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Dear Fellows and friends,
This is a busy time for higher education and research sectors, with reform and change unfolding. There has also been much activity at the Academy, including the commencement of Dr Tina Parolin as Interim CEO while arrangements to appoint an ongoing CEO are progressed over the next few months. A very warm welcome to Tina, who brings much experience and wisdom to the Academy in this important moment of transition.
In June the Academy lodged a submission to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Cohesion. The submission drew on wide consultation with Fellows, and from a deep evidence-base has made recommendations across institutions, civil discourse, education, research and locally led interventions, aimed at enhancing government responses to antisemitism through best practice approaches to strengthening social cohesion. Many thanks to all Fellows who contributed to this important work, particularly members of the Steering Committee chaired by Fellow Professor Linda Botterill.
Read the submission to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Cohesion.
Thank you also to Fellows who contributed to the Academy’s submission to the Education and Employment References Committee inquiry into Australian university graduates.
Read the Australian University Graduates submission.
Congratulations to the nine Academy Fellows recognised in the 2026 King’s Birthday Honours List: Professor Michael Berk AO, Emeritus Professor Justin Kenardy AO, Emeritus Professor Mike Young AO, Emeritus Professor Chandra Athukorala AM, Professor Greg Bamber AM, Scientia Professor Louise Chappell AM, Professor Colin MacLeod AM, Emerita Professor Rosemary Rayfuse AM and Emeritus Professor Steve Zubrick AM.
A reminder that the Academy’s Workshop Grants program is now open. For those based in Victoria, Fellow Professor Marcia Langton will present the inaugural Rechnitz Memorial Lecture on 14 July at the University of Melbourne. More information on these opportunities is listed below.
Last week the Academy’s Board met with ATEC Chief Commissioner Professor Barney Glover and Commissioner and Fellow Professor Stephen Duckett, and I have had recent meetings with, among others, the ARC Board and the Chief Scientist, Professor Tony Haymet. In such discussions there has been an openness to the views and concerns of the Academy, and a commitment to ongoing communications and advice about the challenges and opportunities in social science research and education. The Academy’s forthcoming Social Sciences for Australia’s Future report will explore these issues, building upon the baseline data in the 2021 State of the Social Sciences report. It will be launched at Parliament House on 11 August, with further details to be circulated soon. |
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Expressions of Interest: From UNOC-3 to COP31: Science, Evidence, Pacific Resilience and Southern Connections
The Academy has been invited to participate in an upcoming event hosted by the Australia France Research and Innovation Network (AFRAN) via its partners at the Embassy of France in Australia. We are inviting Expressions of Interest from Fellows interested in contributing to the program.
The event ‘From UNOC-3 to COP31: Science, Evidence, Pacific Resilience and Southern Connections’ will be held in Noumea, New Caledonia, from 2-4 September 2026, and aims to generate knowledge, solutions, and recommendations to inform the pre-COP Pacific Summit and COP31.
For more information contact the Academy’s International Secretary, Adam Possamai, or International Programs Manager, Anna Devenport via email at international@socialsciences.org.au. |
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Australia-France Indo-Pacific Studies Program Grants
Applications for the AFIPS Pacific Social Sciences and Indo-Pacific Strategic Environment grants are now open until 3 August and for the AFIPS Visiting Fellowships until 30 August.
Find AFIPS Grant application details here. |
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Workshops Program open now for applications
The Academy’s Workshops Program offers Australian social scientists financial assistance to host multidisciplinary workshops which aim to advance research and policy agendas on nationally important issues. The Academy supports up to eight workshops each year with funding to a maximum of $10,000.
Applications close 23 August 2026.
Find application details for the Workshops Program.
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Australia-Vietnam Science, Technology and Innovation Cooperative Initiative Grant opportunity
Applications are now open for grants under this joint initiative of the Australian and Vietnamese governments. The program is administered by the Australian Academy of Science. Grants of between $100,000 and $300,000 are available to eligible Australian organisations to support project costs in priority areas of new and renewable technologies, a sustainable blue economy, and recycling and waste management.
Fellows with knowledge and/or experience with Vietnamese partners or the Vietnamese research landscape, and who are interested in contributing to an Academy application, please contact Anna via email at international@socialsciences.org.au.
