Professor Kathy Bowrey Affiliation: UNSW Law & Justice Discipline: Law and legal studies Year elected: 2022 What initially drew you to your field of study? I had a law degree and also friends and flat mates who were artists making experimental digital music, artworks and videos for crushingly small audiences of fellow travellers. Lawyers kept telling them they had…
The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia made a submission to the Australian Research Council (ARC) Open Access Policy Proposed Policy Updates 2025. Open Access supports the dissemination and uptake of research and scientific knowledge to deliver public value and maximise the impact of Australian research. Broadly, the Academy welcomes the proposed changes to…
The 2024-2027 Australia–France Indo-Pacific Studies Program (AFIPS) is a flagship initiative delivered by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, with support from the Australian Government (Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade). Anchored in the shared strategic commitment to advancing peace, resilience, and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific, the program supports interdisciplinary, policy-relevant social science research…
Top row (L to R): Professor Michael Berk AO FASSA FAHMS, Professor Justin Kenardy AO FASSA & Professor Mike Young AO FASSAMiddle row: Professor Rosemary Rayfuse AM FASSA , Professor Chandra Athukorala AM FASSA & Professor Steve Zubrick AM FASSA FAHMSBottom row: Professor Colin MacLeod AM FASSA, Professor Louise Chappell AM FASSA & Professor Greg…
In this issue, the Academy is on the hunt for a new CEO, congratulations are in order for many Fellows, mark your calendars with upcoming events and consider a tax-time donation to support the Academy’s work. View the June 2026 newsletter.
Playing on the Edge: Sport, Society and Culture in Asia and Oceania Contemporary global sport is in constant, sometimes bewildering flux. This book goes beyond orthodox globalisation theory, deploying the metaphor of ‘playing on the edge’ in analysing the dynamic process of making and remaking sport culture in Asia and Oceania. Beyond sport’s traditionally dominant…
Professor Emerita Billie Giles-Corti Affiliation: RMIT Centre for Urban Research Discipline: Built environment and design Year elected: 2023 How would you describe your work at a dinner party? My research is about how to design cities to make people healthy. What role do the social sciences play in your work? The social sciences have underpinned…
The Academy of the Social Sciences congratulates the inaugural commissioners appointed to the Australian Tertiary Education Commission, including Fellow Dr Stephen Duckett FASSA. Australia’s tertiary education sector equips our future workforce with the professional and technical for a range of careers and drive research and innovation. More than a simple qualification and route to employment,…
What initially drew you to your field of study? I’ve long been drawn to the stories Australia doesn’t always tell about itself—histories of colonisation, race relations, and cross-cultural encounters that sit just beneath the surface of national narratives. Like many non-Indigenous Australians, these histories are not abstract, but difficult, powerful and embodied and are threaded though my own family story too. Early…
A Research Agenda for Critical LiteraciesChallenges and Possibilities in Troubling Times Edited by Hilary Janks, Emerita Professor, University of Witwatersrand, South Africa, Barbara Comber, Emerita Professor, Adelaide University, Australia and Vivian Vasquez, Distinguished Professor, American University, USA This cutting-edge Research Agenda offers a way forward for critical literacies that takes into account current conditions of…
Pictured above: Kiesha Wear (left), Coordinator of Data Sovereignty at Wungening Aboriginal Corporation and Distinguished Professor Emerita Maggie Walter FASSA at the 2025 Global Indigenous Data Sovereignty (GIDSov) Conference. (Image credit: Wolflab Media) For decades, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been among the most counted populations in Australia, and among the least heard. Governments…
Australians are being squeezed from all sides, through resurgent inflation, supply chain effects from the Middle East war and rising interest rates. This Flash Forum will bring together experts from academia and business to discuss monetary and fiscal policy options, supply chain disruptions to oil and gas markets and how this will affect vulnerable sections…
The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia is seeking a Chief Executive Officer of a nationally significant institution at a time when social science has never been more critical to Australia’s prosperity, resilience, and policy direction. Why this role? This is a rare opportunity to partner with the President and Board to deliver the…
A series of reports prepared by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering for Safe Work Australia maps the national work health and safety (WHS) and workers’ compensation research landscape. The project used an innovative research methodology, combining a taxonomy based scoping review, case study…
Professor Adam Possamai Affiliation: Western Sydney University Discipline: Sociology Year elected: 2023 How would you describe your work at a dinner party? As everyone has an opinion about religion, being a believer, ex-believer, atheist, sceptic or someone who grew up with a religion, I always find it challenging to speak about my research. I have found that…
Over the past decade in Australia, policy and practice efforts to address all forms ofgendered violence, including domestic and family violence (DFV), have acceleratedregarding the nature, prevalence, impacts and responses. DFV has wide-ranging health,social and economic impacts for victim-survivors, which are exacerbated by structuralinequalities related to gender as well as experiences of intergenerational trauma, race…
Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation (YMAC) is the native title representative body for thePilbara, Murchison and Gascoyne regions in Western Australia. YMAC anthropologists andarchaeologists are heavily involved in applied heritage activities including cultural heritagesurveys, native title research, cultural mapping projects for Prescribed Bodies Corporate(PBCs), collaboration with Indigenous ranger groups, traditional ecological knowledgeprograms, and social impact assessments.…
The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, jointly with The Embassy of France in Australia, proudly congratulates two convening teams of researchers who have received Australia-France Social Science Collaborative Workshops grants for 2026. Details of the two research teams and their projects are listed below. Dependencies, Disruptions, and Futures: Building an Australia-France Alliance on…
Professor Emerita Joan Beaumont Affiliation: Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs, Australian National University Discipline: History, heritage and archaeology Year elected: 1997 How would you describe your work at a dinner party? Historians of the two world wars and Australia’s role in these. What role do the social sciences play in your work? I draw…
In this issue, find updates from leadership, opportunities to get involved, upcoming events, featured stories, and a selection of things to read, watch, and listen to. View the May 2026 newsletter.
This insightful book presents a fresh approach to debate and decision making in liberal democracies. Linda Courtenay Botterill explores the significance of personal values and value trade-offs in politics and policy, underlining the importance of more civil and constructive democratic processes.
What are the social sciences? What do they cover? And who’s involved – as students, teachers, scholars and professionals? How do the social sciences contribute to society? How are they funded? What are their strengths and weaknesses, within disciplines and across sectors? What are the success stories? And what are the ‘grand societal challenges’ that…
The Academy of the Social Sciences welcomes you to join Professor Marcia Langton AO for the inaugural Rechnitz Memorial Lecture.
Affiliation: University of MelbourneDiscipline: History, heritage and archaeologyYear elected: 2023 How would you describe your work at a dinner party? I am interested in memory activism or how different actors mobilise the past for different ends especially for the purposes of challenging harmful historical discourses and achieving meaningful social change. What initially drew you to your field…