Eddie Paterson

Associate Professor Eddie Paterson is Associate Professor in Creative Writing-Scriptwriting in the School of Culture and Communication, Faculty of Arts, at the University of Melbourne. He lectures in scriptwriting for theatre, contemporary performance, and games. Paterson earned his Honours degree in Creative Arts in 2002 and PhD in 2008, both from the University of Melbourne. He has progressed from lecturer to his current role, serving as Head of Creative Writing and coordinator of the Creative Writing major. As Director of Storytelling for the Melbourne Academic Games, Play, and Interactive Entertainment (MAGPIE) research group, he leads explorations into narrative innovation in interactive media.

Paterson's research focuses on theatre and performance studies, radical writing practices, global theatre and performance, and new innovations in inclusive narrative design. His publications include Once Upon a Pixel: Storytelling and Worldbuilding in Video Games (Routledge, 2019, co-authored with Timothy Williams and Will Cordner), The Contemporary American Monologue: Performance and Politics (Methuen Drama, 2015, editor), From Shakespeare to the Super Bowl: Theatre and Global Liveness (2020, co-authored with Lara Stevens), Performing Climates (2021), and Beyond Access: The Creative Case for Inclusive Arts Practice (2020, editor). His poetry collection redactor (Whitmore Press, 2017) received a commendation in the Australian Centre Literary Awards 2017 and was shortlisted for the Victorian Premier's Literary Awards 2018. Google Scholar metrics show 235 citations, h-index of 8, and i10-index of 8. Paterson served as Chief Investigator on Australian Research Council grants including DP160100272 'Power and Performance: Revaluing Theatre in the 21st century' and SR200200003 'Evolution of Disability Arts in Australia'. He contributes to public engagement via Pursuit articles such as 'Video games combine every kind of storytelling – and invent new ones' (2025) and co-edited the Global Performance Studies Journal. He co-organised the PSi#22 conference in Melbourne.

Professional Email: eddiep@unimelb.edu.au