Applications close 20 July. |
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SERIOUSLY SOCIAL SCHOOLS PROGRAM NEWS |
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The Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) HASS Curriculum Network, made up of curriculum authorities from all states and territories, invited Fellow Professor John Maynard and Education Director Cindy Bin Tahal to speak at its May meeting.
John shared insights and guidance for teachers delivering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander History and Culture content, and Cindy presented the latest from Seriously Social school program and the Australia’s War History learning module.
This engagement, during Reconciliation Week, was a valuable opportunity to connect Fellows, as leading researchers, with educators to help shape learning in Australian schools. |
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Above: Fellow Professor John Maynard presents via a web session at the ACARA Hass Curriculum Network gathering. |
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Rechnitz Memorial Lecture
The Academy of the Social Sciences invites you to join Fellow Professor Marcia Langton AO for the inaugural Rechnitz Memorial Lecture.
“As an Indigenous woman and anthropologist entangled in Australian life and scholarship, I have examined the challenges to distinctive Aboriginal ways of being and knowing. In a world turning to nativist fundamentalism and racism in the midst of growing white anxiety, the question for Indigenous Australia revolves around our existential challenge. What is our future in our own land?"
The next Victorian Fellows event has been timed to coincide with the Rechnitz Memorial Lecture on Tuesday 14 July, featuring a presentation and Q&A with Professor Marcia Langton AO.
Fellows: book for the lecture and/or post-lecture canapes by Tuesday 7 July.
Not a Fellow? Book tickets here.
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Above: Professor Marcia Langton AO speaks at the Academy annual dinner in 2025. |
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What now for the Enterprise University? Institutional autonomy in an age of increasing government intervention.
Wednesday 15 July 2026
Hosted by The University of Melbourne, this seminar will feature a keynote presentation from Professor Simon Marginson (Oxford, Melbourne) followed by an expert panel who will explore alternatives to the ‘market model’ that preserve university autonomy as governments worldwide are seeking to intervene more directly.
Register to attend What now for the Enterprise University?
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National Science Week event
Why science needs the “social”: Solving complex problems with interdisciplinary thinking
21 August, 5.30-6.45PM
RMIT
This National Science Week event brings together leading thinkers from across the social sciences, natural sciences, engineering and public policy to explore what truly interdisciplinary thinking looks like – and why it matters now more than ever.
For our panel of researchers, creative and effective innovation starts with an understanding of people, systems and society. So why are social sciences still too often treated as an afterthought in scientific problem-solving?
Register to attend the National Science Week event.
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Social Sciences Week launch
The First Inventors: How People Shaped a Continent
An evening with Larissa Behrendt AO, Billy Griffiths and Sean Ulm
Tuesday 15 September, 6.30pm
The Capitol, Melbourne
Join prize-winning historian Dr Billy Griffiths, celebrated First Nations author and intellectual, Fellow Professor Larissa Behrendt AO and one of Australia’s leading archaeologists, Professor Sean Ulm as they discuss their new book The First Inventors, How People Shaped a Continent.
Register to attend the Social Sciences Week launch event.
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Professor Quentin Grafton
Meet Fellow Professor Quentin Grafton from the Centre for Water Economics, Environment and Policy, Australian National University and dip into his work on water justice. |
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Playing on the Edge: Sport, Society and Culture in Asia and Oceania
Emeritus Professor David Rowe, Dr Bonnie Pang and Dr Keith D. Parry
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. |
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Re-imagining Risk and Disruption: The Nature of Complex Unbounded Problems
Peter M. Weiske, Stephen Dovers, William J. Durch, John Handmer
This timely book traces the common attributes of slow and fast-moving disruptions and disasters, from climate change and pandemics to increasingly crowded near-Earth space and nuclear emergencies. It shows how these challenges form, coalesce and cross boundaries, and recommends preventative policies and action. |
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Have news to share?
Reminder to all Fellows: do you have information about events, publications and news articles you would like to share with the social sciences community? If we know about it, we can share it! Email info@socialsciences.org.au with subject line: Information for Academy Newsletter. |
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