About
Biography
Levi is a Senior Lecturer in World Languages with over two decades of experience in language education across secondary and tertiary sectors in Australia and Japan. His research investigates the cultural politics of transnational mobility, language learning, and digital technology, emphasising language as a social practice through which identities, human relations, and culture are formed and sustained.
Levi’s work promotes multilingualism as a pathway to empathy and inclusion, enabling meaningful encounters with alterity and expanding our capacity to move beyond tolerance to understanding and connection. His PhD thesis won the 2021 Michael Clyne Prize for the best thesis in immigrant bilingualism and language contact. He is a recipient of a Humanities Travelling Fellowship (2022) and the 2024 M.A.K. Halliday Prize for Outstanding Research in Applied Linguistics. His monograph, Language Learning, Digital Communications and Study Abroad: Identity and Belonging in Translocal Contexts, was published by Multilingual Matters in 2024.
He currently serves as Secretary of the Australian Association of Applied Linguistics (AALA), is an executive member of the Japanese Studies Association of Australia (JSAA), and sits on the Regional Advisory Committee for the Global Council for Anthropological Linguistics (GLOCAL).
Professional memberships
- Australian Association of Applied Linguists (AALA)
- Japanese Studies Association of Australia (JSAA)
- Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA)
- Association for Language Awareness (ALA)
- Modern Language Teachers Association of Queensland (MLTAQ)
Awards and Fellowships
- The MAK Halliday Prize for Outstanding Research in Applied Linguistics (2024)
- Queensland Program for Japanese Education (2023)
- Humanities Travelling Fellowship (2022)
- Dean's Sessional Commendation for outstanding contribution to teaching (Monash University): 2019
- RTP Scholarship (Monash University): 2017-2020
- Postgraduate Publication Award (Monash University): 2020
Potential research projects for HDR and honours students
- Language and cultural learning during study abroad
- Social media and language learning
- Qualitative research (including Narrative, Case Study and Critical Discourse Studies)
Teaching areas
- Japanese
- Languages and Linguistics
Expert media commentary
Dr Durbidge's specialist areas of knowledge include Japan, Japanese Language, English as an Additional Language and International Education.