Dear ~~first_name~~,
As you can imagine, our Events Manager, Penny, is currently navigating a flood of emails as we approach our TASA 2025 registration deadline on June 28. We appreciate your patience and understanding during this busy time. Penny is working through messages as quickly and carefully as she can, and your support helps make that possible.
Meanwhile, there’s plenty happening in our TASA community this week! Today’s TASA Thursdays event explores Sport, Healing and Social Justice - an important conversation we're proud to be hosting (details below). We’re also delighted to welcome new members to our community, spotlight recent publications by some of our talented members, and introduce the new interim co-convener for our Sociology of Education thematic group.
As always, thank you for being part of this vibrant, thoughtful, and ever-evolving community.
| | TASA Thursdays Sport, Healing and Social Justice
TODAY Thursday 19 June | 🕧 12:30pm – 1:30pm AEST | 📍 Zoom | 🎟 Free
Drawing on the recent TASA funded Gary Bouma Memorial Workshop, this thought-provoking event will explore sport as both a site of wellbeing and harm, highlighting trauma-informed and decolonising approaches to equity in sport.
Join fellow members Adele Pavlidis, Simone Fullagar, and colleague Diti Bhattacharya, discussing sport and mental health, and unpacking how research, policy and practice can support safe, inclusive participation in sport.
Meeting ID: 891 4424 2985 and Passcode: 157707 | | | | Welcoming our new Members
| Another week, another inspiring wave of new members joining our community – and we couldn’t be happier to have you on board!
Whether you’re working in academia, applied research, government, the community sector, or forging your own path somewhere in between – welcome to a national network of sociologists that’s as diverse as the discipline itself.
This is your community. We’re here to support you, amplify your work, and connect you with others who share your curiosity about society, structure, and change.
We’re so glad you’ve joined us!
Welcome aboard:
- Sana Ashraf
- TingTing Chen
- Wei-Yun Chung
- Zhu Feixuan
- Emily Gosden-Kaye
- Giverny Lewis
- Jelina Turnbull
- Chris Walker
| From July 6 to July 13, Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians alike will celebrate NAIDOC week (National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee). This week-long celebration of Indigenous history, culture, and strength has become a period of reflection and festivity alike, with this year's theme "The Next Generation: Strength, Vision & Legacy" encouraging a future that promotes Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty. We strongly encourage all to get involved and find out what events are going on in your area. The NAIDOC website contains a list of events, though your local community may have others on as well.
You can access a list of events on the NAIDOC website here. You can access general details about NAIDOC here.
TASA's Indigenous Team: Joann Schmider, Morgan Carter and John Sopar
| Fran Collyer (Ed.), Research Handbook on the Sociology of Knowledge, Edward Elgar Publishing, July 2025.
| This timely Handbook celebrates and contributes to the recent revitalisation of the sociology of knowledge. A diverse group of leading experts from the global North and South provide a state of the art overview of a field, which is developing rapidly with the growth of poststructuralist, postcolonial, and feminist approaches.
Fran Collyer and contributing authors explore the theoretical frameworks underpinning the sociology of knowledge and demonstrate how these can address new issues, problems and circumstances. They shed light on how the sociology of knowledge is applied to and impacts contemporary challenges including racial and gender inequality, climate change, and the growth of neoliberalism. They also offer insights into the association between theories of knowledge and other conceptual and theoretical developments such as the sociology of science, constructivism, pragmatism, postmodernism, poststructuralism, and postcolonialism. Read on... | | | Cabiles, B. S. (2025). Difficult funds of knowledge (DFoK) in educating for social justice: bringing ‘dark funds of knowledge’ and ‘difficult knowledge’ into conversation. Critical Studies in Education, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/17508487.2025.2514282 (open access).
Cheng, J. E., O’Shea, M., Peel, N., Rashid, K., & Maxwell, H. (2025). A labour of love: Muslim women carving out belonging in blue spaces. International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/10126902251342595 (open access).
Syyed, H. (2025). How to conduct intersectional feminist research with sensitive data in a precarious setting. Sage Research Methods: Data and Research Literacy. SAGE. https://doi.org/10.4135/9781036222772.
Lindsay, J., Lane, R., Arunachalam, D., & Raven, R. (2025). Friends, family and the circulation of used goods: overlooked sustainability practices. Environmental Sociology, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/23251042.2025.2510410 (open access).
Patulny, R, Petrolo B (2025) Are we softly constructing more inclusive males? An examination of men's interpersonal emotion work for children and partners. Emotions and Society, Online First, p1-18. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1332/26316897Y2024D000000047 (open access).
| | The call for expressions of interest for our 2026 Gary Bouma Workshop Program is now open. TASA can fund up to two workshops at AU$5000.00 each.
Successful workshops will advance research within sociology and showcase TASA as the face of sociological/interdisciplinary research in the region; engaging with issues of national concern; advancement of knowledge; support innovative ideas, and, the potential of feeding into policy and practice development.
