Section: Overview
Overview
Key publications
Research funding
Supervising & teaching
Career

Key details

Areas of expertise

  • Popular and political rhetoric
  • Public speaking
  • Poetry
  • Discourse analysis
  • Ideology

Available to supervise research students

Available for media queries

About Tom Clark

Tom Clark is Chair of the Victoria University Academic Board. He is also Associate Dean Research and Research Training in the VU First Year College and a researcher in VU’s Institute for Sustainable Industries and Liveable Cities.

Professor Clark's academic work draws on an education in early English and Old Norse poetry with a professional background in speechwriting and policy advice. These experiences inform his research and teaching around rhetoric and public speaking, as well as various research projects looking at the poetic qualities of contemporary public language. He teaches across a range of disciplines, as well as supervising higher degree by research students.

Professor Clark is Secretary of the Australasian Universities Language and Literature Association (AULLA) and Secretary-General of the International Federation for Modern Language and Literature (FILLM).

Qualifications

  • Graduate Certificate in Tertiary Education (Victoria University, 2019).
  • PhD (Sydney, 2003)

Key publications

Year Citation
2012 Clark, T. (120101). Stay on Message: Poetry and Truthfulness in Political Speech. Australian Scholarly Publishing.

Year Citation
2016 Stastny, A., Henriss-Anderssen, S., & Clark, T. (160101). The Poetics of Non-Indigenous Reflexive Self-awareness: Strategies of Embodiment and Delegation in Focus Group Discussions in Australia (pp. 159-176).

doi: 10.1007/978-981-10-2654-6_10

2013 Clark, T. (130101). Sorryness as Public Poetics: Rhetorical Figurationa dn Poetic Formulas in Australian and Canadian: 2008 Parliamentary Apology Debates (pp. 144-165). Cambridge Scholars Publisher.
2011 Costa, R. D., & Clark, T. (110101). Exploring non-Aboriginal attitudes towards reconciliation in Canada: the beginnings of targeted focus group research In Mathur, A. ;. (Ed.) (1) (pp. 327-340). Ottawa, Ontario: Aboriginal Healing Foundation.

Year Citation
2018 Clark, T. (180504). Anxieties of influence: Recursion and occlusion in noel pearson s Eulogy for gough whitlam. Journal of Language, Literature and Culture, 65(2), (102-116).

doi: 10.1080/20512856.2018.1499333

2017 Clark, T., de, Costa., & Maddison, S. (170704). Non-Indigenous Australians and the Responsibility to Engage ?. Journal of Intercultural Studies, 38(4), (381-396).

doi: 10.1080/07256868.2017.1341393

2016 Clark, T. (161201). Form versus Content: Misogyny versus Blue Ties. Overland,(225), (79-84).
2013 Clark, T. (130101). Paul Keating's Redfern Speech and its Rhetorical Legacy. Overland,(213), (10-19).
2009 Clark, T. (090101). Towards a poetics of contemporary public language: The poetic formula in focus. AUMLA-Journal of the Australasian Universities Language and Literature Association, 111 (103-129).

doi: 10.1179/000127909805259607

2006 Clark, T. (060101). 'Language as Social Capital'. Applied Semiotics, 8(18), (29-41).

Research funding for the past 5 years

Please note:

  • Funding is ordered by the year the project commenced and may continue over several years.
  • Funding amounts for contact research are not disclosed to maintain commercial confidentiality.
  • The order of investigators is not indicative of the role they played in the research project.

Developing adequate anti-racism support structures and fostering community empowerment in Greater Dandenong and Casey
From: City of Greater Dandenong, City of Casey
Other investigators: Dr Mario Peucker
For period: 2021-2022
Not disclosed
Documentation of Community Empowerment Project: Establishing a local community-led network supporting those who experience racism
From: Scanlon Foundation
Other investigators: Dr Mario Peucker
For period: 2021-2021
$40,000

Grampians Climate Adaptation Strategy
From: Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning
Other investigators: Dr Maxwell Winchester
For period: 2020-2021
Not disclosed

Grampians Roadmap to Zero Emissions
From: Committee for Ballarat Inc.
Other investigators: Dr Maxwell Winchester
For period: 2019-2020
Not disclosed
Grant for Wyndham Pilot Study: Empowerment and support services for marginalised communities experiencing prejudice-motivated harassment and abuse in Wyndham
From: Scanlon Foundation
Other investigators: Dr Mario Peucker
For period: 2019-2020
$50,000

Supervision of research students at VU

Available to supervise research students

Available for media queries

Currently supervised research students at VU

No. of students Study level Role
3 PhD Principal supervisor
1 PhD Associate supervisor

Currently supervised research students at VU

Students & level Role
PhD (3) Principal supervisor
PhD (1) Associate supervisor

Completed supervision of research students at VU

No. of students Study level Role
6 PhD by Creative Work Principal supervisor
1 Masters by Research Principal supervisor
1 Masters by Research Associate supervisor
4 PhD Principal supervisor
2 PhD Associate supervisor
2 Master of Research Principal supervisor
1 Master of Research Practice Principal supervisor
2 PhD Integrated Principal supervisor

Completed supervision of research students at VU

Students & level Role
PhD by Creative Work (6) Principal supervisor
Masters by Research (1) Principal supervisor
Masters by Research (1) Associate supervisor
PhD (4) Principal supervisor
PhD (2) Associate supervisor
Master of Research (2) Principal supervisor
Master of Research Practice (1) Principal supervisor
PhD Integrated (2) Principal supervisor

Teaching activities & experience

Tom Clark is Key Academic for the first year unit ABA1004 Text and Representation, which he also teaches and convenes.

Tom teaches in the first year units ASA1024 Applied Human Rights, EEC1100 Reflective Practice, and HCM1000 Professional Communication.

Tom also teaches the higher degree research units UGR7006 Enhancing Researcher Knowledge and Skills and UGR7007 Enhancing Research Capability.

Key academic roles

Dates Role Department / Organisation
Jan 2019 - Present
Deputy Head of Curriculum
VU First Year College
Dec 2015 - Nov 2019
Deputy Chair
Chair
Dec 2019 - Present
Chair
Chair
Dates Role & Department/Organisation
Jan 2019 -
Present
Deputy Head of Curriculum
VU First Year College
Dec 2015 -
Nov 2019
Deputy Chair
Chair
Dec 2019 -
Present
Chair
Chair