 | Dear ~~first_name~~,
We are pleased to welcome three new members to TASA this week. It is always great to see our community continue to grow, bringing fresh perspectives and new energy to the association.
We also have a range of updates and opportunities to share. You can explore the recording from last week’s information session on TASA’s Postgraduate Impact and Engagement Award here, which provides helpful guidance for applicants considering this year’s round.
Looking ahead, our June TASA Thursdays event will feature fellow member Natalie Merryman, who will be speaking on 'Unserviceable’ by Design: Feminist Sociology and the Corporeal Politics of Women’s Military Service. We hope you can join what promises to be a thought-provoking discussion.
This edition also includes updates from Thematic Groups, latest members’ publications, and a reminder that applications for the Career Development Grant close on 12 May.
We are also pleased to advise that TASA will be offering $5,000 in funding for Social Sciences Week 2026, with grants of up to $1,000 available exclusively to members to support public-facing events. Full details and application information will be included in next week’s newsletter.
| This week, we are welcoming three new members, Geoff Higgins, Bianca Hogeveen and Fajri Ramdhani. We hope you are enjoying your first TASA Newsletter.
And if new or renewing members have a question about TASAweb, our programs and services, please do email Ali at membership@tasa.org.au. Ali can also help with a password reset if you find yourself unable to login to renew your membership, or if you'd like assistance joining a Thematic or Career Stage Group.
| Crystal Abidin (2026) TikTok and Youth Cultures. Emerald Publishing.
| While cohorts of Gen Z have flocked to TikTok, some governments are fighting to have it banned. But where has it come from and what has enabled its incredible market penetration across various countries and demographics?
Crystal Abidin draws on original empirical work, news reports, and industry interviews to help readers understand TikTok as it has developed among youth cultures. Using anthropological methods to produce deep and insightful ethnographies about TikTok and its core users, TikTok and Youth Cultures will help readers develop a critical understanding of TikTok’s impact on society, its place in the social media landscape, and its cultural relevance around the world. Read on...
Note, a 30% discount is available via Emerald Bookstore using the following code: EME30
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Noh, Jae-Eun (2026). Faith and Activism against Gender-based Violence: The Case of the Japanese Military Sexual Slavery, VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations. 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0957876526000422 (open access).
Dowling, E. & Ridgway, A. (2026). Australia's Migration Strategy: An Effective Response to Migrant Worker Exploitation? Australian Journal of Social Issues, OnlineFirst. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajs4.70112 (open access).
| | TASA THURSDAYS -The Sociology of Emotions and Wellbeing in Music Worlds: Orchestras, Hip-Hop and Feminist Punk Rock | 14th May | 12:00PM AEST
Join us next week for a TASA Thursdays webinar on exploring the intersections of music, wellbeing, and emotional life. Featuring speakers from the Sociology of Music and Sociology of Emotions and Affect thematic groups, this session examines how music shapes identity, mental health, and collective expression across diverse contexts. From orchestral performance to Hip-Hop listening and feminist punk, the talks highlight music’s complex role in navigating pressure, wellbeing, and affect in contemporary social life.
| | | | TASA THURSDAYS 'Unserviceable’ by Design: Feminist Sociology and the Corporeal Politics of Women’s Military Service | 18th June | 12:30PM AEST
Join us for a TASA Thursdays webinar with fellow member Natalie Merryman exploring gendered harm, institutional power, and embodiment within the Australian Defence Force. Drawing on feminist sociological research with women veterans, this thought-provoking session critically examines how military institutions reproduce inequality and shape lived experiences. Ideal for sociologists, researchers, and anyone interested in gender, power, and institutional cultures.
| | | Register to attend a ‘Catch Up & Write’ session hosted by TASA's Sociology of Youth thematic group (25 May, 12pm-2pm)
TASA's Sociology of Youth thematic group is excited to invite you to attend their ‘Catch Up & Write’ sessions. While the writing group is hosted by the Youth thematic group, they welcome TASA members from other thematic groups whose research engages with youth in interesting ways. The more the merrier!
