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Dear Fellows and friends,
The Academy’s Seriously Social education program launched a new secondary school learning module, Australia’s War History, at Sydney’s Anzac Memorial on Monday 9 March. The module incorporates written content, an interactive timeline tracing key moments in Australia’s wartime history and a video series. Thank you to the many Academy Fellows who contributed to this wonderful resource for teachers and students, many of whom are already using the materials. I encourage you to view this and other Academy-led education resources on the Seriously Social website.
On the policy front, our Academy joined with Australia’s other Learned Academies in welcoming the release of Ambitious Australia, a report from the Strategic Examination of Research, Development and Innovation.
In my comments to the media, I emphasised the Academy’s support for the report’s focus on improved coordination and prioritisation of research effort, increased funding to support the full costs of research and research training and the inclusion of First Nations knowledges.
I also talked about the need for Australia’s research to encourage blue sky thinking and innovation that fully incorporates the social, economic and political insights of the social sciences.
A letter from the Presidents of the five Learned Academies to the Treasurer, Minister for Science, Industry and Innovation and Minister for Education can be found here.
I recently represented the Academy, with Fellow Kate McGregor, at a public hearing as part of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Education’s inquiry into building Asia capability through the education system and beyond. This followed the Academy’s submission which argued that social sciences competencies in Asian languages, and in the history, economics, law, and geopolitics of the Indo-Pacific region, are crucial for Australia’s sovereign capability. Thanks to all Fellows who contributed to these efforts.
Nominations for the Academy’s Paul Bourke Awards for Early Career Research open today and will close on Friday 12 June. These awards honour early career Australian scholars who have achieved excellence in scholarship in one or more fields of the social sciences. Please share with your colleagues, students and networks - nomination information is available here.
A reminder that the Rechnitz Fund Grant Program supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers closes Friday 17 April. Apply online here.
A particular congratulations is due to Fellow Raewyn Connell who has been announced as the 2026 recipient of the Kohli Prize for Sociology in honour of her exceptional contributions to the field.
Finally, an appreciative welcome to those Fellows who have joined the Academy’s Committees. A list of new committee members is included below.
Kate Darian-Smith
President |
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Pictured above at the launch event held 9 March at the Sydney Anzac Memorial (LtR): Cindy Bin Tahal (Academy Education Director), Neil Silver and Lynette Silver (historian and writer), Marley Bin Tahal (Academy video presenter), Professor Michelle Arrow (Academy Fellow and Chair, Australian Historical Association), Dr Chris Hatherly (Academy CEO), Archdeacon Andrew Nixon (DVA), Professor Kate Darian-Smith (Academy President), Professor Frank Bongiorno (Fellow and President, Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences), Rachelle Willington (ACARA HASS Curriculum Specialist), Emeritus Professor Roy MacLeod (Academy Fellow), Professor Adam Possamai (Academy Fellow), and Tristan Black (Anzac Memorial Education Manager). |
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Above: Academy President Professor Kate Darian-Smith and ACARA HASS Curriculum Specialist Rachelle Willington with the “Australia's War History” education resource. |
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Above: Academy CEO Dr Chris Hatherly addresses attendees at the “Australia's War History” resource launch. |
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Above: Presidents of Australia’s five Learned Academies pictured at a press conference in support of the Ambitious Australia report. From left to right: Professor Kate Darian-Smith, Professor Louise Baur (Academy of Health and Medical Sciences), Stephen Garton (Academy of the Humanities), Dr Cathy Foley (Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering) and Distinguished Professor Chennupati Jagadish (Academy of Science).
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Reminder to all Fellows: if we don’t know about it, we can’t share it!
Fellows are encouraged to send information about events, publications and news articles to info@socialsciences.org.au for inclusion in upcoming newsletters! |
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Professor Raewyn Connell has been announced 2026 Laureate of the prestigious international Kohli Prize for Sociology.
The award was made in recognition of Raewyn's pioneering approach to gender as a social structure - especially her research on masculinities - and her perspectives on "southern" sociology which have been deeply influential across diverse intellectual traditions and global contexts.
Read more here. |
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Professor Anne Orford has been appointed a Deputy Member of the international assessment committee for the Holberg Prize: a prestigious annual award from the Government of Norway considered by many to be equivalent to the Nobel Prize for researchers in the humanities and social sciences. |
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Congratulations to new Committee Members |
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International Committee
Kathryn Robinson
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Membership Committee
Maureen Dollard
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Policy Committee
Adam Graycar and Rob Raven
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Grants and Awards Committee
Marian Baird (Chair) and Carolyn Strange
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Education Committee
Lyn Yates (Chair), Russell Tytler (Deputy Chair), Barbara Comber and Steve Houghton
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Panel A Committee
Jakelin Troy, Rosemary Sheehan, Andrea Whittaker, Robyn Dowling
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Panel B Committee
Russell Smyth and Boyd Hunter |
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Panel D Committee
Julie McLeod and Peng Bi |
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Academy Joins Democracy Counts Campaign |
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The Academy is proud to be a founding partner of the Democracy Counts campaign (www.democracycounts.org.au) that is bringing together aligned organisations and individuals in support of democratic renewal. Key priorities for the campaign include:
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Improved civics and digital literacy education
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Lobbying and electoral funding reform
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Stronger guardrails for public service independence
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Increased support for public interest journalism
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Social media reforms to reduce mis- and disinformation
Democracy Counts is supported and coordinated by McKinnon, with more information at www.democracycounts.org.au |
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State Dinners |
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Earlier this month, Western Australian Fellows gathered to welcome three newly-elected Fellows, Professor Farida Fozdar, Professor Steve Houghton and Professor Loretta Baldassar.
