help_outline Skip to main content
Add Me To Your Mailing List
Date: 3/3/2023
Subject: New TASA Youth conveners
From: TASA



Sociology of Youth TG logo cropped
Newsletter of the
Sociology of Youth Thematic Group

New TASA Youth conveners announced!

Hi TASA Youth thematic group,

As you know, we recently put out a call for expressions of interest for two new thematic group conveners. We are thrilled to announce that our new conveners will be Alexandra Coleman and Cris Townley! Alex and Cris will be replacing Ben and Julia, and will be joining Naomi, who will stay on in the role.

Just to let you know a little bit about our new conveners:

Alexandra Coleman is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle. Her research is concerned with the reproduction of class and place-based inequalities. She completed her doctorate at Western Sydney University’s (WSU) Institute for Culture and Society, where she founded the Bourdieu Reading Group with Greg Noble. She is the author of "Class, Place, and Higher Education: Experiences of Homely Mobility" (Bloomsbury, 2022) and was the Whitlam Institute’s E.G. Whitlam Research Fellow for 2020. She has taught and coordinated cultural studies subjects in the School of Humanities at WSU since 2015 and has worked in local government as a Research and Policy Officer and Community Engagement Officer. She grew up on Darug Country, completed all her education on Darug Country, and now lives and works on Awabakal Country.

Cris Townley is a sociologist whose research explores what happens when we put the child, young person and family at the centre of the nexus between service delivery and education. This requires an intersectional approach, that recognises the multiplicity of identities lived by children, young people and families, and requires listening to their voices. Cris works at Western Sydney University in the TeEACH research centre. They completed a PhD on identity, belonging and social support in Australian community playgroups at SPRC, UNSW, have a masters in Sociology of Gender from Essex University, and studied Mathematics and Education at Cambridge University.

Finally, Ben and Julia would like to pass on a huge thank you to all of you for your support of and engagement with the thematic group during their term. 

Have a great weekend!

Naomi, Ben and Julia.

Cris Townley
You can follow the group via Twitter: @YouthTASA