 | Dear ~~first_name~~,
If you couldn’t join us live for our TASA Thursdays Postgraduate Session on April 3rd, you haven’t missed out entirely! The session offered valuable insights into our Postgraduate Impact and Engagement Award including what the Award is, why it matters, and how you can position your work for recognition. Whether you're planning to apply (nominations close on May 15th) or simply curious about impactful sociological research, this session is well worth a watch. You can catch the full recording on TASA's YouTube channel here.
Switching gears to TASA 2025
If you're planning to present, just a friendly heads-up that abstract submissions close in 12 days on April 22nd. This year's conference is shaping up to be something truly special! In addition to our wonderful individual presentations, there will be over 20 panels, unmissable workshops, a women's panel discussion, a Sociology in Action team orienteering walk (with prizes!) designed to be inclusive and accessible to all delegates. Apologies if we sound a little over the top, we're just genuinely excited to be building new and creative sociological elements into the conference program!
Scroll on to explore the latest from across our sociology community, and don’t forget to share your own updates with us for future newsletters!
| We extend our warm congratulations to fellow member Nita Alexander who is a recipient of the 2025 Dean's Award for Higher Degree by Research Excellence for her thesis "You kind of have to keep fighting": young activists becoming political and acting prefiguratively". Nita was supervised by fellow member Theresa Petray as well as Ailie McDowall.
Alexander, Nita (2024) "You kind of have to keep fighting": young activists becoming political and acting prefiguratively. PhD thesis, James Cook University.
| | Postponed – TASA Thursdays: The Sociology of Music in Action
Please note that our TASA Thursdays session originally scheduled for 12:30pm (AEST) on Thursday, 17th April 2025, has been postponed.
This session was set to explore emerging research by PhD candidates Hannah Fairlamb and Christie Bosworth from the Sociology of Music Thematic Group.
We’ll share the new date and details as soon as they’re confirmed—stay tuned for updates! | | | New: TASA Thursdays | Reimagining Menopause: Mobilising Radical Imaginaries Across Social, Creative and Clinical Domains
Join us on Thursday 15th May at 12:30pm (AEST) for our TASA Thursdays session Reimagining Menopause: Mobilising Radical Imaginaries Across Social, Creative and Clinical Domains. Drawing on insights from a 2024 workshop supported by our TASA Gary Bouma Memorial Grant, this session explores how menopause can be reimagined beyond conventional norms. Hear from the team at UNSW Sydney as they share learnings and provocations that challenge dominant narratives and open up more inclusive understandings of menopause.
Register Here | | | |
The annual TASA Career Development Grant is now open for applications. The grant seeks to support the career development activities of TASA members where these activities are not covered by other funding.
A total of AU$4,500 is available, with a maximum of AU$1,500 available per applicant.
| | | | The call for expressions of interest for our 2026 Gary Bouma Workshop Program is now open. TASA can fund up to two workshops at AU$5000.00 each.
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.
Expression of interest deadline: July 14th.
| | | Wendt, S., & Clarke, J. (2024). A study into the experiences of clergy and church workers in the Anglican Diocese of Adelaide when responding to abuse of children, sexual assault of adults, and domestic and family violence. Final report June 2024. https://doi.org/10.26188/26316742.v1
| A new Lancet Commission report published in The Lancet: Hawkes, Sarah, Elhadj As Sy, Gary Barker, Frances Elaine Baum, Kent Buse, Angela Y Chang, Beniamino Cislaghi, Jocalyn Clark, Raewyn Connell, Morna Cornell, Gary L Darmstadt, Carmen Simone Grilo Diniz, Sharon Friel, Indrani Gupta, Sofia Gruskin, Sarah Hill, Amy Chiaying Hsieh, Renu Khanna, Jeni Klugman, Aaron Koay, Vivian Lin, Khadija T Moalla, Erica Nelson, Lynsey Robinson, Nina Schwalbe, Ravi Verma, Virginia Zarulli. 2025. Achieving Gender Justice for Global Health Equity: The Lancet Commission on Gender and Global Health. The Lancet Commissions. Published online April 7, 2025, at https://doi.org/10.1016/ S0140-6736(25)00488-X.
