Academy Fellow

Loretta Baldassar's early work in migration studies critiqued the then established view that migration ends with settlement by conceptualising visits home as part of an ongoing migration process. Published in Visits Home (2001), it pioneered the transnational approach in migration studies and won a Premier’s Literary Award. Loretta’s subsequent research is internationally recognised as foundational to the field of transnational families and migration studies, including Families Caring Across Borders (Baldassar, Baldock & Wilding 2007) which introduced the concept of ‘transnational caregiving’, and Transnational families, migration and the circulation of care (Baldassar & Merla 2014), which introduced the conceptual and methodological framework of care circulation (a double-ended and digital ethnographic approach), contributing an alternative and influential key concept to the care-chains literature. 

Loretta's innovative work on ‘digital kinning’ and transnational social network analysis inform her more recent work as founding Director of the Social Ageing (SAGE) Futures Lab, where she is building research capacity in the application of social science and arts-based methodologies to medical and health sciences interventional research. This work has been particularly aimed at informing key World Health Organisation (WHO) policy frameworks - Age-friendly; Ageing in Place; as well as the recent landmark report on Social Connection and Social Health - about the critical role (previously overlooked) of distant and virtual supports in ageing well across the life-course. Her work has also informed policy and practice around digital inclusion and diversity. 

Loretta is currently leading a program of research in Migration, Diversity and Care in the School of Arts and Humanities at Edith Cowan University. This program reflects her commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration to champion research and innovation in social ageing and social health, especially among diverse and migrant populations. Loretta’s dedication to mentoring early career researchers has made her a pivotal figure in shaping the future of migration and ageing studies. She is one of few social scientists to lead a Medical Research Future Fund randomised controlled trial, called Befriending with Genie (in progress) developing a social support intervention for people living with dementia and their family carers from migrant backgrounds.

2022 - Vice Chancellor’s Professorial Research Fellow, Director, Social Ageing (SAGE) Futures Lab, School of Arts and Humanities, Edith Cowan University

2019-2022, Director, UWA Social Care and Ageing (SAGE) Living Lab, University of Western Australia

2018-2023, Elected Vice President, RC 31, Migration Research Committee, International Sociological Association

2017-2022, Professor, Anthropology and Sociology and Deputy Head of School of Social Sciences, Community and Engagement, University of Western Australia

2013-2016, Discipline Chair Anthropology & Sociology, University of Western Australia

2009- Editorial Board , Journal Global Networks

2009-2012, Professor (Level E), Director, Monash University Study Abroad Centre, Prato, Italy

2001–2008, Associate Professor (level D), Anthropology & Sociology, University of Western Australia

1995–2000, Lecturer (level B), Anthropology, University of Western Australia

1994, Associate Lecturer (Level A), School of Social & Cultural Studies, Edith Cowan University

Awards

2024 Australasian Italian Studies Association Legacy Award, Australasian Italian Studies Association (ACIS)

2023 Finalist: WA Seniors Advocate of the Year, The WA Seniors Awards (WA Department of Communities; Council on the Ageing (COTA), WA; Lotterywest WA)

2022 Named Research Field Leader in Human Migration (Social Sciences), The Australian Research Magazine, 9 November 2022; 8 December 2021; 23 September 2020

2022 Named Research Field Leader in in Ethnic and Cultural Studies (Humanities, Arts and Literature), The Australian Research Magazine, 9 November 2022; 8 December 2021

2015 Arts Teaching & Service Award, University of Western Australia

2014 Veneti Nel Mondo Service Award (for community engagement), Veneto Government, Italy

2007 Excellence in Postgraduate Supervision Award, University of Western Australia

2006 Shortlisted for NSW Regional and Community History Award, State Library of New South Wales

2005 Community Service Award, National Italian Australian Women’s Association

2002 NSW Premier’s Literary Award, State Library of NSW, Visits Home

Fellowships

2024-2026 Visiting Scholar, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

2023 Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Academy of Science of South Africa

2023 Professorial Visiting Fellow, Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield, UK

2020 Visiting Scholar, Asia Research Institute, National University of Singapore

2019 Visiting Scholar, Max Planck Institute Gottingen, Germany

2016 Visiting Scholar, Australian European University Institute Fellowship, Fiesole, Italy

2015-17 Visiting Scholar, Sociology, University of Trento, Italy

Memberships

The Australian Sociology Association

The Australian Anthropology Association

International Sociological Association

Baldassar, L. (2023) “Migrant visits over time: ethnographic returning and the technological turn”, Global Networks, 23, 160-173.

Marino, S., Baldassar, L. (2024) Comusichiamo. First Language, Life-Soundtracks and Storytelling to Support the Cultural Wellbeing of Migrants Living with Dementia, Journal of Intercultural Studies 1-18.

Marchetti-Mercer, M., Swartz, L., & Baldassar, L., (2023) Transnational Families: An African perspective, Wits University Press.

Baldassar, L., Stevens, C., Wilding, R. (2022). Digital Anticipation: Facilitating the Pre-Emptive Futures of Chinese Grandparent Migrants in Australia. American Behavioral Scientist, 66(14).

Baldassar, L., & Wilding, R. (2020). Migration, Aging, and Digital Kinning: The Role of Distant Care Support Networks in Experiences of Aging Well. The Gerontologist, 60(2), 313-321.