, Iva, Churchill, Brendan, Hoffstätter, Lukas, Judd-Lam, Sarah and Newman, Christy E. (2024). When caring ends: exploring the hidden aspects of loss in trajectories out of caring in Australia. Understanding the grief and loss experiences of carers: research, practitioner and personal perspectives. (pp. 110-122) edited by Kerry Jones and Joanna Horne. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003435365-9

Newton, Giselle (2023). On familial haunting: donor-conceived people’s experiences of living with anonymity and absence. Donor-linked families in the digital age: relatedness and regulation. (pp. 154-173) Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/9781009008129.012

Newton, Giselle (2022). Doing reflexivity in research on donor conception: examining moments of bonding and becoming. Reproductive citizenship: technologies, rights and relationships. (pp. 279-301) edited by Rhonda M. Shaw. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan Singapore. doi: 10.1007/978-981-16-9451-6_12

Journal Articles

Newton, Giselle, Kirby, Emma, Carah, Nicholas and Wilson Gray, Romy (2024). On the sensations of direct-to-consumer DNA testing: realisations, resemblance and relationships. Emotions and Society, 1-18. doi: 10.1332/26316897y2024d000000045

Newton, Giselle, Zappavigna, Michele, Drysdale, Kerryn and Newman, Christy (2024). From lived experience to lived expertise: how donor-conceived witnesses claim and sustain epistemic authority. Journal of Pragmatics, 221, 89-104. doi: 10.1016/j.pragma.2023.12.006

Newton, Giselle, Drysdale, Kerryn and Newman, Christy E. (2024). Embodied sociotechnical imaginaries: how donor-conceived people imagine identity, family and reprodigital futures beyond regulation. Frontiers in Global Women's Health, 4 1221913, 1221913. doi: 10.3389/fgwh.2023.1221913

Lewis, Sophie, Newton, Giselle, Kenny, Katherine and Boyle, Frances (2023). The incurable self: Negotiating social bonds and dis/connection with metastatic breast cancer. Sociology of Health and Illness, 46 (2), 295-314. doi: 10.1111/1467-9566.13704

Newton, Giselle, Drysdale, Kerryn, Zappavigna, Michele and Newman, Christy E. (2023). Truth, proof, sleuth: trust in direct-to-consumer DNA testing and other sources of identity information among Australian donor-conceived people. Sociology, 57 (1), 36-53. doi: 10.1177/00380385221091184

Newton, Giselle and Southerton, Clare (2023). Situated Talk: A method for a reflexive encounter with #donorconceived on TikTok. Media International Australia, 186 (1) ARTN 1329878X211064646, 66-80. doi: 10.1177/1329878x211064646

Newton, Giselle, Zappavigna, Michele, Drysdale, Kerryn and Newman, Christy E. (2022). More than humor: Memes as bonding icons for belonging in donor-conceived people. Social Media and Society, 8 (1), 1-13. doi: 10.1177/20563051211069055

Kirby, Emma, Newton, Giselle, Hofstätter, Lukas, Judd-Lam, Sarah, Strnadová, Iva and Newman, Christy E. (2022). (How) Will it end? A qualitative analysis of free-text survey data on informal care endings. International Journal of Care and Caring, 6 (4), 604-620. doi: 10.1332/239788221x16357694113165

Thesis

Newton, Giselle (2022). Everyday belongings: Exploring Australian donor-conceived adults’ social, linguistic and digital practices across private and public domains. PhD Thesis, CSRH, UNSW.

Research Reports

Hayden, Lauren, Newton, Giselle, Carah, Nicholas, Tran, Dang Khuong, Brownbill, Aimee, Obeid, Abdul and Irving, Rohann (2024). How alcohol and gambling companies target people most at risk with marketing for addictive products on Facebook. Canberra, ACT, Australia: Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education.

Curtis, Caitlin, Hereward, James and Newton, Giselle (2023). Submission to the Australian Government: Attorney-General’s Department review of the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) - genetic and genomic data. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland and the Australian Government: Attorney-General’s Department.

Newspaper Articles

Newton, Giselle , Macmillan, Caitlin and Gelber, Katharine (2023, 03 08). Qld agrees to allow donor-conceived people the right to know the identity of their donor. Here’s why it’s important The Conversation

Newton, Giselle (2022, 06 14). Donor-conceived adults are speaking out about their experiences, but will governments listen? The Power to Persuade

Gray, Rachel and Newton, Giselle (2020, 07 17). Australians are discovering they are donor-conceived via direct-to-consumer DNA testing UNSW Sydney Newsroom

Gray, Rachel and Newton, Giselle (2020, 01 20). Donor-conceived people lobby UN for access to their genetic heritage UNSW Sydney Newsroom

Areas of research

Justice, Rights and Empower Communities