 | Dear ~~first_name~~,
Welcome to the first TASA newsletter for 2026. In this edition, we share a range of updates, new initiatives, and member achievements from across the Association.
We’re pleased to welcome Giselle Newton as Interim Public Sociology Portfolio Leader, and to introduce our new Members’ Navigator webpage — a refreshed home for practical guidance on getting the most out of your TASA membership.
We warmly congratulate fellow member Alex Broom on his appointment as an Australian Research Council Academic Director, a significant achievement and recognition of his leadership in the field.
You’ll also find details of an upcoming Postgraduate TASA Thursdays event, reflections from TASA 2025 bursary recipients, and a warm welcome to new members who have recently joined the Association.
This issue highlights members’ recent publications, too, now presented in two sections: Impact & Outreach, which includes journal articles, books, book chapters, and public-facing work demonstrating the reach and influence of sociological research; and News & Analysis, featuring pieces written specifically for TASA's community.
We also flag a new scholarship opportunity (with fellow member Catriona Stevens), a reminder that Thematic Group funding applications close on 1 March, and that entries for our two book awards close on 2 March, along with plenty more to explore as the year gets underway.
We hope this first newsletter of 2026 sets the tone for another active and connected year in TASA.
Warm regards,
TASA's Team
| We’ve given our membership tips, that lived at the bottom of every newsletter, a fresh new home. All the advice, resources, and how-tos are now on our new Members' Navigator webpage. For quick reference, we will include a link to the new webpage at the bottom of subsequent newsletters.
|  | In case you missed it last year, fellow member Giselle Newton generously accepted our invitation to serve as Interim Public Sociology Portfolio Leader, following Sophie Hickey’s decision to step down for personal reasons. Those who attended our Conference Dinner in November may recall Giselle co-MCing the event with fellow member Anthony K J Smith.
Dr Giselle Newton (she/her) is a digital health sociologist at the Centre for Digital Cultures and Societies at The University of Queensland and a Research Fellow on the Australian Ad Observatory in the Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society. Giselle's research agenda is focused on understanding experiences of fertility and family in a digital age. Giselle has led projects considering how reproductive and genetic technologies shape personal life and family relationships, for example on donor conception, direct-to-consumer DNA testing and digital advertising of fertility treatments and services. As a donor-conceived woman herself, Giselle’s research is grounded in advocacy and she has contributed to legislative reviews on Assisted Reproductive Technologies, Donor Conception, Mitochondrial Donation, Genetic Testing, Information Integrity and Data Privacy and she was an invited delegate to the 30-year anniversary of the Convention of the Rights of the Child at the United Nations. Giselle is engaged in public debate through media commentary on her areas of expertise and contributed to The Guardian, ABC News, ABC Life Matters and The Conversation. Giselle is the past co-convenor of TASA's Families and Relationships Thematic Group and is excited to contribute to the Public Sociology Portfolio.
| We are starting our 2026 newsletter congratulations section with news about fellow member Alex Broom. Alex has been appointed as the new Australian Research Council Academic Director for Social, Behavioural and Economic Sciences. Congratulations Alex! Read on...
| | TASA THURSDAY POSTGRAD | Thursday 26 February | 12:30PM AEDT |
Join us for this month’s TASA Thursday Postgraduate Session, Researching Sensitive Topics: Ethics, Care, and Boundaries.This reflective and practical webinar invites sociology postgraduates and early career researchers to explore the ethical complexities of qualitative research. Our panellists will discuss care, responsibility, emotional labour, and boundary-setting across fieldwork, analysis, and writing, offering insights into managing wellbeing while maintaining analytical rigour.
| | | As a friendly reminder, the nomination deadline for our two TASA Book Awards is fast approaching; March 2nd:
- Stephen Crook Memorial Prize: Awarded for the best authored book in Australian Sociology.
- Raewyn Connell Prize: Awarded for the best first book by an author in Australian Sociology.
Note, if a book is eligible for the Raewyn Connell Prize it may also be nominated for the Stephen Crook Memorial Prize (i.e. can nominate one book for both prizes but would need to supply 12 copies of the book - 6 for each book prize panel).