ACT Fellows enjoyed dinner together on 10 March, with guest speaker, Academy Fellow Professor Hugh White inspiring much conversation with a presentation about recent global events; what Canada’s Mark Carney referred to as a ‘rupture, not a transition’ in world order.
Thank you to Professor of Economics, John Quiggin who presented at the Queensland Fellows dinner on 19 March with the topic The climate transition: can irresistible force overcome immovable obstacles focusing on the uptake of solar power production in Australia. |
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Above, left to right: Professor Farida Fozdar, Professor Steve Houghton and Professor Loretta Baldassar attending the WA branch Fellows Dinner. |
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Above: Professor Hugh White pictured with ACT Committee Chair Dr Linda Botterill at the ACT Fellows Dinner. |
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Congratulations to new State Branch Convenors |
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South Australia
Andrew Goldsmith and Tracey Wade |
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Western Australia
Loretta Baldassar |
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Opportunities |
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Visiting Fellowship - Korea
The Australia-Korea Foundation (AKF) welcomes applications for the 2027 Visiting Professor of Australian Studies at Seoul National University (SNU).
This is a funded 11-month visiting academic position at SNU’s Graduate School of International Studies commencing in February 2027.
More information on the position can be found here. Please direct all queries to Professor Anna Johnston (anna.johnston@uq.edu.au).
Applications close on 13 April 2026. |
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National Library of Australia PhD scholarships
PhD students who require access to the Library’s collections to assist their postgraduate research are encouraged to apply for eight philanthropically funded scholarships offered by the Library in 2027. Applications close 1 May.
Successful applicants will each receive $10,000 to support four weeks of on-site research at the National Library in Canberra, as well as supported access to the Library’s collections, increased borrowing privileges, a dedicated desk in the Library’s Petherick Reading Room, and an allowance for high resolution digital copies of collection materials.
More information here. |
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2026 Stein Rokkan Prize for Comparative Social Science Research
This prize is open to works in comparative studies from all social science disciplines.
Applications close 1 May.
More here. |
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2027 Fellowships at the National Library of Australia
Open to researchers in various fields and disciplines, Fellowships at the National Library of Australia offer financial and research support for dedicated time using our collections. Find out more here. |
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FEATURED FELLOW |
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Professor Michele Ford |
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Above: Professor Michele Ford pictured with a Cambodian labour activist colleague. |
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What initially drew you to your field of study? |
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Tell us about a recent moment of motivation or inspiration? |
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Serendipity. I didn’t want to do Law or Medicine, so took on an Engineering/Arts double degree, which brought me from regional Queensland to UNSW. I became involved in the Indonesian community, took up Indonesian, and ended up specialising first in Indonesian labour relations and later in the intersection between global and Southeast Asian labour movements. |
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Real-world impact matters a lot to me. Recently a Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA staff member told me that they had refocused their entire program in Timor-Leste based on an article I published in 2016 on Timor-Leste labour relations, which I found hugely motivating.
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What continues to motivate your work? |
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The opportunity to learn new things and make a difference both in my university context and internationally. I am currently working with great teams on projects in five Southeast Asian countries, so life is never boring!
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What are you most proud of? |
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My efforts to support researchers and build research communities. Setting up the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, which I ran for over a decade, gave me the opportunity to do that not just within the University but beyond it. I continue that work now through my role as Director of Research Development for the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
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Where is your happy place? |
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My non-work happy place is the Victoria Park pool and the community that has grown up around it. In a work context, my happy place is talking to labour activists about their efforts to make life better for workers.
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Are you on Bluesky?
We would love to connect!
The Academy is building a profile on Bluesky Social.
Click here to visit and follow - help us find our people! |
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Book Launch: 'Landslide: The 2025 Australian Federal Election'
Thursday 16 April 6-7pm
National Library of Australia
Join us for the launch of Landslide, a new ANU Press publication on Labor’s historic victory in the 2025 Federal Election. The volume is the latest in a 30-year series of post-election publications supported by the Academy. It is edited by Academy Fellow Marian Sawer, Jill Sheppard, and John Warhurst and includes contributions by numerous Fellows and other experts who participated in the Academy-supported workshop last July.
We’re delighted to welcome veteran journalist Nick Bryant, who will be in conversation with Associate Professor Jill Sheppard to unpack the insights captured in this important work.
Register to attend here. |
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ANU Meet the Author: Desmond Manderson
Tuesday April 28 6 -7pm
Cinema, Lowitja O'Donoghue Cultural Centre, ANU
Academy Fellow Desmond Manderson will be in conversation with Malcolm McLeod, Anna Olsen and Academy Fellow Carolyn Strange on his new book High Time: How Australia Changed Its Mind About Illegal Drugs, a unique look at Australia's treatment of illegal drugs from the 1980s to the present.
Find out more here. |
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The Social Survey in Global Perspective, 1900-2020s.
Edited by Charlotte Greenhalgh, Clare Corbould and Warwick Anderson
The Social Survey in Global Perspective traces the evolution of social surveys beyond celebrated metropolitan examples, exploring their worldwide impact across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and includes chapters by Fellows Michelle Arrow, Kate Darian-Smith and Catherine Waldby.
Find it here. |
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Sir Anthony Mason AC KBE GBM KC FASSA (1925–2026) was one of Australia's most influential and celebrated jurists, serving as the ninth Chief Justice of the High Court of Australia from 1987 to 1995, and was elected as a Fellow of the Academy in 1989.
He passed away on March 17, 2026, at the age of 100. |
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Save the Date: Social Sciences Week - 12-20 September 2026 |
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Have you seen Socium?
The Academy’s new bi-annual magazine Socium was posted to all Academy Fellows in November last year.
The next issue will be published in May, and will be issued primarily digitally. If you would like to receive a hard copy in the mail, please contact our office at fellowship@socialsciences.org.au or opt to a postal copy via this link. |
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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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