Dear ~~first_name~~,
The end-of-year processes, and staff and Executive leave, are fast approaching! If you have a TASA 2025 claim that needs to be processed in TASA's final 2025 pay run, please email your claim to Sally in TASA Admin by next Friday, 12 December. If you don’t have a claim, you can ignore this reminder!
Similarly, if you have content you would like included in the final 2025 newsletter, please email the details to Sally in TASA Admin by Wednesday December 17th.
Sally, Penny and Ali
TASA Team
| | Thank You to Our Conference Community
| We extend our sincere thanks to everyone who contributed to the success of this year’s conference; our largest TASA conference ever! Our gratitude goes to all of our volunteers and Chairs for their invaluable support, and to our National Organising Committee and Executive members for their guidance, commitment, and behind-the-scenes work in shaping this year’s program.
A warm acknowledgement to Penny, our Events Manager, for her tireless behind-the-scenes work and calm, capable leadership across every part of the event. And to Ali, our Membership Director, who embraced her first TASA conference with such enthusiasm; her time on the registration desk helped her meet and welcome so many members in person.
We are also grateful to the University of Melbourne for hosting us, and to Dan Woodman, who coordinated rooms, University of Melbourne IT support, and the many practical details that kept the event running seamlessly.
Most importantly, we want to say how proud we felt of our delegates. The warm, friendly and welcoming atmosphere you created, and your generosity toward one another, helped foster the supportive and inclusive conference culture we value so deeply.
Over time, we will be sharing recordings with you from TASA 2025!
Looking ahead, we're excited to share that, thanks to Naomi Smith, TASA 2026 will be hosted by the University of the Sunshine Coast at the Sippy Downs campus. More on this soon!
| We extend warm thanks to Roger Wilkinson, our Digital Publications editor, who recorded the following three interviews last week during TASA 2025. The interviews were conducted by postgraduate sub-committee member Joelle Moore. Thanks to both Joelle and the three interviewees, Naiyer Fatema Khanom, Greta Werner and Laura Simpson Reeves.
| Naiyer Fatema Khanom talks with Joelle Moore about careers for Sociologists:
| Greta Werner talks to Joelle Moore about career for Sociologists:
| Laura Simpson Reeves talks with Joelle Moore about career for Sociologists:
| | TASA PG Reading Group: The Sociology of Nothing
Join us next Tuesday 9th December at 10am (AEDT) for the final 2025 Postgraduate Reading Group as we explore the sociology of nothing—an exciting and elusive emerging concept that examines absence, silence, and the unmarked in social life. We’ll be discussing Scott’s (2018) A Sociology of Nothing: Understanding the Unmarked.
Don’t miss this thought-provoking session!
| | | | The International Sociological Association's (ISA) Podcast Series
| The ISA started a podcast series earlier this year. The series is about Sociology in different countries around the world. For the Australian Sociology podcast, the following members contributed:
- Alphia Possamai-Inesedy (Conversation Facilitator)
- Morgan Carter (Mapping the Indigenisation of Sociology Curricula in Australia)
- Rhys Gower (Mapping Sociology in Australia project)
We extend a warm thank you to Alphia, Morgan and Rhys, who took time away from their busy schedules to share their insights with the wider, international sociological community.
| Qi, Xiaoying and Barbalet, Jack. (Eds) (2025) Obligated to Care: Intergenerational Family Relations. London: Sage | | “It is often said that the principal institution of Chinese society is the family. This is arguably as true for China today as it was for traditional China, but for different reasons.” The latest volume in The Sociological Review’s long-running Monograph series turns a sociological lens on the family in China today, and the many factors – historical, economic and cultural – that continue to shape it.
