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As always seems to happen, we are speeding through the year. Among other things, that means that Social Sciences Week (SSW) is rapidly approaching. SSW runs from 9-15 September, beginning with a launch at Australian Parliament House on the Monday of that week. The calendar of events is starting to fill up and it’s set to be a huge week across schools, universities and other institutions as we shine a spotlight on the social sciences.
We have also finalised the Academy’s annual SSW Great Debate. This year it will feature Fellows Professor Lisa Given and Distinguished Professor Anthony Elliott on the topic Does social media unite or divide us? More details on SSW appear later in this newsletter.
Coming up in August is the Academy’s AUKUS: Assumptions and Implications Symposium, which will take place 15-16 August in Canberra, and to which we’ve alerted Fellows previously.
I’m also delighted to report that numerous Academy Fellows have been receiving significant honours and awards. Among them, Academy Fellow Professor Kim Rubenstein has been awarded the Council of Australian Law Deans 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award. This award recognises an established and lengthy history of distinguished legal research as well as leadership and impact in the field.
In a similar vein, Academy Fellow and Executive Committee member Professor Neal Ashkanasy OAM has received the 2024 David L. Bradford Outstanding Educator Award. This is the highest honour of the international Management & Organizational Behavior Teaching Society. Kudos to both Kim and Neal on their well-deserved recognition.
I look forward to seeing you at some of our upcoming events, and always welcome your suggestions.
Richard Holden
President |
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Events |
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Save the date: Treasurer Jim Chalmers speaking at the Academy’s Annual Dinner
Get out your diaries and highlight 19 November! The Academy will be hosting a fabulous afternoon in Canberra with our 2024 New Fellows, followed by our Annual Dinner and an address by Australian Treasurer the Hon Dr Jim Chalmers MP. Join friends and colleagues as we celebrate the social sciences, our new Fellows and our Paul Bourke early career research awardees.
Registrations open soon, so keep an eye on our socials and future newsletters for information |
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The Great Debate 2024
In an era where social media shapes our interactions and perceptions, the lines between connection and division have never been more blurred. With rising concerns about misinformation, online bans, and the impact of digital echo chambers, we must ask: is social media bringing us together or tearing us apart?
Join us at the National Library of Australia on Tuesday 10 September for an evening of compelling debate as Academy Fellows and authors Lisa Given and Anthony Elliott AM tackle this pressing question. Guided by former Seriously Social podcast host and journalist Ginger Gorman, our speakers will delve into the complexities of our digital age, exploring whether social media is a force for unity or division.
Don't miss this thought-provoking Social Sciences Week event, packed with engaging discussions and opportunities for audience participation. Proudly presented by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the National Library of Australia, the Great Debate promises an evening that will challenge your perspectives and ignite your curiosity. |
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Exploring AUKUS
It’s just two weeks until the Academy’s AUKUS: Assumptions and Implications Symposium from 15-16 August in Canberra. With over 20 expert speakers, the stage is set for fascinating analysis and knowledge sharing about defence, national security, international policy and more. |
| EXPLORE THE PROGRAM AND REGISTER NOW |
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2024 Keith Hancock Lecture
Tax reform remains one of the most contentious and complex issues facing governments today. Despite widespread recognition of its necessity, significant changes are often met with hesitation, and experts frequently clash over the best path forward.
On 31 October, join CEDA and the Academy in Sydney for an enlightening discussion with leading experts who will explore the historical context that has shaped our current tax system, examine strategies for participating in the political dialogue necessary to drive change and consider the societal consensus required to achieve meaningful tax reform. |
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SHAPE Futures EMCR Network Annual Convention
Save the date: on 28 November in Perth, the 2024 SHAPE Futures EMCR Network Annual Convention will be held in Perth as part of the Australian Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences in Perth. This event will focus on bringing members together to workshop an issue impacting the careers of SHAPE EMCRs to guide Network advocacy, prioritising the issues most important to our members. Vote on the workshop topic now. Registrations will open soon. |
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Our Fellows' achievements |
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Last week in Barcelona, Fellow Ian Freckelton was awarded the highest honour bestowed by the International Academy of Law and Mental Health, the Prix Philippe Pinel, named after an eminent Parisian psychiatrist of the late 18th/early 19th century who pioneered compassionate treatment of persons with mental illnesses. Dr Freckelton is the first Australian recipient of the award, congratulations!
