 | Dear ~~first_name~~,
This week’s newsletter brings together a strong mix of upcoming events, opportunities, and member achievements across the association.
Today at 12:30pm AEST we host our next TASA Thursdays (Postgraduate session): Creative Participation in Sociological Theory: Art, Reflexivity, and Cultural Sociology. We look forward to a rich discussion exploring how creative practice and sociological theory intersect in new and generative ways.
We also highlight a range of recent member publications, alongside three new announcements in the Thematic Group section, reflecting the ongoing vibrancy of our scholarly community.
There are several important upcoming deadlines to keep on your radar: expressions of interest (EOI) for a new editorial team for Health Sociology Review close on the 22nd of June, the mentorship EOI close on the 18 of June, and Social Sciences Week funding applications close on the of 19 June.
In member achievements, we warmly congratulate two members on being awarded an ARC Linkage Grant, and another member on being selected for the ABC Top 5, which marks two TASA members recognised in the national program this year.
Finally, if you missed it, the recording is now available for our a TASA 2025 panel: From awareness to action mobilising sociology for climate change.
| New! TASA Key Dates at a glance
| To help members keep track of important TASA deadlines and opportunities, we've introduced a new quick-reference section highlighting upcoming dates:
- TODAY 11 June - TASA Thursdays PG: Creative Participation in Sociological Theory: Art; Reflexivity, and Cultural Sociology
- 18 June - TASA Thursdays: Unserviceable’ by Design: Feminist Sociology & the Corporeal Politics of Women’s Military Service
- 19 June - Social Sciences Week funding applications
- 22 June - Health Sociology Review editorship expressions of interest
- 23 June - Retired Career Stage Group catch-up
- 28 June - TASA 2026 Early Bird and Presenter registrations
- 29 June - TASA Election nominations open
- 1 July - Social Stratification Thematic Group one-day symposium abstract submissions
- 17 July - Gary Bouma Memorial Workshop Funding
- 17 July - Distinguished Service to Australian Sociology Award
- 17 July - Outstanding Service to TASA Award
- 17 July - Outstanding Service to the Teaching of Sociology Award
- 17 July - Sociology in Action Award
- 20 July - TASA Election nominations: close Midday (12pm) AEST
- 28 August - Social Stratification Thematic Group one-day symposium: Perceptions and Indicators of Social Class in Australia
| You may recall from a recent newsletter that we congratulated fellow member Rohann Irving on being selected as a 2026 ABC Top 5 Resident. It turns out that sociology has shined this year, again!, with a second member also having been selected. As such, it is our pleasure to also extend our warm congratulations to fellow member Olga Boichak from the University of Sydney on being selected as an ABC Top 5 resident. Olga is a media sociologist who explores how communities can build resilience when digital technologies are weaponised.
Today, we are also extending our warm congratulations to fellow members Ben Green & Catherine Strong who, along with colleagues, have been awarded an ARC Linkage Grant for ‘Adapting to climate change in the Australian music festival ecosystem’.
Their project aims to boost the resilience of the Australian music festival ecosystem by increasing understanding of climate change risks and how to reduce them. The project will generate new knowledge on the structure and stakeholders of the music festival ecosystem, and where vulnerabilities to climate change exist or are likely to emerge. Expected outcomes of this project include co-designed tools that reduce threats and increase adaptive capacity of festivals, and that can be translated to other performance and events sectors. This should provide significant benefits such as protecting the high cultural, economic and social value music festivals create, including their contribution to social bonds needed for collective adaptation.
| TASA 2026 - Registrations open
| Registrations are open for TASA 2026, which will be held from 23–27 November at the University of the Sunshine Coast on Kabi Kabi Country. Please note, Post Grad Day, some workshops and the Welcome Reception will be held on the Monday. Concurrent sessions and other activities/events will be held from Tuesday to Friday.
This year's conference is in-person only.
The available registration categories and pricing are available on the conference website here.
If you plan on attending, and presenting, you will need to register by the 28th of June.
| TASA 2026 Pending Election
| 2026 is an election year for TASA's Executive Committee.
The Executive consists of the President, Vice-President, Secretary, Treasurer, Postgraduate Portfolio Leader and up to four Portfolio Leaders as voting members, as well as the Immediate Past President and one representative from the editorial team of each of TASA’s publications as non-voting ex-officio members.
The following positions will be open for nominations:
- President
- Vice-President
- Secretary
- Treasurer
- Indigenous
- Public Sociology
- Equity, Inclusion and Advocacy
- TASA Groups (Thematic Groups and Career Stage Groups
If you are interested in nominating for any of the above roles, you will need two TASA members to support your nomination by signing the nominator form (electronically or by hand).
Nominations will open on Monday 29 June. On that day, members will receive an email containing links to the candidate and nominator forms.
