 Photo by Roven Images on Unsplash It's that time of the year when I get a change to relax and reflect. I would say that my 2022 was filled with a lot of exciting and colourful events. I was blessed with great opportunities. However, I also navigated lots of challenges. I am just thankful for the support of many people. Hence, I got through 2022! Let me detail my journey.
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 Photo by DESIGNECOLOGIST on Unsplash Friday morning, I was in a meeting with my colleagues. It’s part of a two-day retreat. That morning, our Head of School joined. He was speaking when I suddenly I received a notification on Twitter. I was not keen to open it as I was listening. But I was not able to control myself, I opened Twitter. I thought, a quick glance won’t distract me.
 Photo by Matthias Wagner on Unsplash I was recently appointed as Honorary Visiting Fellow in the Humanities Research Centre at the Australian National University. The invited fellowship was made on the basis of recognising an outstanding early career research who is committed to making a contribution to the Humanities Research Centre.
As part of my fellowship, I presented my work on "Thinking through (im)mobilities: A research agenda in investigating a migrant's digital lifeworld" I am grateful to Professor Kylie Message, the Director of the Humanities Research Centre, and the professional staff who organised the hybrid presentation. For those who missed my presentation, read more to access the abstract and recorded presentation (audio and video).  I’ve been very busy for the past hours. I’ve been preparing for our New Year’s Eve celebration. I am preparing some dishes and baking my first ever cake! Indeed, it’s time to sweeten the coming year.
Finally, I’ve had the time to unwind, reflect and write this blog entry. I guess it’s time to reflect on my 2021. So how’s my 2021?  "Fireworks 1" by Vironevaeh is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 The past years have been extremely challenging. As lockdowns were implemented in Victoria, Australia, I often found myself working mostly from home. I was physical immobile while also virtually mobile. Despite the everyday challenges of navigating stay-at-home measures (especially with limited movements and living away from my family and friends in the Philippines), I have managed to focus and work on my research projects and publications, taught in seminars, and also participated proactively in conferences, workshops, and even in a virtual fellowship.
Today, I have received an excellent news from the Faculty of Arts and Education at Deakin University.  Photo by Dariusz Sankowski on Unsplash I am very delighted to share with everyone the review of my forthcoming book titled "(Im)mobile Homes: Family life at a distance in the age of mobile media". I am grateful for the inspiring reviews of my book, written by leading scholars in my field. Thank you to Oxford University Press (OUP) for publishing my first sole-authored book.
 Photo by □□ Janko Ferlič on Unsplash I am very delighted to announce that my book is coming out soon. I feel very proud of what I have achieved. Truth be told, I have never really thought that I will be able to produce and publish a book. I didn't expect that moving to Brunei Darussalam for work would pave the way for an embodied experience of being an Overseas Filipino Worker (OFW), and eventually lead to developing a PhD research project on examining the role of digital media and technologies in shaping transnational family life. I migrated to Australia in 2012 to start my PhD journey.
So after many years of hardwork and dedication, I wrote a thesis in which contents were presented in several conferences and published in journals and edited book collections. The book encapsulates my journey, growth and positioning as a scholar in the field of digital media, mobilities and migration. I couldn't thank enough the people and institutions that have become part of my journey. More importantly, I will be forever indebted to the transnational families who welcomed me into their homes and entrusted me their stories, hopes, dreams, and even frustrations in navigating a mobile world. Their words, affective narratives and motive and personalised photos are carefully mapped, analysed, and incorporated into the volume.  Photo by Aryan Singh on Unsplash I am very delighted to present a workshop that I am convening under the Mobilities, Diversity and Multiculturalism Stream in the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation. The event will be held on 16 July at 1 - 6pm (online). Moreover, it will feature the excellent works of our esteemed international keynote speakers and presenters, particularly reflecting upon their conceptual and methodological interventions in navigating COVID-19 related immobilities while doing their own research on digital media and migration. Join us!
 Photo by Aryan Singh on Unsplash
Last week,I presented as part of a panel on social media research in a migration context. It was a great experience to listen to the presentation of excellent scholars whose various research projects critically engage in the intersections of digital media and migration. The event was organised by by the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Migration and Integration.
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