Dear ~~first_name~~,
In case you missed it, last Friday, TASA released a statement on the recent political interference in Australian Research Council (ARC) grants. In the statement, the Executive's strong opposition was expressed regarding the recent decision by the Education Minister Jason Clare to direct the ARC to undertake an investigation into the work of ARC Future Fellow Dr Randa Abdel-Fattah. You can access the full statement here.
| 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.
| Smith, A. K. J. (2025). The sociology of prescribing: A narrative review and agenda. Social Science & Medicine, 368, 117830. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2025.117830 [FULL ACCESS]. We extend a warm thank you to Anthony for mentioning TASA in the Acknowledgements section of this publication.
| As announced last week, applications for TASA 2025 bursaries are now open.
There are six bursary categories available, and eligible members may apply for multiple categories. However, note that each member can only receive one bursary, and submitting an application does not guarantee funding, as bursaries are limited. The categories are:
The application deadline for all TASA 2025 bursaries is April 22nd, which aligns with the abstract submission deadline. As a result, you will need to submit your bursary application before receiving the outcome of your abstract submission.
| TASA 2025 Awards - open for nominations
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TASA offers several prestigious awards, including the Jean Martin Award (JMA), which recognises excellence in sociology and supports the career development of recent PhD graduates. This biennial award is currently open to theses that have been, or will be, formally awarded a PhD by an Australian institution between 1 March 2023 and 28 February 2025. Nominations close soon on 3 March.
Other TASA Awards currently open for nominations include:
Nominations for these four awards close on 17 July.
Due to the assessment process, nominations for these two awards close earlier on 15 May.
Nominees will be notified of the outcome in August (for most awards) and October (for the JMA). Award recipients will be formally announced at our TASA 2025 Conference Dinner in November.
|  | TASA's Families & Relationships Mentoring Programme is a 9-month initiative supporting Higher Degree Research students and Early-Career Researchers in Australia. The FRMP aims to offer informal mentoring and career development support to researchers. The programme will run from March to December 2025. Participants must commit to at least four meetings (every two months). For further information and to complete EOI click here.
Expression of Interest Deadline: February 28, 5pm.
| The next Thematic Group (TG) funding application deadline is March 3rd, 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.
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Although we have mentioned this in recent newsletters, we want to remind you that while the conference will still take place in the last week of November, key dates have been significantly brought forward this year. This change is part of a trial aimed at streamlining processes and enhancing the overall conference experience—from submission to attendance. We appreciate your support in adapting to this adjustment and encourage you to submit your abstract by the relevant deadlines listed below. Your cooperation will help us create a smoother, more efficient, and rewarding conference for everyone.
This year's conference will explore the theme: Sociology in Action: Wellbeing, Policy & Activism in Times of Crises & Change, and will involve a mix of general (thematic group) presentations and panels.
The deadline for General Abstracts (aligned with Thematic Groups) is the 22nd April 2025.
The deadline for Panel Proposal submissions is a little earlier for planning reasons - 17th March 2025.
SUBMIT GENERAL ABSTRACT HERE
SUBMIT PANEL PROPOSALS HERE
Please note that this year, we will not be offering deadline extensions. We encourage you to submit on time to ensure your abstract is considered.
For more information about the submission process, read on...
| Assistant Research Fellow
Tenure-Track position in the Center for Survey Research, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
Applicants specialising in survey methods, computational social science, text mining, and data science are strongly encouraged to apply.
Membership Director
The Australian Sociological Association
We are seeking an enthusiastic and proactive Membership Director to join our team on a part-time basis. This role will be responsible for implementing our new Career Stage Groups initiative and managing all aspects of membership engagement, recruitment, and retention. If you are passionate about member engagement, have an eye for detail, and enjoy developing strategic initiatives, we’d love to hear from you!
Sessional Teaching
University of Tasmania, Rozelle campus
Semester one, 2025
Facilitate workshops and mark assessments for first-year Nursing students as they learn about working with intersectional, diverse patient groups and explore the links between culturally responsive health care and health equity.
For further information please contact fellow member: Dr Kim McLeod, kim.mcleod@utas.edu.au, +61 3 6324 5045
If you are interested in being considered for an interview please forward a brief EOI and your CV to: kim.mcleod@utas.edu.au
Aboriginal Project Officer
Perth
This is a great opportunity to be involved in improving the social and emotional wellbeing of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities. They are specifically looking for a male project officer in order to ensure cultural protocols are followed when engaging men in the research projects. They encourage any interested person to apply even if they don't meet all the criteria, as there will be many opportunities for skills development within the role. Any inquiries can be directed to fellow member Nita Alexander.
Application deadline: EXTENDED to February 28. Read on...
| | 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.
| | Other Events, News & Opportunities | Call for Survey Participants
| | The Wawu First Nations Connection Project seeks to explore and document the experiences of connection, disconnection, isolation, exclusion, and disenfranchisement among First Nations peoples. The project aims to understand how those who feel marginalised or disconnected perceive their wellbeing and explore the often overlooked or unrecognised practices that contribute to a sense of connection, particularly spiritual connection and connection to culture.
Your participation would be invaluable, and you are encouraged to take a few minutes to complete the survey and share it with your networks. The more voices that are heard, the richer the insights are gathered to help drive meaningful change.
| | | Call for Papers - Journals
| Interrogating Artificial Intelligence in Qualitative Research
Special Issue of Qualitative Research in Psychology
Artificial intelligence (AI) has brought forth a range of promises and implications for how we conduct qualitative research. In particular, the inception of generative AI in 2022 has raised new questions around research design, data authenticity, analysis, and what it means to do qualitative research with other-than-human technologies in the field of psychology and related social sciences. Within these lines of questioning, researchers express a mix of enthusiasm, caution, and concern. Such responses have been a salient topic on popular media platforms. Yet, peer-reviewed publications that discuss the role of AI in qualitative inquiry are only just beginning and still often lack critical examination.
| The Kohli Prize for Sociology
This prize honors exceptional achievements in and contributions to the field and profession of sociology
50.000 EUR
The winner is expected to deliver an address at the Prize Ceremony, to be held at the European University Institute (EUI, Fiesole/Florence) presumably on November 12, 2025.
Nomination deadline: March 16. Read on...
The Infrastructure Prize for Sociology
This prize honors persons, projects or organizations which have made a substantial contribution to an infrastructure in sociology.
10.000 EUR.
The winner is expected to deliver an address at the Prize Ceremony, to be held at the European University Institute (EUI, Fiesole/Florence) presumably on November 12, 2025.
Nomination deadline: March 16. Read on...
| 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
For more information, read on...
| ‘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. Read on...
| 2025 International Conference on Survey Methodology, Application, and New Developments
August 21-22, 2025
Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan
Abstract submission deadline: February 28. Read on...
Empowering Futures, United for Every Child's Safety
Global Child Protection Conference
21 - 23 May, Hilton Hotel, Gold Coast QLD
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...
|  | 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
TASA Indigenous (John): indigenousmembership@tasa.org.au | |