Dear ~~first_name~~,
Welcome to 2025: A Year of Connection, Growth, and Advocacy
Happy New Year! We hope you had a refreshing break and are ready for an exciting year ahead. 2025 brings new opportunities to strengthen our sociological community, foster collaborations, and continue advocating for the discipline in Australia and beyond.
This year, we have plenty in store—from our annual conference and career development initiatives to new ways of engaging with members across all career stages. To support our plans, we will be appointing a Membership Director—watch this space! We’ll also be celebrating the Journal of Sociology's 60th anniversary and continuing important conversations on equity, inclusion, and the future of sociology in an evolving world.
As always, we value your contributions and look forward to sharing this journey with you. Read on for the latest updates and opportunities.
| TASA, like many organisations, isn’t immune to SCAM emails—especially those relating to finance. If you ever receive an email from a current or past TASA President, Treasurer, or any other Executive member requesting payments or financial details, please note that it is a scam.
For all bank payments, TASA follows a strict 3-to-sign process, meaning a payment is not processed until a third Executive member has approved it. We run a tight financial ship, and only the three authorised Executive signatories can approve payments. Additionally, we have an extra verification step built into our processes for security.
If you receive such emails, please mark them as SPAM and delete them.
| Dr Wendy Hillman
Wendy Hillman died suddenly on 17 December 2024. At the time of her death she was a Research Fellow in the Jarwun Research Centre in the Office of Indigenous Engagement at CQUniversity Australia in Rockhampton. Her research centred on Indigenous youth and inclusiveness, and her preferred methodologies were grounded theory and mixed methods. Wendy also conducted extensive research in Nepal, with a focus on entrepreneurship and empowerment of women in rural and remote areas. She was also passionate about teaching sociology and emphasised the importance of research in undergraduate teaching.
Wendy studied sociology at La Trobe University and completed her PhD at James Cook University in 2003 with a study into the emerging occupation of savannah guide. Wendy’s work was at the forefront of the new field of tourism sociology in Australia. She held positions at James Cook University and the University of Queensland before moving to Central Queensland University in Rockhampton in the early 2000s.
Dr Wendy Hilman joined TASA in 1997 and served as Treasurer from 2006 to 2010. She also founded and co-ordinated the Mobilities thematic group. She maintained her interest in tourism and at the time of her death was a member of The Council of Australasian University Tourism and Hospitality Education.
We extend our sympathies to Wendy’s family and her colleagues in Australia and Nepal.
Eileen Clark. | | TASA 2025 Conference Key Dates
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Conference
Monday November 24th to Thursday November 27th, 2025
Submissions
Panels
Open: February 2025
Close: 17th March 2025
Notification: 31st March 2025
General
Open: February 2025
Close: 22nd April 2025
Notification: 26th May 2025
Registration
Open: February 2025
Close: 28th June 2025.
Standard
Open: 29th June 2025
Close: Ongoing
Bursaries
Open: February 2025
Close: 22nd April 2025
Notification: 26th May, 2025
Program
Program Release: 14th August, 2025
| TASA bestows several prestigious awards. For 2025, the following awards will be available:
- Distinguished Services to Australian Sociology Award
- Outstanding Service to TASA Award
- Jean Martin Award for best PhD in Sociology
- Outstanding Contributions to Teaching in Australian Sociology
- Sociology in Action Award
- Best Paper in the Journal of Sociology
- Best Paper in Health Sociology Review
- Early Career Researcher Award
- Postgraduate Impact & Engagement Award
The Jean Martin Award is open for nominations. All other Awards requiring nominations will open in March 2025 and close on June 2nd, 2025. For details on each award, read on...
| | The Impact of Opportunity: Reflections from some more TASA 2024 Bursary Recipients
| In our final two, 2024 newsletters we shared reflections from our TASA 2024 bursary recipients. We have one final one to share with you from one of our delegates from India who was able to attend the conference due to our postgraduate bursary for students wanting to attend from overseas:
| | Searching for EM Schreiber
| From time to time, we receive inquiries from individuals trying to reconnect with former colleagues. Recently, we were contacted by someone seeking EM Schreiber, a sociologist who was affiliated with La Trobe University and left around 1979-1980.
If you have current contact details for EM Schreiber, we kindly ask that you either share them with Sally in our TASA Admin team or inform EM that Glynne Huilgol would like to get in touch.
Thank you for your assistance.
| | Jean Martin Award - Nominations Now Open!
| | Nominations for the 2025 Jean Martin Award are now open. This is a biennial award with the 2025 round being open to theses for which a PhD has been/will be formally awarded, by an Australian Tertiary Institution, between the period March 1st 2023 to 28 February 2025.
