My main research interests focus on new, digital technologies and their relationship to culture, nationalism, media and politics in Southeast Asia, in particular Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines. My ongoing research interests focus on the changing information societies of the Southeast Asian region and how this affects freedom of expression, media freedom, political participation and elections. 

Ross Tapsell is a senior lecturer and researcher at the Australian National University’s College of Asia and the Pacific, specialising in media and culture in Island Southeast Asia. He is the author of Media Power in Indonesia: Oligarchs, Citizens and the Digital Revolution (Rowman & Littlefield, 2017) and co-editor of Digital Indonesia: Connectivity and Divergence (ISEAS Publishing, 2017). He has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, VICE and other publications in the Southeast Asian region. He is also on the editorial board of the international scholarly journal Asiascape: Digital Asia.

 Ross has been a Visiting Fellow at Indiana University (Bloomington, US), the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (Paris) and the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Singapore). He is also on the editorial board of the international scholarly journal Asiascape: Digital Asia (Brill). 

Ross is involved in a number of Southeast-Asia activities at the ANU. He is currently Director of the ANU's Malaysia Institute, is involved in the ANU's Indonesia Project and the academic news/analysis website New Mandala. 

If you are interested in thesis level research (Honours, Masters and PhD) on the following broad topics feel free to get in touch:

• Indonesian studies
• Malaysian studies
• Island Southeast Asian society 
• Digital technologies and their impact 
• Communications and Media

If you are an international student looking for supervisors for a PhD in the above area, please email me with a CV which includes your tertiary education qualifications and publications.

(Please note that PhD placements are highly competitive, and students who have a Masters degree written in English are often favoured. If you do not have a Masters degree in English, the ANU's Masters of Asia Pacific Studies is one option you might like to consider. Please also note that I do not provide scholarship advice and unfortunately have no ability to provide you with a scholarship from the ANU or elsewhere).