These sessions are designed to support research progress in a structured, but relaxed way, offering protected time to write in a collegial and supportive environment. Equally, they create a space to connect with each other (over the joys and perils of writing!!). Whether you’re drafting, revising, or simply trying to get words on the page, these sessions are for you 🙂
The details for the first session are:
DATE: Monday 25 May 2026
TIME: 12:00pm-2:00pm (bring your lunch!)
LOCATION: Online via Zoom
REGISTRATION: Register to receive the Zoom link via the following URL: https://unimelb.zoom.us/meeting/register/h6RNuzchTla1GOBkrGTCuw
DETAILS: Attendees will have a chance to briefly hear from the co-convenors, catch up with other group members, and spend some time working on a piece of writing alongside other attendees.
The goal is to establish a consistent day and time each month for these sessions once the conveners gain a sense of members’ availability and writing rhythms.
Conveners of TASA's Sociology of Youth Thematic Group, Imogen, Julia, Natalie, John and Maddison, look forward to meeting you on the 25th!
| SOCIAL THEORY WEBINAR SERIES | 4TH JUNE | 12:30PM AEST | ONLINE
Join us on Thursday 4 June for the next Social Theory Thematic Group webinar with Paul Joosse (University of Hong Kong). This compelling session explores the “Trump phenomenon” through the lens of charisma, introducing the concept of the “incredulous onlooker” and its unexpected role in amplifying charismatic power. This is a timely and thought-provoking discussion for anyone interested in political sociology, social theory, and contemporary global dynamics.
| | |  | | This annual award recognises the impact and engagement of a Postgraduate TASA member’s scholarship that is of high social value to Australian society and/or sociology. We invite TASA Postgraduate members to submit an application (or nominate others) for outstanding impact or engagement with sociological scholarship. Nominations are also welcome from supervisors or peers.
This award is not limited to publications, but also outstanding contributions in teaching, community work and non-traditional academic outputs.
The award seeks to value and encourage an understanding of scholarship and impact that extends beyond publication and citation metrics. This award draws on the Boyer model of scholarship recognising the value of Discovery, Integration, Application and Teaching.
|  | TASA's Prize for the most distinguished peer-reviewed article published by an Early Career Researcher is an annual process that uses academic peer review to select a paper of outstanding quality published (online or in print) in any journal during the previous three calendar years (ie the 2026 Award will assess papers that were published from 2023 – 2025). The Prize was established in 2016 to provide more opportunities for early career sociologists to gain recognition for the quality of their scholarship and enhance their reputations, especially within interdisciplinary teams.
An 'Early Career' definition can be found on the prize page.
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| TASA's Career Development Grant seeks to support the career development activities of TASA members where these activities are not covered by other funding.
TASA's Career Development Grant is targeted at TASA members who are PhD students, early career (5 years post-PhD) or mid-career members (10 years post-PhD) with career interruptions, considered. The grants are intended for members who have limited or no access to funding for career development activities.
A total of AU$4,500 is available, with a maximum of AU$1,500 available per applicant.
Applications close on 12 May.
| | | | TASA's Gary Bouma Memorial Workshop Funding, for 2027 events, is open for applications. 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.
Funding of AU$5,000 (per workshop) available for workshops to be held in Australia.
Applications close on 17 July, 2026.
| | | Journal of Sociology, 62 (1)
| Health Sociology Review, Volume 35, Number 1 (March 2026).
A special issue on, ‘Healthy’ Food Practices: Moving Beyond Healthy Choices and Food Systems, is guest edited by Natalie Jovanovski and Bhavna Middha.