Nominations accepted include self-nominations as well as nominations from Supervisors, Heads of Sociology departments/schools and interdisciplinary Social science departments and other departments with a major commitment to Sociological analysis within Australian tertiary institutions.
As part of the nomination process, a one-page statement addressing the criteria, and outlining the sociological relevance of the thesis will need to be uploaded.
Nominations close on March 3rd. For details, and to nominate, read on... | | | New: Postdoctoral Research Fellows (Qualitative and Quantitative methods expertise) in the Trauma Aware School Village project, at Flinders University, South Australia
The team at the College of Education, Psychology and Social Work will commence working on the impactful grant-funded project Trauma Aware School Village: Tackling Childhood Trauma in Schools. Childhood trauma is endemic in schools, there are children with complex trauma in most classrooms. This project will inform the development of a framework for implementing trauma-informed programs in Australian schools that can effectively prevent and respond to childhood trauma and meaningfully improve children’s mental health and wellbeing.
New: Research Officer (Justice Health Research Program) at UNSW, Sydney
Join the MRFF funded research project titled: "A 'whole-of-setting' model of care for trans and gender diverse people in prison". UNSW are now recruiting a 2-year (0.4FTE - 14 hours per week) research officer/coordinator position attached to the MRFF funded project. Those interested in undertaking a postgraduate research degree are encouraged to apply.
Play a key role within the Justice Health Research Program (JHRP), School of Population Health in providing practical and efficient project support for project team members and key stakeholders.
Application deadline: February 9th before 11.30pm. Read on...
| Evaluating Psychosocial Programs to Improve the Health of People Born with Innate Variations of Sex Characteristics
University of Southern Queensland with fellow member Annette Brombal
A PhD by publication with Scholarship to the InterLink team - an intersex mental health and wellbeing service part of an MRFF funded research project titled: Improving the physical and mental health of people born with innate variations of sex characteristics.
Application deadline: Friday 14 February, 2025. Read on...
| We encourage you to support fellow sociologists by sharing details of your latest publications with them via our weekly newsletter. No publication is too big or too small. Any mention of sociology is of value to our association, and to the discipline, so please do email through details of your latest publication/s (fully referenced & with a link, where possible), events, job adverts etc. for the next newsletter, to Sally in TASA Admin. The newsletter is disseminated every Thursday morning.
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Watts, R., Bessant, J., Jackson, S., Catanzaro, M., Gordon, F. and Collin P. (2025) ‘Academic Freedom’ v. Climate Change Denial How the Politics of Research Funding Shapes the Possibilities for Researching Grassroots Activism. In Sabine von Mering et al (eds) Routledge Handbook of Grassroots Climate Activism. Routledge, 2025.
| Brookes, J., Lohmeyer, B., & Seymour, K. (2025). A rapid review of Wellbeing, Offending & Successful matching in mentoring for ‘at-risk’ young people. Children and Youth Services Review, 108132
Erin Twyford, Rachel Rowe, Jane Andrew, Financial gaslighting: The financialisation of care in later life, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, 2025, 102788, ISSN 1045-2354, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpa.2025.102788 [OPEN ACCESS].
Janine Gertz, Theresa Petray, Miriam Jorgensen, Alison Vivian and Coralie Achterberg ‘For the good of the Gugu Badhun people’: Indigenous Nation building, economic development and sharing as sovereignty. Thesis Eleven. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/07255136241308886 [OPEN ACCESS].
Murphy, D. A., Race, K., Pienaar, K., & Lea, T. (2024). Remaking Chemsex Event Networks in the Age of HIV Pre-exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP). Body & Society, https://doi.org/10.1177/1357034X241298173 [OPEN ACCESS].
Ridgway, A., Hamilton, G., Powell, A., & Heydon, G. (2024). Time will Tell: A temporal analysis of victim-survivors' formal support-seeking for co-occurring family violence and sexual harm. British Journal of Criminology. OnlineFirst. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azae092 [OPEN ACCESS].
| Gomes, Catherine; Qi, Jing; Thong, Li Ping; Chen, Lucia; Wang, Wilfred. (2025). Respectful Methods: Understanding Multicultural Migrant Communities in Australia. RMIT University. Report. https://doi.org/10.25439/rmt.28237472.v1
| | Members' Seeking Reviewers
| Fellow member James Godfrey is seeking a reviewer for a 10,000 word paper that for the Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies's May edition. The paper is provisionally titled 'Let it flow? Prevent Duty and Freedom of Expression on Campus Related to Palestine' and arises from a presentation James gave in October at The North American Association of Islamic and Muslim Studies 53rd Annual Conference “Palestine, Israel, Questions of Free Speech and Interreligious Relations”. If you can assist James, please contact him directly via james.godfrey@canberra.edu.au.
| | Members' Work in Progress
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You are invited to share your work-in-progress with fellow members. Please submit your work-in-progress in a Word document by Wednesday for inclusion in the Thursday edition. We look forward to showcasing your work and fostering collaboration within our community.