Congratulations to Academy Fellow Kim Rubenstein on receiving the Council of Australian Law Deans 2024 Lifetime Achievement Award.
Academy Fellow and Executive Committee member Neal Ashkanasy OAM has received the 2024 David L. Bradford Outstanding Educator Award; the highest honour of the international Management & Organizational Behavior Teaching Society.
Fellow Lisa Given (one of our Social Sciences Week Great Debate participants) has been awarded the 2024 Canadian Association for Information Science Career Achievement Award, recognising the exceptional achievements of a researcher or practitioner who has greatly contributed to the advancement of the information field in Canada or internationally.
Last week the Government released the Multicultural Framework Review, a generational reform agenda requiring a whole-of-government and community approach that will position Australia to realise its full potential as a nation made up of many cultures, faiths and lived experiences. To better understand capability gaps, data and the research landscape, the Panel commissioned Fellow Andrew Jakubowicz to provide suggestions on how to improve reporting on the current state of research capability into multicultural Australia. |
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research leaders |
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In celebration of NAIDOC Week last month, the Academy, with other Learned Academies and organisations, worked with COSMOS magazine to contribute to a list of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander research leaders. These individuals were recognised for their excellence across the career spectrum—from established leaders in their fields, to early and mid-career researchers, and the next generation of research trailblazers. The list is neither exhaustive nor posted in any particular order, but proudly includes Fellow Yin Paradies and one of the Academy’s Wilhelm, Martha, and Otto Rechnitz Memorial Fund 2023 recipients Dr Olivia Evans. |
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Opportunities |
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Workshops Program Grants closing soon
The Academy Workshops Program Grants offers financial assistance to Australian social scientists to host multidisciplinary workshops, advancing research and policy on nationally important issues. Each year, up to eight workshops receive grants of up to $9,000 (excl. GST).
Applications for the 2025 Workshops Program close next Friday, 9 August 2024. |
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Research and higher learning grants
The Embassy of France to Australia is offering grants to researchers and higher education teachers to support projects in New Caledonia, Wallis-and-Futuna and French Polynesia. Projects can be for research, higher learning or both. All fields of humanities and social sciences are eligible to apply. Early career researchers, including PhD students, are encouraged to apply. The deadline for applications is 31 August 2024. |
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Harvard opportunity
Harvard University is seeking to appoint a distinguished scholar to the Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Chair in Australian Studies for the 2026–2027 academic year. Applications close 30 September 2024.
Fellow Megan Davis was the Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Chair of Australian Studies at Harvard University and visiting professor of law at Harvard Law School for the 2024-2025 academic year. |
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Dr Isabel Ceron (centre) with Inga Davies (left), Executive Director, AAH, and Jenny Fewster (right), Director, HASS & Indigenous RDC, ARDC at the HASS and Indigenous RDC Symposium, 18-19 June 2024
Credit: David Hannah / ARDC.
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The Academy is sad to say goodbye to our Senior Policy Analyst, Dr Isabel Ceron. Isabel started with the Academy as a Policy Intern in 2020 and played a key role in the development of the State of the Social Sciences report. She joined the staff as a Policy Analyst in 2021 and led the consultation and development of the Decadal Plan for Social Science Research Infrastructure, as well as coordinating the Academy Workshops Program and contributing to a broad range of policy roundtables and submissions. The Academy wishes Isabel well in her new role with TERN. |
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Read, watch, listen |
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Embrace the chill of winter with a selection of books, reports and interviews from our Fellows, guaranteed to make your nights both enjoyable and enlightening. |
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Read |
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Whether it’s worries about unemployment, distress about social media’s harmful effects on teenagers, or the fear of intrusive digital surveillance, we live in an age of turbo-charged anxiety where the prophecies of algorithms are increasingly enmeshed with fundamental disruption and anxieties about the future. In his new title Algorithms of Anxiety: Fear in the Digital Age, Fellow Anthony Elliott examines how machine learning algorithms are not only transforming global institutions but also rewriting our personal lives.
