Projects per year
Personal profile
Research Interests
Sarah Wagner is Senior Researcher at the Centre for Living Sustainability. Sarah is a critical ethnographer with over a decade of experience leading research projects that uncover and address the mechanisms of social and digital inequalities. Originally from Vancouver Island, Canada, Sarah has held research posts in Spain, Argentina, Bolivia, Japan, and Uganda. She has been awarded three internationally competitive fellowships and was recently awarded the Royal Society of Canada’s Alice Wilson Award for her pioneering research on communication media environments in long-term care.
Sarah has a PhD in the Information and Knowledge Society, an MSc in Cultural Anthropology and Development Studies and an MA in Philosophy. Her research crosses disciplinary boundaries and draws on methods and theories from media anthropology, sociology, and critical media studies to address systemic disadvantages in our increasingly digitalised societies. She has specific expertise in digital storytelling and is interested in the interrelations of creative practice, communicative justice, and social inclusion. Her research has brought attention to the power differentials embedded in communication technology service systems and has been published in top tier academic journals including New Media and Society and Mobile Media and Communication.
Sarah is currently accepting PhD students in the areas of digital and social inclusion; community communication and participatory media; postcolonial and development studies; and digital ageism and critical age studies.
Expertise related to UN Sustainable Development Goals
In 2015, UN member states agreed to 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all. This person’s work contributes towards the following SDG(s):
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Collaborations from the last five years
Projects
- 1 Finished
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SIA: Social Impact Assessment for Island Communities
Welamedage, L. (PI), Wagner, S. (CoI) & Bowditch, E. (CoI)
1/06/24 → 30/11/24
Project: Research
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Carnivalized storytelling: A workshop method for intergenerational creativity
Kanayama, T., Wagner, S., Blake, R. & Haggith, M., 20 Mar 2025, In: Journal of Perspectives in Applied Academic Practice. 13, 1, p. 296-302 7 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile16 Downloads (Pure) -
'In the driver's seat': Navigating vulnerability and autonomy in digital storytelling with older adults
Graff, E., Tung, A. & Wagner, S., 7 Jul 2025, In: Journal of Aging Studies. 101346.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile19 Downloads (Pure) -
Relational digital agency: An everyday life study of mobile communication in nursing homes
Wagner, S., 8 Oct 2025, In: Mobile Media and Communication.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile -
Your Vision for the Haven: Creating Smiles in Highland
Wagner, S., Bain, H., Hart, D., Williamson, A. & Johnson, V., 28 Nov 2024Research output: Book/Report › Other report
Open AccessFile36 Downloads (Pure) -
Tackling ageism in socio-technical interventions: An actor-network analysis of Digital Storytelling workshops with care home residents
Wagner, S. & Ogawa, A., 5 Jun 2023, Digital Ageism: How it Operates and Approaches to Tackling it. Rosales, A., Fernández-Ardèvol, M. & Svensson, J. (eds.). Routledge, p. 210-228 19 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review
Open AccessFile7 Citations (Scopus)105 Downloads (Pure) -
Place-Making through Media: How Media Environments Make a Difference for Long-Term Care Residents’ Agency
Wagner, S., 14 Feb 2022, In: Societies. 12, 1, 14 p., 27.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Open AccessFile3 Citations (Scopus)85 Downloads (Pure) -
Ageing and indigeneity: Mediatization tactics among Guarani leaders
Wagner, S., 27 Jan 2020, Off Campus: Seggau School of Thought: Meditating and Mediating Change: State - Society - Religion. Goggin, M. & Marinsek, U. (eds.). Graz, Austria, Vol. 4. p. 37-48Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter (peer-reviewed) › peer-review