Expression of interest deadline: July 14th.
| | | TASA Awards currently open for nominations include:
Nominations for these four awards close on 17 July.
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.
| Introducing fellow member Terry-Ann Page, who has stepped into the role as interim co-convener of the Sociology of Education thematic group.
| Terry-Ann Page
B.Soc.Sc (Human Behaviour), B.A.Ed
Vocational Education Consultant | Neurodivergent Wellbeing Practitioner
Terry-Ann is an educator, consultant, and sociological practitioner with over 35 years' experience in the vocational education and training (VET) sector. With formal qualifications in adult education and the social sciences, her work focuses on the intersection of competency-based training, neurodivergence, and inclusive educational practice. | | | She is the founder of two educational businesses: PAGE Vocational Education Consultancy, which supports RTOs with compliance, assessment design, and student welfare initiatives; and The Human Scientist, a wellbeing service providing mentoring and coaching for neurodivergent learners and professionals.
Terry-Ann’s practice-led research explores how current training and assessment models marginalise students who fall outside neurotypical norms. She is committed to creating sociologically informed, learner-centred solutions that foreground dignity, flexibility, and educational justice.
As a Thematic Group Convener, Terry-Ann is particularly interested in amplifying practitioner voices, rethinking support in VET frameworks, and building bridges between sociological theory and everyday educational practice. | Contesting Military Identities
Monday 22nd September
TASA's Cultural Sociology Thematic Group in conjunction with UniSA, Flinders University and the Military Organisation and Culture Studies Group are hosting a 1-day conference in Adelaide and online around the theme of Contesting Military Identities.
Abstract submission deadline: July 1st. Read on... | Teaching Opportunity, Semester 2 2025
Casual, June/ July – November 2025
University of Melbourne
They are seeking someone who is sociologically trained, to join a dynamic teaching team in Semester 2, 2025. They're particularly interested if you have a practice background in the education, public health, youth or community services sectors, and/or working with disadvantaged communities.
You would be teaching professionals who already work in same (eg. doctors, teachers, nurses, allied health, social workers, police) the fundamental concepts for an applied socio-environmental approach to understanding and working more effectively with young people. In focus are fundamental ideas like social change, inequality, historical, global and cultural perspectives, class, gender, race, ability, geographies, inter-sectionality … etc. SEC (see below) is a core subject in the Graduate Certificate, Graduate Diploma or Master in Adolescent Health and Wellbeing.
The subject is ready to go but needs a great communicator with a heart for effective practice. Read on...
Contact Dr Ani Wierenga. | | Other Events, News & Opportunities | Funding - Social Sciences Week
| Sparks Grants
The Academy of Social Sciences in Australia has announced a new grant program, commencing in 2025, that will award grants of up to $1,000 to “spark” new ideas and diverse Social Sciences Week events to reach more audiences across Australia.
| Newcastle Youth Studies Online Seminar Series
The Newcastle Youth Studies Centre is a collaborative group of researchers who work with young people to understand their lives, and the social, cultural, and economic forces they are living in. They have the following online seminars scheduled:
- Automating Everyday Life (July 30)
- New Possibilities: Young People and Democratic Renewal (August 20)
- The Political Dynamics of the Weird World of Wellness (September 24)
- The Materialities of Inequality: Mould, Acid and Glitter (October 8)
- The False Divide between Nature and Culture (November 5)
- ‘Your mum didn’t take selfies’: Youth and image cultures on social media (November 19)
For the details of each event, and to register, read on...
Digital Modernities: Why We Need to Think Historically About the Digital Age
Friday 1 August 2-4pm AEST. Followed by Light refreshments 4-5pm
ACU Melbourne campus & online
We are living in an era of digital modernity that amounts to a recursion of earlier periods of colonialism, hyper-capitalism, and great power competition. This talk will explore the implications of this, defining and then framing digital modernity in the context of post-Enlightenment history and pluralistic critical theory.
| Awards - Early Career Research
| Paul Bourke Awards
The Paul Bourke Awards for Early Career Research honour Australians in the early part of their career who have achieved excellence in scholarship in one or more fields of the social sciences.
| Special Issues - call for submissions
| New: Masculinities and Emotions: Changing Times and Contexts
Emotions and Society
Guest edited by fellow member Roger Patulny and colleague Fiona McQueen
It is a prescient irony, given the stubborn conception that men ‘don’t express feelings’, that the contemporary bonds, behaviours and excesses of masculinity are so deeply immersed in emotion. It has long been recognised that that men’s conflicts are steeped in emotional experiences and dynamics of shame, irritability and anger (Men’s Project and Flood 2024). Similarly, hegemonic and toxic acts often stem from emotions such as pride and fear (Connell and Messerschmidt 2005). Traditional masculinities have also been implicated in men’s desires and struggles to master their own and other’s emotions, whether this be in the context of emotional control (Barrett & Bliss-Moreau, 2009), couple relationships (McQueen, 2017) or emotional flooding (Malik et al 2020). Other works have advanced the study of masculine emotion beyond these dynamics. Some have pointed out that emotional suppression leaves a stark legacy for many men, making them more susceptible to distress and suicide (River and Flood 2021).