Fellow Felicity Meakins is a co-author of Bina: First Nations Languages Old and New, which explores the resilience and recovery of Australia's First Nations languages. This incredible story (available to pre-order) details the revival of languages amid the devastating loss caused by European invasion and highlights the emergence of new languages like Kriol and Yumplatok.
Fellow Geoffrey Lawrence's new book Societal Deception: Global Social Issues in Post-Truth Times provides a comprehensive overview of ‘societal deception’—how and why people are deceived and led to believe fake news. Coherently blending critical political economy and sociology, he provocatively examines how corporations, political parties, the media, think tanks and assorted 'influencers' seek to manipulate public opinion to achieve their goals.
Examining two centuries of university education, Fellow Tom O’Donoghue’s new book The Development of University Teaching Over Time Pedagogical Approaches from 1800 to the Present charts the development of pedagogical approaches since the year 1800 and how they have transformed higher education. |
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Over the past 30 years, the Academy has facilitated over 200 workshops, bringing together thousands of leading experts across Australia. Check out the latest reports from past Workshops Program Grants:
Successful strategies for improving access to justice for women who kill their abusers
Convenors: Fellow Heather Douglas, Professor Bronwyn Naylor OAM and Associate Professor Danielle Tyson.
This workshop united a diverse group of practitioners and researchers—from lawyers and family violence experts to criminologists and gender studies scholars—to explore legal strategies and 'good' lawyering that shed light on women's experiences of domestic and family violence and fatal force. Bringing together Australian and international experts, the event focused on advancing justice for women, particularly First Nations women.
From Theory to Practice: Leveraging Feminist Approaches to Care at a Time of Crisis
Convenors: Fellows Megan Warin and Chris Beasley, Dr Sophie Chao, and Dr Pru Black.
This 2022 interdisciplinary event explored how feminist approaches to care can intervene in current crises and socio-political debates.
How can we minimise the adolescent uptake of vaping and related social and health harm?
Convenors: Associate Professor Gary Chan, Dr Janni Leung, Emeritus Professor Wayne Hall, Associate Professor Coral Gartner and Dr Daniel Stjepanovic
The two-day workshop brought together 28 participants, from various disciplines across Australia for a discussion on youth vaping—a pressing public health issue. Key objectives included fostering dialogue between academics, clinicians, and policymakers, evaluating e-cigarette interventions and gathering diverse perspectives to craft evidence-based policy recommendations. |
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Watch |
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Last month we held a webinar which provided a comprehensive overview of the Academy’s Workshops Program. Hear firsthand from past participants about their experiences, from application preparation to workshop delivery and beyond. |
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Listen |
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Listen to Fellow John Maynard on ABC Radio National’s Speaking Out program discuss the
Australian Aboriginal Progressive Association (AAPA), the country’s first national politically organised Aboriginal activist group. Founded in 1924 by Fred Maynard, the AAPA was pivotal in advocating for Indigenous rights and laying the groundwork for future activism.
Over the last decade, dating apps have changed the way we meet, and they've made a few successful businesses very, very wealthy. But, with concerns over safety, and a rising cost for subscriptions, many of the apps are beginning to see a fall in new users. Hear Fellow Anthony Elliott on ABC Radio discuss how dating apps changed the way we relate to each other and to ourselves. |
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The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia.
We acknowledge and pay our respects to the traditional owners of the land on which our national office is located, the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples, and
to their elders past and present. |
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