Hartley's career spans Wales and Australia. Hartley worked at the Polytechnic of Wales from 1975 to 1984, initially as a research assistant and tutor, and then as a lecturer in communication and cultural studies. From 1985 to 1995 he held a number of positions at Murdoch University, ranging from lecturer to Director of the Centre for Research in Culture and Communication. In 1990 he received a PhD in communications from Murdoch University. He was a professor at Edith Cowan University from 1995 to 1998. From 1996 to 2000 Hartley was Head of the newly created Cardiff School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University, and Director of its Tom Hopkinson Centre for Media Research. In 2000 he received a Doctor of Letters from the University of Wales. In 1998 Hartley founded the International Journal of Cultural Studies, published by Sage Publications Ltd in London. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities in 2001. Hartley was Dean of the Creative Industries Faculty at Queensland University of Technology from 2000 to 2005. He was an Australian Research Council Federation Fellow and Research Director at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation at QueenslandUniversity of Technology from 2005 to 2010. In 2006 he was made a Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts, having been a member since 1996. In 2012 he became a Fellow of the International Communication Association. Since 2012 Hartley has been Professor of Cultural Science and Director of the Centre for Culture and Technology at Curtin University, and Professor of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University. In December 2012 he was recognised for his academic contributions by being awarded the title of John Curtin Distinguished Professor. In 2014 the Queensland University of Technology announced the John Hartley Oxford Institute Summer Doctoral Programme Scholarship, to allow two students per year for the next five to six years to attend the Oxford Internet Institute's summer doctoral programme. The scholarship is funded in part by "a generous personal gift" from Hartley, matched by funds from the university. Hartley holds current project grants from ARC to the value of over $1.5m. Hartley is an active researcher in Curtin University's Centre for Culture and Technology, leading its research program. He is also a member of CCAT's Indigenous Culture and Digital Technologies, New Models of Publishing, and Digital China Lab research programs.
Publications
Hartley has published over twenty books about communication, journalism, media and cultural studies, and over 200 papers. His works have been translated into over a dozen languages. He published his first book, Reading Television, in 1978. The book, co-authored with John Fiske, was the first to analyse television from a cultural perspective, and is considered a defining publication in the field. It sold over 100,000 copies, in seven languages.
Honours
In 2001 Hartley received the Centenary Medal for "service to Australian society and the humanities in cultural and communication studies". Hartley was made a Member of the Order of Australia in 2009, for "service to education as an academic and commentator in the areas of journalism, culture and media studies".