All articles in this special issue are available here.
| 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.
| Scholarship Opportunities
| Media Representation & Public Perception of RNA Vaccines and Therapeutics in Australia
PhD Scholarship
University of Newcastle
Working with fellow member Caragh Brosnan
Creating Safer Sport Communities from Rural to Urban Australia
This is part of an ARC Discovery project Creating Safer Sport Communities from Rural to Urban Australia
The PhD will be housed within Griffith University’s Centre for Social and Cultural Research, Arts, Education and Law group and the Department of Tourism and Marketing, Griffith Business School.
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Lecturer in Geography, Sociology and Political Science
Hong Kong Baptist University
The role includes teaching courses in human geography, physical geography, public administration, general sociology, statistics, research methods, and advanced topics in quantitative analysis across these disciplines.
| Other Events, News & Opportunities
| Fellow member Na’ama Carlin's (et al.) latest book is out tomorrow. In case you missed details from a previous newsletter, the book, 'Being Patient: Close Encounters in Cancer World' opens the 'black box' of Cancer World to consider its impact on patients, carers and healthcare workers. The beating heart of the book is the many conversations the three authors had with each other, as well as dozens of patients, carers, and healthcare workers about the hard, frightening, and sometimes joyful moments that people experience once they enter or work in Australia's oncology system.
There are two book launches coming up on on Gadigal-Wangal and Bidjigal lands:
TODAY Thursday, 7 May 5.30-7pm
Australian Research Centre for Cancer Survivorship
UNSW Health Translation Hub, Kensington (near Prince of Wales Hospital)
Light refreshments provided
To register, read on...
Thursday, 14 May 6.30-8pm
Gleebooks, Glebe
Light refreshments provided
| New: Workshops Program Funding
The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
The Academy Workshops Program offers Australian social scientists financial assistance to host multidisciplinary workshops which aim to advance research and policy agendas on nationally important issues.
Up to AU$9,000.00 per workshop.
Applications open on May 18th and will close on July 31st.
| The Paul Bourke Awards for Early Career Research
Academy of Social Sciences Australia
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.
| Symposiums
New: The Regulation of Children’s Use of Digital Media in the Asia Pacific
Hybrid (Melbourne city), 17 June, 9am - 5:30pm AEST
This symposium brings together a selection of scholars, policymakers, civil society organisations and industry experts from across the Asia-Pacific region, such as Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, and Vietnam, to discuss the historical development, current landscape, challenges, and future directions of regulating children’s use of digital media.
Seminars
ANU School of Sociology Seminar Series
The program for the ANU School of Sociology Seminar Series is now online. All seminars are hybrid, with options to join via Zoom. Please visit the School’s Humanitix page, here, to view and register for upcoming seminars.
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.
| Conferences
New: Global Sociology in Turbulent Times
International Sociological Association
XXI ISA World Congress of Sociology
4 to 10 July 2027, Gwangju, Korea
10th Biennial Social Science Methodology Conference
November 24-26, University of Sydney
Sport, Politics, and Society
The Tunisian-Mediterranean Association for Historical, Social and Economic Studies (TMA for HSES) and the Tunisian World Center for Studies, Research, and Development (TWC for SRD)
December 1, 2, 3 / 2026 (Beja - Tunisia).
| | Internationalising Vegan Sociology
International Association of Vegan Sociologists (IAVS)
Online, October 3 & 4, 2026
The 2026 IAVS annual meeting will showcase research related to veganism, animal rights, and sociological theories of international relevance. They welcome submissions for individual presentations (15 minutes and an additional 5 for questions) or panels (45 minutes with 15 for questions) to be delivered in an online format.
| | | Call for Submissions
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.
| For membership information, processes, and frequently used resources, visit the Members' Navigator. To contact a member of the team directly, see our TASA Staff page.
| Admin (Sally): admin@tasa.org.au
Events (Penny): events@tasa.org.au
Membership (Ali): membership@tasa.org.au
Indigenous (Yasmin): indigenoussociology@tasa.org.au
Digital Publications Editor (Roger): digitalpe@tasa.org.au
Thematic Groups (Molly): thematicgroups@tasa.org.au
Postgraduates (Brooklyn): postgraduates@tasa.org.au | |