Please note that expressions of interest for the Digital Publications Editor role will be open at the same time.
| Welcome to our new TASA members Natasha Best, Tselmegsaikhan Lkhagva, Jethro Romer and Sascha Samlal. Fingers crossed we have the chance to meet some of you at TASA 2026 this year. And welcome back to renewing members. If you are encountering any issues with the renewal process, please do email Ali at membership@tasa.org.au, any time.
| | Jan Hayes & Sarah Maslen (Eds.) (2026) Ethics in the doing of technoscience: Navigating professional frameworks and organisational muteness. Springer Nature. | This book takes us beneath the banality of business as usual where technoscientific professionals routinely make judgments that impact the lives of others. Be it the safety of engineered systems, the speed and accuracy of medical diagnoses, or the wellbeing of animals subject to genetic modification, mindful, ethical choices contribute to the society we want to live in. Read on...
You can get 20% off the purchase of the book with this code: PALAUT. For further details, click here. | | | |
Book Chapters
Akram, A., Anik, M., & Piash, M. (2026). Caste system and menstruation. In The Sage Encyclopedia of Menstruation and Society (Vol. 1, pp. 51-55). SAGE Publications, Inc., https://doi.org/10.4135/9781071938164.n22
Journals
Qi, J., J. Tuxworth, and C. Gomes. 2026. “ Navigating Supervisory Conversations About Gen AI: Taboo and Supervisory Power Dynamics.” Higher Education Quarterly 80, no. 3: e70151. https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.70151 (open access).
Hyein Ellen Cho, Leah Gerber and Dima Rusho (2026). ‘Just interpret’: Navigating trust and ethics in domestic and family violence interpreting, International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 114, 102444, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijintrel.2026.102444 (open access).
Blacklock, Jude, Kathryn Henne, Tate Morgan, & Kate Starre. 2026. When plans become performative: gender equity and regulatory ritualism as a sport governance challenge. Sport Management Review, Online first, https://doi.org/10.1080/14413523.2026.2682637 (open access).
Maslen, S., Hayes, J. and Walsh, M.J. (2026), The “We” and “Me” of Identity in Hazardous Industry Organizations: Face Work Tactics Among Practicing Engineers. Symbolic Interaction. https://doi.org/10.1002/symb.70050 (open access).
Gardiner, J., & Cover, R. (2026). Infrastructures of interdependency in queer mobility and migration to South Australia: ‘caring with’ in leisure, sports, arts and domesticity. Culture, Health & Sexuality, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2026.2674993 (open access).
Rahman, S., Connor, J., Dickinson, H., Henne, K., & McDermott, V. (2026). Navigating complexity: A relational perspective on generative AI adoption in government. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8500.70044 (open access).
Op-ed / Commentary
| Funding
As announced in last week’s newsletter, TASA has set aside $5,000 in funding for 2026 Social Sciences Week events. TASA is offering grants of up to $1,000, exclusively for TASA members, to support public-facing events during Social Sciences Week 2026.
Applications close next Friday 19 June.
For the full details and the application form link, visit TASAweb here.
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.
For details, and the application form link, visit TASAweb here.
Distinguished Service to Australian Sociology Award
This award is made to a TASA member who has demonstrated outstanding, significant and sustained service to Australian sociology over many years. While not necessarily a lifetime achievement award, candidates for the Distinguished Service Award would usually be nearing the end of their careers.
In all cases the quality of the service is the determining criterion, rather than the quantity alone.
Outstanding Service to TASA Award
This honour is accorded to a TASA member who has demonstrated an outstanding level of participation in and promotion of TASA over a number of years. There are many ways in which this can occur, but in all cases the quality of the service is the determining criterion, rather than the quantity alone.
Outstanding Service to the Teaching of Sociology Award
This award celebrates outstanding contributions to enhancing the pedagogy, practice or outcomes of teaching and learning sociology in Australia. It recognises contributions at the disciplinary level (rather than acknowledging excellence in teaching within the classroom or institutions). Examples of disciplinary-level contributions include innovations in teaching that increase the impact of sociology teaching beyond university contexts, improve student access, experience and outcomes, or inform disciplinary approaches to learning and teaching. Evidence of these achievements may be demonstrated through feedback from students or peers, and/or through publications (peer-reviewed, policy or general), presentations, media, or other relevant indicators.
Sociology in Action Award
This award recognizes contributions to the practice of sociology outside of academic settings. It is conferred on a TASA member who has made an outstanding contribution to sociological practice in Australia.
In this context, outstanding contributions to sociology in action highlight the value and impact of sociological methods and theories to society. This includes both broad social issues, as well as more focused issues for industry, government, business or community sectors.
| TASA Gift Membership and your workplace | Are your colleagues yet to join TASA? Are you teaching or supervising students who would benefit from connecting with sociologists working in diverse settings?
Your institution, research centre or workplace may wish to use TASA's Gift Membership program to kickstart someone's TASA membership. Gift memberships are a great option for smaller amounts of unspent funds in your budget as we approach the end of the financial year.
TASA members can log into TASAweb and purchase gift memberships via their profile screen. Alternatively, email membership@tasa.org.au to learn more about membership fees and categories, and payment by invoice.