Fellow member Kim McNaughton is a PhD Candidate (Sociology & Anthropology) from the University of Newcastle who seeks to better understand the use and practice of Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicines as a means for producing or maintaining mental health and wellbeing among adults living in Australia. Read on... | The next Thematic Group (TG) funding application deadline is March 1st, 2025. Groups can apply for up to $3000 (a one-off increase from the usual $2000) for events scheduled between July 1, 2025, and December 31, 2025. There is also additional funding to support Welcome to Country ceremonies and to meet accessibility needs for your events. Yesterday, a deadline reminder email was disseminated directly to all Thematic Group conveners from admin@tasa.org.au. Please contact Sally in TASA Admin if you are a TG convener and that email did not reach you.
| | Other Events, News & Opportunities | New: Storytelling for Justice
14 February, 9am - 5pm, QLD AEST
'Storytelling for Justice' explores the role of storying and listening in creating the conditions for justice and repair. This symposium promotes knowledge-sharing and discussion across fields of creative practice, sociology, social justice, and socio-legal, gender, media and communication studies.
Speakers will share old and new knowledges and provoke conversation about how to story and listen in ways that disrupt and interrupt dominant knowledge dynamics, offering alternative, more-than-academic ways of knowing and engaging with communities and commonalities.
Keynote presenter Dr Margaret Harvey (@unimelb) will speak to the topic of "Indigenous Presentism: Storying and Listening for a Thriving Now". Dr Harvey will highlight the role of storying and listening as pathways for connection, vitality, and transformation. This reimagining of what it means to thrive in the now is grounded in relational knowledge systems that extend care to people, is/land, and the more-than-human world.
| Report Launch and Public Discussion
| New: What Matters to Young Australians Through Turbulent Times and how can we engage better with young people to build a strong democracy?
An intergenerational discussion on what young people want for our society: their views and visions of their communities, Australia and the globe.
Since 2004, the Whitlam Institute’s What Matters? Writing Competition has given over 50,000 young Australians a unique platform to express their thoughts, concerns, and hopes. It is important that we listen. I've had the honour of leading a team to analyse these entries to understand the collective narratives of young people in Australia - who are so often ignored or overlooked in our democracy.
On Wednesday 12 February at the Whitlam Institute, Parramatta Sydney the analysis, will be launched, of the entries submitted between 2019 and 2023 — a period marked by a global pandemic, catastrophic bushfires, and a surge in activism around climate change, social justice, and democracy.
The event will include a summary of the report findings, a keynote by Australia's National Children's Commissioner Anna Hollonds, a panel of special guests who'll discuss the findings of the research - and its implications:
Panel: Dr Sky Hugman | Report co-author · Bodie Greatbatch Murphy | What Matters Competition Finalist · Emilio Goytizolo | Foundations for Tomorrow · Anhaar Kareem | Commissioner, Wellbeing Health & Youth · Charishma Kaliyanda MP | Member for Liverpool
| New: Understanding Poverty, Inequality and Social Disadvantage in Australia
UNSW
Explore the causes and consequences of poverty and inequality from an Australian policy perspective, building on the research and findings of the Poverty and Inequality Partnership (PIP) between UNSW and the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS).
Convened by fellow member Yuvisthi Naidoo and Bruce Bradbury from UNSW’s Social Policy Research Centre, with guest academic, lived experience and welfare sector presenters.
18 February 2025 to 08 April 2025
Online (Self-paced learning and live lectures)
For professionals, advocates and researchers working in social policy across the for-profit, not-for-profit and government sectors or individuals with an interest in supporting their organisation's advocacy for social change in Australia.
37.5 hours | 6 modules across 7 weeks, AUD$500 - $1295
Online Live Sessions (Tuesdays 3pm to 5:15pm Sydney time). First online session, Tuesday 25 February.
For more information, read on...
| Visiting Fellowship Opportunity
| Visiting Professor in Australian Studies, University of Tokyo
International Australian Studies Association
Application deadline: 14th February. Read on...
| Graduate Research Program
| The Australian Centre Interdisciplinary Graduate Research Program in Indigenous Settler Relations
Applications are open for the 2025 Australian Centre Graduate Research Program. The Program is open to graduate researchers in any faculty whose topic has relevance to the emerging field of Indigenous settler relations in Australia and the world. The Program connects students with researchers across disciplines, fostering an engaged and supportive intellectual community, and creating a strong cohort experience for the duration of their study. The Program deepens academic understandings and enhances interdisciplinary knowledge exchange on research that leads to more just relations between Indigenous and settler peoples.