We will include details about TASA's other 2026 Award opportunities in a subsequent newsletter.
| Bursary Recipients' Reflections
| As noted in our final newsletter last year, TASA funded a record number of conference bursaries with the bulk going to postgraduate students. We included reflections from three of recipients in that newsletter. This week, we are sharing reflections from 11 other recipients:
| A very warm welcome to our newest members Rohini Balran, Louise Burke, Rae Danvers, Elsie Foeken, Adam Kerr, Ezra Kneebone, Sarah McCallan, Miranda Millen, Nashid Nigar, Ana Renker-Darby, Janelle Tidey and Joshua Waters. We're so happy to have you with us.
| Visibility, influence, and dissemination beyond TASA.
| Carljohnson, A. (2026). Transnational labour migration and musical performance: Filipino musicians in Australia. Palgrave Macmillan | This book focuses on the liminality and experiences of Filipino migrant musicians in Australia in relation to their identities and positionalities as migrants, professionals, labour force, musicians, and members of the multicultural community. Over 40 interviews with Filipino musicians living in Australia connect phenomena and issues surrounding transnational labour migration and the performance of musicians from other migrant backgrounds. Scholars and students interested in cultural sociology, ethnomusicology, popular music studies, cultural studies, migration, diaspora studies and Southeast Asian studies gain insights from the compelling stories in both scope and nuance, which are applicable in a broader multicultural context and the transnational as well as local music industry. Read on...
Note, you receive a 20% discount when using the code: PALAUT | | |
Book Chapters
Akram, A.B., Eva, I.J., Balamurugan, J., Tory, N.S., Hossain, M.M., Sagar, M.S.U. (2026). Menstrual Justice Reimagined: Contextualizing Solutions Through A New Lens for South Asia. In: Roy, A., Rahaman, M., Chouhan, P., Chandra Das, K., Kapasia, N., Das, J. (eds) Sustainable Women's Health: Perspectives from South Asia. Asian Perspectives on Public Health. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-95-1806-7_8
Journal Articles
D’Cruz, Leonard. (2025). What Demarcates Necropolitics from Biopolitics?: A Foucauldian Critique of Mbembe. Theory, Culture & Society, 0(0), no. 0: 1–17. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/02632764251379790 (Open Access).
Op-ed / Commentary
Creative Output
Podcasts
| Authored specifically for the newsletter.
| Health Sociology Review: Call for new editorial team
| As a reminder, applications are invited for the editorship of Health Sociology Review (HSR) for the three-year term 2027 - 2029.
Transition arrangements will begin later in 2026, although the content for the first issue of 2027, and possibly the second, will be finalised by the out-going editorial team.
The application deadline is Monday 22nd June, 2026.
The full details of the call are available on TASAweb here.
| If you are a thematic group (TG) convener, or a member of a TG, note that the next TG funding deadline is March 1. If you have any questions, please contact Sally Daly in TASA Admin as Naomi, our TG portfolio leader, is currently overseas on leave.
| | Scholarship Opportunities
| New: PhD Scholarship - Older adult abuse and migration
Edith Cowan University
A PhD student is sought to conduct a nested study as part fellow member Catriona Stevens's ARC-funded DECRA ‘Elder abuse and migration: Addressing the abuse of older adults to support safer ageing in multicultural Australia'.
The PhD project will focus on one or more community language groups in Australia. It will deliver new knowledge about how older adult abuse is understood, and how it manifests in Australian, homeland, and transnational contexts.
| 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
| New: Migrant Lives in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: Digital Care, Belonging, and the Re-making of Migration Experiences
An international, interdisciplinary research workshop examining the rapidly evolving relationship between migration and Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Online, June 17
The workshop will focus on exploring how migrants, refugees, displaced people experience, adapt to, and integrate AI technologies into their everyday lives. It provides an opportunity to foster interdisciplinary dialogue among colleagues undertaking empirical research, developing conceptual or theoretical interventions, or advancing methodological innovations in this emerging field.
All workshop presenters will also be invited to contribute toward the development of a special issue proposal.
Abstract submission deadline: March 15. Read on...
| 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.
| 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
| New: Toward an Intelligent Society: Challenges & Opportunities” [Human Intelligence(s) vs. Artificial Intelligence]
University "Fehmi Agani" Gjakove, KOSOVO
Hyrbid, 22-23 May
Religion as a Weapon of War: in the past, present and future
World Conference for Religio. us Dialogue and Cooperation
June 22-26. 2026, Skopje, North Macedonia
Abstract submission deadline: April 15.. Read on...
BSA Annual Conference 2026: 75 Years of Sociology
University of Edinburgh, UK
8-10 April.
| Special Issues - call for submissions
| New: Social Conditions, Clinical Logics: Rethinking Young People’s Engagement with Drug Treatment
International Journal of Drug Policy
This special issue invites submissions that explore or examine how the social conditions of young people’s substance use shape their engagement in drug treatment. Editors are looking for papers that critically explore, among other things, biomedical and psychologised approaches to AOD care, how contexts of crisis and social inequity shape treatment experience, and how treatment might be experienced differently by First Nations, LGBTQ+, refugee, migrant and racialized youth.
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
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...
| 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 | |