Jess Carniel is Associate Professor in Humanities in the School of Humanities and Communication and the Centre for Heritage and Culture at the University of Southern Queensland, Australia. Drawing upon a broad humanistic tradition, she teaches international relations, ethics, and critical theory. Located at the intersection of Cultural Studies and International Studies, her research reveals how various cultural phenomena, from the Eurovision Song Contest to the British royal family, help us to develop a deep and critical understanding of multicultural and globalised communities, identities, and relations. Jess is Australia's leading scholar of the Eurovision Song Contest, focusing her research on understanding its meaning and significance for Australian audiences within a changing context of multiculturalism, globalisation, and shifting regional geopolitics. She is the author of Understanding the Eurovision Song Contest in Multicultural Australia (Palgrave 2018) and the co-editor of Eurovision and Australia: Interdisciplinary Perspectives from Down Under (with Chris Hay, Palgrave 2019). Her research has been published in International Studies Perspectives, Media, Culture & Society, Pedagogy, Culture & Society, and Continuum.

Carniel’s 2024-26 CPD Research Fellowship project is titled, "A Study of the Eurovision Song Contest as an Enabler of Participatory Diplomacy."