Obligated to Care: Intergenerational Family Relations in Contemporary China is guest edited by fellow members Xiaoying Qi, and Jack Barbalet.
| | | O’Connor, Paul., Willing, Indigo., Duester, Ben., and Hölsgens, Sander. (2025). The leisure of grey spaces, urban play and the chromatic turn. Special Issue. Vol 44. Issue 5. Leisure Studies, Full collection: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rlst20/44/5
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Sharyn Goudie, Kristin Natalier, Michelle Jones, Kate Seymour. 2025. Making, Unmaking and Remaking Home: Foster Carers' Home Practices Within Australia's Child Protection System. Child and Family Social Work. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cfs.70084 [open access].
Halim, N, Willing, I, Eime, R, Hassett, L and Owen, K. B. (2025). Mixed-methods Evaluation of Multi-Sport Activity Days for Children and Adolescents with Disability in Australia. JSMAMS Plus. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsampl.2025.100116
O’Connor, P, Willing, I, Duester, B, and Hölsgens, S (2025). Introduction: The leisure of grey spaces, urban play and the chromatic turn. Leisure Studies, 44(5): 753-763. https://doi.org/10.1080/02614367.2025.2512747
| Fellow member, Carmel Desmarchelier, is looking for work. Carmel was a senior lecturer and taught online at masters level for many years. They have a PhD, MBA and a Grad Cert in online learning.
Carmel currently teaches sociology to two classes each week at the University of the Third Age and their classes have been booked out for over six years. They won teaching awards at UNSW and allied universities.
Carmel is looking for online work and any casual jobs, whether that be working in a team, tutoring or grading assignments. They live on Bribie Island so can travel to Brisbane and/or the Sunshine Coast.
If you have an opportunity for this Carmel, please email Sally in TASA Admin.
| New: Research Fellow
Australian National University
Part time (0.8FTE), Fixed Term (up to 33 months)
New: Research Fellow, Social and Ethical Dimensions of Applied Cryobiology
Australian National University
The funding that supports this project has an expected duration of 3.5 years.
New: Research Fellow, Ethnography and Sociology of the Artificial Cryosphere
Australian National University
The funding that supports this project has an expected duration of 5 years.
Assistant or Associate Professor
Hong Kong Shue Yan University
| Introducing Special Sections
Following the recent launch of a new paper type for Journal of Sociology, Teaching Notes, the JoS team are launching a new feature called Special Sections. They invite proposals at any time for thematic sections that consist of three or four standard 8,000 word papers, framed with a 4,000 word introduction. This will be an ideal format for developing and publishing outcomes from, for instance, a conference panel, a smaller research network, or papers in conversation around a hot topic. Special Sections are designed to be a smaller, more manageable version of a special issue and will feature in standard issues along with regular papers.
If you would like to pitch a special section, please write firstly to our Managing Editor, Dr Amy Vanderharst.
| The latest special issue of the Journal of Sociology explores ‘Equity in the creative industries’ in the context of a changing employment landscape in Australia. Inequality is central to understanding the social consequences and distribution of cultural work. The COVID-19 pandemic, rise of digital cultural production, growth of media sharing platforms, and instability of changes in government (and policy) have both disrupted and re-organised cultural work. The collection of articles aims to develop debate on competing imaginaries of the lived experiences of workers, and to shed light on the struggle and complexities of contemporary creative labour.
All articles have been published on open access and are available here.
| Other Events, News & Opportunities
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In case you are not aware, the Sociology Out West (SOW) group is for everyone in Western Australia (whether residing or visiting) associated with sociology. | | | Cross-Class Friendship: Call for Research Participants
| Fellow member Rose Butler (Deakin) has recently commenced a research project on cross-class friendship with Sam Friedman (LSE) and is currently recruiting participants. Rose is looking for interviewees who have a close friendship with someone whose class background differs to their own and are willing to talk about this friendship. All interviews are treated as confidential and last between 60-90 minutes. They can take place over Zoom or in person and participants receive a fifty-dollar gift card as a token of appreciation.
| New: International Center for the Sociology of Religion (ICSOR)
The grants provide residence in Rome for the duration of a week or more to a maximum of two months. The ICSOR apartment (all-inclusive, except for food and insurance) and library will be available to awardees free of charge.
