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Ash Watson

I am a sociologist at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, Australia. My research examines AI and other emerging tech; cultural institutions like public libraries, diy arts, alt media and grassroots archives; and creative queer and feminist methods for social research.

I am also Fiction Editor of The Sociological Review; the creator/editor of So Fi Zine, a twice-yearly publication for sociological fiction, poetry and visual art; and Affiliate of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society (ADM+S). My debut novel Into the Sea was published by Brill in 2020. I run the indie zine publisher and distro Frances Street Press.

I have held a number of visiting positions including with The University of Glasgow (2025), the ESRC Centre for SocioDigital Futures at the University of Bristol (2023), and Goldsmiths, University of London as a Doctoral Endeavour Research Fellow (2017).

My grants and publications are listed here.

Contact me via email at ashleigh.watson@unsw.edu.au. Subscribe for sociological fiction news via awtsn.substack.com.

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