New: Revisiting Janet Wolff: Affinities between Art History and Sociology
Cultural Sociology’s special issue, inspired by the career and work of Janet Wolff, seeks to articulate the affinities between sociological and art historical approaches to the study of artworks and art making, such that a disciplinary divide holds.
Abstract submission deadline: 16 September. Read on...
New: The Normative Turn in Sociology. Opening the Black Box
Sociology’s special issue hopes to lay the groundwork for a sociology of normativity; that is, a form of sociology (be it “critical” or otherwise) which is expressly normative. Editors are looking for contributions, theoretical and/or empirical, that engage with the question of normativity in sociology.
Abstract submission deadline: 22 January 2026. Read on...
New: Earning while Learning: Experiences, patterns and the political economy of working students
Work, Employment and Society’s new special issue aims to interrogate and fundamentally reconceptualize the relationship between earning and learning, bringing together different disciplinary approaches to interrogate student work and the global political economy that shapes it.
Abstract submission deadline: 27 February 2026. Read on...
Re-examining Norms of Good Citizenship When Democratic Values are Under Threat
Special Issue in Political Psychology
This Special Issue aims to bring together normative and empirical approaches on citizenship, ‘good citizenship’ and norms of ‘good citizenship’ in order to facilitate across-disciplinary dialogue that spans temporal and geographic boundaries.
Abstract submission deadline: July 15th. Read on... | Disability Studies Quarterly (DSQ)
The SDS Board of Directors seeks to appoint a new editor or editorial team for a term of four [2025-2029] years, ideally beginning on November 1, 2025 and ending April 1, 2029. This period includes a 6-month onboarding process under the current editorial team and a 6-month offboarding period with new editors appointed in 2028. The editor or editorial team will work with SDS and the DSQ Editorial Board, and collaborate with The Ohio State University Libraries team. The editor or editorial team will be responsible for putting together a new editorial board under their direction and with input from the SDS Board of Directors.
Expression of interest deadline: August 1st. Read on...
| French Institutes for Advanced Study Fellowship Programme
10 months fellowships at the seven Institutes of Aix-Marseille, Cergy, Loire Valley (Orléans-Tours), Lyon, Montpellier, Nantes and Paris. It welcomes applications from high-level international scholars and scientists to develop their innovative research projects in France.
Available positions for the 2026-2027 academic year
Application deadline: July 16 (6pm Paris, France time). Read on...
Forrest Research Foundation Scholarships 2026
The Forrest Fellowships aim to attract early-career researchers from around the world to work in Perth, Western Australia. Applicants should be leading their field of research and be driven by a desire to solve the world’s grand challenges. The Fellowships are aimed at those who have completed their PhD in the last two years (conferred from 1 January 2023) or who will complete it in 2025.
| Refugee Trauma Recovery in Resettlement
Forum of Australian Services for Survivors of Torture and Trauma (FASSTT)
Bringing together leading researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and community advocates from across Australia and New Zealand, the conference will address the complex and critical needs of refugees who have experienced torture and trauma. The event will serve as a vital platform for sharing knowledge, fostering collaboration, and promoting best practices in the field of refugee mental health and psychosocial support.
Submission deadline: August 31st. Read on...
The Western Sydney University Challenging Racism Project (CRP) and University of Melbourne Anti-Racism Hallmark Research Initiative (ARHRI) are holding a cross-disciplinary one-day conference
Friday November 7th, Western Sydney University, Parramatta City campus
The conference will be free to attend.
This event will bring together researchers and practitioners who are undertaking work related to anti-racism. This will be an opportunity for us all to learn more about each other’s work, build networks, and explore the potential for future collaborations.
Abstract submission deadline: August 1st. Read on...
Development in Turbulent Time
20th Annual International & Interdisciplinary Conference of International Partners
University Luigj Gurakuqi Shkoder, ALBANIA
14-15 November 2025
Abstract submission deadline: 14 September. Read on...
Centering Care Across the Life Course
SAVE THE DATE
Concordia University in Montreal Canada
June 17-20, 2026
Submissions open in July and close November 1. Read on... | | Queer Temporalities
Online and in-person at Macquarie University 1-3 October
Exploring the theories and possibilities of queer lives unbeholden to normative narratives of time, memory, success, love, happiness, and family.
| | |  |  | 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 (right click to retrieve the email address). 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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Admin (Sally): admin@tasa.org.au
Events (Penny): events@tasa.org.au
Membership (Ali): membership@tasa.org.au
Indigenous (John): indigenousmembership@tasa.org.au
Thematic Groups (Naomi): thematicgroups@tasa.org.au
Postgraduates (Molly): postgraduates@tasa.org.au | |