Application deadline: March 30th, 2026. Read on...
| Newcastle Youth Studies Centre (NYSC) 2026 Online Seminar Series
The full 2026 program for the Newcastle Youth Studies Centre’s online seminar series is now out (see below), you can check out each seminar, and register for them, at the NYSC Eventbrite page here.
Note, you can watch the full 2025 recordings at the NYSC's YouTube playlist here.
| The Sorrento Creative Writing Prize
The Prize celebrates the annual Sorrento Writers Festival and its mission to bring writers and readers together.
The winner will receive $5,000 and their writing featured at the 2026 Sorrento Writers Festival and at www.writing.org.au
| Edited Volume - call for contributions
| Constructive Alcohol: production, consumption, everything else (working title)
The book will be a response to Mary Douglas’ ground-breaking work Constructive Drinking (1987). Published nearly 40 years ago, Constructive Drinking continues to be a touchstone for research that foundationally acknowledges that ‘drinking’ is always socio-culturally constructed, historically contingent and morally relativistic. Douglas and her contributors firmly rejected approaches that assumptively problematized or pathologized alcohol and instead critically analysed benefits ascribed to alcohol in different social settings. Moreover, our proposed book comes at a time when alcohol is subject to multiple criticisms and challenges, not least of which are the World Health Organisation’s repeated declarations that there is no safe level of alcohol consumption; the impacts of climate change; and declining consumption globally.
| Children’s rights under pressure in a digital world
ICA Pre-conference 2026
BSA Annual Conference 2026: 75 Years of Sociology
University of Edinburgh, UK
8-10 April 2026
Predoctoral Preconference
Work and Family Researchers Network Conference
The Predoctoral Preconference will provide workshops intended to help graduate students form meaningful connections with diverse scholars, learn about publication strategies, as well as how to engage with stakeholders such as organisational leaders or policy advocates.
| | Reimagining Boyhood: Addressing the wellbeing of boys and young men through education
21 January, 2026
The University of Queensland
Key Speakers include fellow member Garth Stahl.
This event brings together leading international voices, cutting-edge research, and the shared commitment of schools and educators to shape the future of boys’ education, exploring identity, wellbeing, belonging, and learning in boyhood. With keynote speakers, expert panels, and interactive workshops, this full-day program offers evidence-based insights and practical strategies that educators can apply directly.
| | | Special Issues - call for submissions
| New: Serendipities. Journal for the Sociology and History of the Social Sciences
If you would like to propose a special issue for their collection, please feel free to discuss this with the Managing Editors. If your ideas are further advanced, you are welcome to send them a one-to-two page proposal.
Managing Editors:
- Fran Collyer, University of Wollongong Australia, Fran@francollyer.com
- Kristoffer Kropp, Roskilde University, Denmark, kkropp@ruc.dk
You can find more information about our journal here.
Professionalism beyond the Global North: A Space for New Theoretical Developments
Current Sociology Monographs
This issue invites contributions that advance sociological research on professions, professionalism, and expertise in the Global South—broadly defined to include Africa, Asia, Latin America, Southern and Eastern Europe, and Oceania
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.
Paper submission deadline: 22 January. Read on...
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.
Paper submission deadline: 27 February. Read on...
Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
The guest editors of this journal are seeking submissions for the forthcoming edition ‘Reframing artificial intelligence: Critical perspectives from AI social science’
In an era increasingly shaped by artificial intelligence (AI), public and academic discourse is often dominated by polarised narratives—either heralding AI as a solution to complex problems or warning of its dangers … this Collection invites social science perspectives to advance the study of AI’s sociotechnical, cultural and political dimensions.
Submission deadline: 30 April. 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 (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
Digital Publications Editor (Roger): digitalpe@tasa.org.au
Thematic Groups (Naomi): thematicgroups@tasa.org.au
Postgraduates (Molly): postgraduates@tasa.org.au | |