If you are having issues with your login, please do email Ali - membership@tasa.org.au - she can fix log in problems for you!
| The next online meet-up of our Retired Career Stage Group is scheduled for 11am AEST on Tuesday 23 June. If you'd like to be part of this welcoming and stimulating group, please do email Ali at membership@tasa.org.au to be added to the Retired Career Stage Group and receive meeting details.
| TASA Mentorship Program 2026-27
| TASA's 2026 Mentorship Program is now open for Expressions of Interest.
Closing next Thursday, 18 June.
This 6-month program will foster professional growth and development. Mentor/mentee pairs are encouraged to meet fortnightly or monthly (6–12 sessions in total), either online, in person, or through a mix of both. The program includes online sessions aimed at helping both mentors and mentees get the most out of the experience.
If you know someone who would benefit from our mentorship program, but who is not yet a TASA member, please do encourage them to email membership@tasa.org.au to discuss applying. We'd love to see some new members taking up this opportunity.
Key Dates:
- July: Acceptance onto program announced
- 4 August: Online Onboarding for mentors and mentees
- 25 August: Online Professional Development Workshop 1
- 13 October: Online Midway Check-in for mentors and mentees
- 9 February: Online Wrap up for mentors and mentees
Workshop dates may change due to unforeseen circumstances. Webinar presentations (excluding Q&A) will be recorded and made available privately for program participants who can’t attend live.
PLUS
Online Professional Development Workshop 2, details TBC
Optional in-person meet up for those mentor/mentee pairs attending TASA 2026
Ready to Get Involved?
Please click the appropriate orange link below to submit your Expression of Interest. If you’d like to be both a mentee and a mentor, please complete both forms.
| TASA THURSDAYS PG 'Creative Participation in Sociological Theory: Art; Reflexivity, and Cultural Sociology | 11th June | 12:30PM AEST
Join us TODAY for our PG TASA Thursdays, hosted by the co-convenors of TASA's Cultural Sociology Group. Early career researchers Carl Anacin, Don McArthur, and Taylor Richardson-Marlton will explore the role of cultural sociology in contemporary research, reflecting on narrative, meaning-making, identity, creativity, and social justice. Drawing on their own research journeys and publishing experiences, this session will be of interest to students undertaking research in culture, meaning making, and discourse and with a view to generate knowledge of opportunities for social justice.
Click here to register
| | | | 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.
| | | The Social Stratification Thematic Group, convened by Jenny Chesters, invites abstracts for a one-day Symposium, Perceptions and Indicators of Social Class in Australia, to be held at the University of Melbourne on Friday 28 August.
This free event, with a keynote address by E/Professor, and long term TASA member, Mark Western, will explore contemporary debates around social class, inequality, education, housing, healthcare, and family background in Australia.
Travel bursaries available. Abstract submission deadline: 5pm, 1 July. For the full details, read on... | | | New: Leaving Religion and the Politics of Nonreligion
This symposium, hosted by the Sociology of Religion thematic group & held alongside the 50th anniversary of Religious Studies at the University of Sydney, invites researchers to explore nonreligion as a subject in its own right. Papers are invited on themes including deconversion, religious trauma and recovery, ex-member communities, post-religious life, the politics of nonreligion, the “Mark No Religion” campaign, and the complexities of measuring nonreligion.
University of Sydney, Friday 23 October, hybrid.
Please send a 250-word abstract and short bio by 25 June to Katja Strehle at k.strehle@westernsydney.edu.au and Samantha Hauw at s.hauw@deakin.edu.au.
| | | | New: Theorising migration, settlement and diversity in unsettled times
Symposium Keynote: Amanda Wise
TASA’s Migration, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism and Social Theory Thematic Groups invite submissions for a half-day symposium exploring the theoretical foundations, current developments and future directions of migration, ethnicity and multiculturalism research. Designed as a collaborative space for scholars at all career stages, the symposium will examine how theory is emerging, contested and reworked through empirical practice.
Monday 23 November at the University of the Sunshine Coast.
Some TASA member bursaries are available.
| | | 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.
| |
Chief Executive Officer
The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia
Experience in research, higher education, public administration or a related field will be highly regarded.
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
| 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.
| 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
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: Who Cares? Imagining Feminist Solutions to Australia's Childcare Crisis
Centre for Policy Futures UQ & The Australian Women's and Gender Studies Association
Online, Wed, 24 Jun, 9:30am - Thu, 25 Jun, 4:30pm AEST
For the full details, and to register, read on...
What is Transience?
Hybrid, Thursday, 11 February 2027
RMIT University
Global Sociology in Turbulent Times
International Sociological Association
XXI ISA World Congress of Sociology
4 to 10 July 2027, Gwangju, Korea
Note, the Call for Sessions deadline, for Research Committees, Thematic Groups & Working Groups is June 25th. Read on...
10th Biennial Social Science Methodology Conference
November 24-26, University of Sydney
| Call for Submissions
So Fi Zine is once again open for your submissions of sociological flash fiction, poetry and visual art.
Submission deadline: 30 June. Read on...
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 (Morgan): 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 | |