Rate My Professor Helen Wolfenden

Helen Wolfenden is a Senior Lecturer in Radio and Journalism at Macquarie University in the School of Communication, Society and Culture within the Faculty of Arts. She is a practice-based researcher whose work examines the conditions under which knowing becomes possible in contemporary media, journalism, and education. Her research focuses on the enabling and constraining features of communicative environments that shape access to knowledge, particularly through voice- and listening-based media including radio, podcasting, and audiobooks. These media highlight questions of authority, voice, authenticity, and communicative access. Her doctoral research investigated how ABC radio presenters construct on-air identity, and subsequent scholarship has addressed performing authenticity, the often-invisible labour of producers, and emergent audio practices such as pop-up and pandemic-era streaming. She has co-authored experimental scholarly audio, including works on philosopher Günther Anders and a sonic conclusion for an edited collection on the moral dimensions of humour.

Wolfenden's career bridges professional practice and academic knowledge. Before joining Macquarie University, she taught journalism, radio, and podcasting at the University of Salford and the University of the West of Scotland. Earlier, she worked as a radio broadcaster with the ABC and the BBC in roles including presenter, producer, manager, and researcher. Key publications include 'Presenting ... producers! And producing presenters' (2023) in The Bloomsbury Handbook of Radio, 'Banging tunes in the basement: finding online community in COVID-19 lockdown' (2022, co-authored) in Radio Journal, 'Decolonising the curriculum: who is in the room?' (2022, co-authored) in Teaching Criminology and Criminal Justice, and 'Conclusion: Why humour? Why AI? And what is a sonic conclusion?' (2024). She serves as a reviewer for Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast and Audio Media. Wolfenden co-delivered Australia's first autism-friendly journalism course for the ABC television program The Assembly, incorporating universal design for learning and neurodiversity principles. She is also a Chief Investigator on an externally funded interdisciplinary project examining nutritional advantages of fresh produce, contributing expertise in public communication and knowledge translation for non-specialist audiences.