A new report prepared by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia for Australia’s Chief Scientist and the National Science and Technology Council has been released. The report was commissioned by Government and overseen by an Expert Working Group of Fellows and other leading scholars. It found that cultural and community institutions and structures,…
The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia is pleased to announce that nominations for the 2026 Paul Bourke Awards for Early Career Research in the social sciences are now open. Named in honour of distinguished past-President Paul Francis Bourke, these prestigious awards celebrate outstanding contributions from early career researchers within the social sciences. Each…
Above: Professor Ford (left) pictured with a Cambodian labour activist. Professor Michele Ford Affiliation: Arts and Social Sciences – University of SydneyDiscipline: SociologyYear elected: 2022 What initially drew you to your field of study? Serendipity. I didn’t want to do Law or Medicine, so took on an Engineering/Arts double degree, which brought me from regional Queensland to…
Professor Nicola ReavleyAffiliation: The Centre for Mental Health, University of MelbourneDiscipline: Public HealthYear elected: 2024 How would you describe your work at a dinner party? I study public knowledge and attitudes to mental health and illness and how we can shift those in beneficial ways. What initially drew you to your field of study?My field…
The Social Survey in Global Perspective traces the evolution of social surveys beyond celebrated metropolitan examples, exploring their worldwide impact across the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Contributors examine surveys in diverse contexts—from colonial territories to grassroots women’s organizations—to reveal methodological challenges and profound social influence. The collection illuminates how surveys shaped state power, social movements, and…
I seek to resist the huge pressures these days to simplify what are complex realities. The worlds of marginalised communities far exceed modern discourses such as development, aid, or even activism.
The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia has joined with Australia’s other Learned Academies in welcoming the release of the Strategic Examination of R&D (SERD) chaired by Robyn Denholm. Speaking to media on the morning of release, Academy President Professor Kate Darian-Smith congratulated the Australian Government and the expert panel members for their work…
What could be more important than understanding the social world? Every plan, every policy, every technical solution ultimately has to operate within society. For me, social sciences are everything.
50 years of public health research and advocacy One of Australia’s most influential public health thinkers, Emeritus Professor Simon Chapman AO has released a new book that reflects on a career spent reshaping how Australians understand health and responsibility. Better to be looked over, than overlooked: 50 years of public health research and advocacy, is part memoir,…
In this issue, International program updates, upcoming grants and opportunities and read and click new offerings from Fellows. View the March newsletter here.
The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia was proud to officially launch Australia’s War History, the latest educational resource from the Seriously Social school program, at the historic Anzac Memorial in Sydney on Monday 9 March. This new resource has been designed to support teaching and learning about Australia’s wartime experiences and their ongoing…
On International Women’s Day, we celebrate women’s contributions to the social sciences and the way evidence based research reshapes policy, institutions, and everyday life. Today we would like to highlight the work of our Fellows whose research helps make communities safer, fairer, and more equal. Jacqui True advances the Women, Peace and Security agenda and…
I like to think about the ways in which law ought to respond to technological change.
Housing affordability…the effects of Global Climate Change…high national debt…We need to come up with solutions and a way forward in dealing with these challenges being faced by a generation of people for the first time.
Libraries and archives, along with galleries and museums – and their role in the preservation of our national heritage -sit at the heart of a democratic society. They need to be celebrated, funded, and made accessible to all.
I am interested in building inter-generational, international networks of scholars and front-line educators designing and enacting literacy curriculum for social and environmental justice. I desperately want good things – ethical practices – to go viral. That’s my current obsession.
I believe that convergence science approaches are necessary to solve the complex issues of the non-communicable and particularly mental health disorders… The social sciences are a keystone approach in this matrix.
Social scientists need to be loud and proud about their capacity to provide unique contextualised insights into the ways in which digital technology is reshaping everyday education.
Social scientists know how the brain works and understand the ins and outs of group dynamics. We should use that in a much broader context. Too often we preach to the converted.
In this dazzling, surprising and always entertaining book, bestselling author Andrew Leigh tells the story of innovation. Innovation shapes almost every corner of our lives, yet we rarely pause to notice it. Someone had to invent nails and wheelbarrows; alphabets and books; glass windows and windscreen wipers; tin cans and synthetic dyes. From tools and…
The compelling story of a forgotten feminist and the nation she helped build Mary Booth was a woman of startling contradictions – one of Australia’s first female doctors, a pioneering feminist and nationalist, she was also a staunch political conservative and a devoted empire loyalist and nationalist. She championed infant welfare, war commemoration, environmental reform,…
My work on increasing the sustainability and resilience of coral reef fisheries is motivated by a love of problem solving… the joy I get from bringing together different disciplines to look at a common issues, and the strong desire to leave the planet in a better state for my two boys.
I get so much pleasure from helping others…develop their thinking. At a time when it can feel that thinking is under threat…the art of building concepts is something that we should cherish and protect as social scientists.
In our first issue for 2026, congratulations to Fellows receiving Australian Day Honours, plus a wealth of opportunities for Fellows to become more involved with the Academy. View the February 2026 newsletter