The social sciences impact almost every aspect of society. Social scientists build our collective knowledge in areas including society’s institutions and structures, its histories and its people.

There is a broad range of social science disciplines represented by the Academy, including:

  • Society, Politics and Culture (including sociology, anthropology, geography, Indigenous studies, linguistics and other fields)
  • Business and Economics (including commerce, management, tourism and accounting)
  • History, Philosophy and Law
  • Education, Psychology and Public Health

Academy’s Fellowship and grants and awards programs

A full list of social science fields of research eligible for the Academy’s Fellowship and grants and awards programs is listed below.

State of the Social Sciences report

To read more about the social sciences and the way they engage with social issues visit our State of the Social Sciences report here.

Social Science Disciplines (Fields of Research)

The Academy recognises the following academic disciplines as being within the scope of social science; as listed in the Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020

FoR CodeDiscipline
33Built Environment and Design
3301Architecture
3302Building
3303Design
3304Urban and regional planning
3399Other built environment and design
35Commerce, management, tourism, and services
3501Accounting, auditing and accountability
3502Banking, finance and investment
3503Business systems in context
3504Commercial services
3505Human resources and industrial relations
3506Marketing
3507Strategy, management and organisational behaviour
3508Tourism
3509Transportation, logistics and supply chains
3599Other commerce, management, tourism and services
38Economics
3801Applied economics
3802Econometrics
3803Economic theory
3899Other economics
380202Econometric and statistical methods
380301History of economic thought
39Education
3901Curriculum and pedagogy
3902Education policy, sociology and philosophy
3903Education systems
3904Specialist studies in education
3999Other Education
42Health Sciences
4201Allied health and rehabilitation science
4202Epidemiology
4203Health services and systems
4204Midwifery
4205Nursing
4206Public health
4207Sports science and exercise
4208Traditional, complementary and integrative medicine
4299Other health sciences
43History, heritage, and archaeology
4301Archaeology
4302Heritage, archive and museum studies
4303Historical studies
4399Other history, heritage and archaeology
44Human Society
4401Anthropology
4402Criminology
4403Demography
4404Development studies
4405Gender studies
4406Human geography
4407Policy and administration
4408Political science
4409Social work
4410Sociology
4499Other human society
45Indigenous Studies
4501Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, language and history
4502Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education
4503Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander environmental knowledges and management
4504Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing
4505Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, society and community
4506Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sciences
4507Te ahurea, reo me te hītori o te Māori (Māori culture, language and history)
4508Mātauranga Māori (Māori education)
4509Ngā mātauranga taiao o te Māori (Māori environmental knowledges)
4510Te hauora me te oranga o te Māori (Māori health and wellbeing)
4511Ngā tāngata, te porihanga me ngā hapori o te Māori (Māori peoples, society and community)
4512Ngā pūtaiao Māori (Māori sciences)
4513Pacific Peoples culture, language and history
4514Pacific Peoples education
4515Pacific Peoples environmental knowledges
4516Pacific Peoples health and wellbeing
4517Pacific Peoples sciences
4518Pacific Peoples society and community
4519Other Indigenous data, methodologies and global Indigenous studies
4599Other Indigenous studies
47Language, Communication and Culture
4701Communication and media studies
4702Cultural studies
4703Language Studies
4704Linguistics
4705Literary Studies
4799Other language, communication and culture
48Law and legal studies
4801Commercial law
4802Environmental and resources law
4803International and comparative law
4804Law in context
4805Legal systems
4806Private law and civil obligations
4807Public law
4899Other law and legal studies
50Philosophy and religious studies
5001Applied ethics
5002History and philosophy of specific fields
5003Philosophy
5004Religious studies
5005Theology
5099Other philosophy and religious studies
52Psychology
5201Applied and developmental psychology
5202Biological psychology
5203Clinical and health psychology
5204Cognitive and computational psychology
5205Social and personality psychology
5299Other psychology