Activities throughout the year include exclusive masterclasses and workshops, writing retreats and a critical reading group, as well as access to the suite of seminars, and public lectures run by the Australian Centre. Entering its fifth year, the Program continues to grow. The 2024 cohort included 72 students across 30 disciplines from 27 universities throughout Australia and overseas. The feedback from participants is overwhelmingly positive, and all said they would highly recommend the Program to other students.
| New: Navigating Gender-Based Violence in Superdiverse Societies: An Interdisciplinary Approach with Professor Jenny Phillimore
Monash Conference Centre, Melbourne and livestreamed
February 4th, 1:30pm - 3:00pm AEDT
‘We, the People’ and the Future of Democracy: Interdisciplinary Approaches
European Center for Populism Studies & Oxford University
Hybrid, July 1-2, 2025
Abstract Submission Deadline: February 28, 2025. Read on...
| New: Religion and the Contemporary Phase of Globalization: Possibilities and Challenges
3rd World Conference for Religious Dialogue and Cooperation
June 23-27. 2025, Krusevo, North Macedonia (Hotel Montana)
Abstract submission deadline: April 15. Read on...
Exploring the Dynamics of Crime: Contemporary Challenges and Innovations in Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice
Jindal Institute of Behavioural Sciences & the International Society for Criminology
19th to 22nd June 2025
O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat, National Capital Region, India.
Abstract submission deadline: TOMORROW January 31. Read on...
|  | The Jobs & Scholarships Board allows you to view opportunities that TASA Admin and fellow members have posted.
In 4 easy steps, you can upload job & scholarship opportunities from your member's profile screen. For instructions, visit here.
The Jobs & Scholarships Board is a public facing searchable feature of TASAweb.
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 | TASA’s Executive Committee (EC) governs the Association and manages its daily business as outlined in the Constitution and by established policies. A call for nominations for the 2027 – 2028 Executive term will be disseminated on July 1, 2026.
The November 2024 - November 2026 Executive Team can be viewed on TASAweb here.
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 | TASA was officially established under the name of the Sociological Association of Australia and New Zealand (SAANZ) in 1963, crystallising what was a long, and perhaps delayed process of the discipline’s development in Australia.
For the 50th anniversary celebrations in 2013, pages on TASA's history were added to TASAweb.
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 | The more members TASA has, the stronger our association can be.
To help spread the word about TASA, you can quickly and easily gift a TASA membership to someone from within your TASA membership profile.
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 | | TASA members have free access to over 90 peer-reviewed Sage Sociology full-text collection online journals encompassing over 63,000 articles. The image on the left shows you where to access those journals, as well as the Sage Research Methods Collection & the Taylor and Francis Full Text Collection, when logged in to TASAweb. If needed, here is a short instructive video on how to access the online resources. |
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 | TASA currently has 27 thematic groups in operation and members can join up to 4 groups. This can be done quickly, and easily via your membership profile.
Watch the very short video (1:30) to learn how to join a thematic group/s.
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 | TASA's Membership Directory allows you to search for members by country and state. It also has search functions for members of a particular thematic group, and members who are available for supervision and/or mentoring.
To learn how to search the Membership Directory, watch this very short video (1 min).
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 | Via your membership profile, you can update many options including adding a secondary email address, and indicating if you are available for mentoring, supervising, consulting, and/or talking to the media, for example. If you are in a Tier 2, Tier 3 & Tier 4 membership category, you can also opt in or out of receiving a hard copy of the Journal of Sociology.
All of these changes can be done quickly and easily. To learn how, watch this video (1 min). |
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Personal pronoun preferences can be added to your profile. There are 9 combination options to choose from. Please let Sally in TASA Admin know if your preference/s is not on the list and we will have them added.
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 | We encourage you to support your colleagues by sharing details of your latest publications with them via this newsletter. No publication is too big or too small.
Any mention of sociology is of value to our association, and to the discipline, so please do email through details of your latest publication/s (fully referenced & with a link, where possible), events, job adverts etc. for the next newsletter, to TASA Admin. Usually, the newsletter is disseminated every Thursday morning. |
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 | As part of the agreement with Taylor & Francis, TASA members are entitled to a 30% books discount. This discount is valid on any full priced CRC Press or Routledge book.
To access the book discount, click on the following link and then log in to TASAweb: book discount link. |
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TASA Admin (Sally): admin@tasa.org.au
TASA Events (Penny): events@tasa.org.au | |