Hawkes, Sarah, Raewyn Connell, Jocalyn Clark, Jeni Klugman, Gary L Darmstadt, Erica Nelson, Amy Chiaying Hsieh, Elhadj As Sy, Gary Barker, Beniamino Cislaghi, Kent Buse. 2025. 'Gender and Global Health: Going, going, but not gone'. Comment in The Lancet, Doctopic: Analysis and Interpretation, THELANCET-D-25-01866, S0140-6736(25)00617-8 , published online April 7, 2025, at https://doi.org/10.1016/ S0140-6736(25)00617-8. [full access available].
Foley, K., McLean, C., De Zylva, R., Asa, G., Maio, J., Batchelor, S., Dzando, G. & Dimassi, A. (2025). Developing a Critical Imagination for How Researchers can use Artificially Intelligent Tools Reflexively and Responsibly During Qualitative Literature Reviews. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 24, 16094069251316249. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/16094069251316249 [open access].
| Fellow member Ricki Spencer is now the Education Officer at Reconciliation Victoria. Their first recording was with Dr Ren Perkins, Phd Sociology, Wellbeing in school spaces through an Indigenous Lens.
| TASA Awards currently open for nominations include:
Nominations for these four awards close on 17 July.
Due to the assessment process, nominations for these two awards close earlier on 15 May.
Nominees will be notified of the outcome in August (for most awards) and October (for the JMA). Award recipients will be formally announced at our TASA 2025 Conference Dinner in November.
| Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Sociology (part-time)
Fellow member Leah Williams Veazey is recruiting a part-time Postdoctoral Research Fellow to work with her at the Sydney Centre for Healthy Societies at The University of Sydney. The successful candidate with contribute to a growing program of research about migration, im/mobility and belonging. In particular, they will work with Leah on projects relating to her current focus area of healthcare worker migration.
Application Deadline: 27th April. Read on...
| | Scholarship Opportunities
| PhD Scholarships
Three PhD scholarship opportunities are available as part of a new Australian Research Council funded Discovery Project: Youth Futures after Mobility (YFAM). Deakin University x 2 & Edith Cowan University x 1.
Project 1 (Deakin): Comparison of Mobile Youth (quantitative), with fellow member Anita Harris.
Project 2 (Deakin): Mobile Youth, Transitions & Settling (qualitative/mixed methods), with fellow member Anita Harris.
Project 3 (ECU): Mobile Youth, Transitions & Settling (qualitative/mixed methods).
Applications will remain open until candidates are appointed.
| | Other Events, News & Opportunities | New: A resource for postcolonial/southern sociology
For colleagues wanting to bring global-South perspectives into courses on sociological theory, gender, migration, development, social change, education: take a look at a new book which includes all those topics, in social thought from South-East Asia, South Asia, Africa, MENA, Eastern Europe, South America. Has some useful teaching notes, and a glossary for students. It's TTheory Reimagined: Voices of Sociologists from Around the World, eds Rianka Roy, Anjana Narayan, Melanie Heath and Bandana Purkayastha, Frontpage Publications, 2025. | New: African Transnational Families: The role of ICTs in maintaining family relationships
Visiting Scholar Seminar – Edith Cowan University's TRACS Diversity Research Network
Hybrid next Thursday 17 April 3:30-5:00pm AWST
ECU Mount Lawley Building 10, Room 308 and Online (Teams)
Professor Marchetti-Mercer, University of the Witwatersrand
This seminar will explore the complex and evolving intersection of transnational African migration, intergenerational family dynamics, and the critical role of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in maintaining family ties across borders. Drawing on African-based research and case studies, Professor Marchetti-Mercer will share insights into how migration reshapes familial relationships and how digital practices are enabling new forms of connection across geographic distance. Her reflections will also include observations from the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of the digital divide in the Global South.
About the Speaker:
Professor Marchetti-Mercer is a clinical psychologist and Assistant Dean of Research in the Faculty of Humanities at the University of the Witwatersrand. With over 30 years of academic and leadership experience, she has made significant contributions to the fields of migration, family therapy, and identity. Her most recent work includes the co-edited volume Transnational Families in Africa: Migrants and the Role of Information Communication Technologies (2023). Among many honours, she was awarded the Order of the Star of Italy in 2022 for her outstanding contributions to Italian diaspora studies. | Visiting Professorship Opportunity
| 2026 Visiting Professor of Australian Studies
Seoul National University (SNU)
The Visiting Professor position is a funded 11-month visiting academic position commencing in early 2026 at SNU which aims to support innovative research collaborations and promote mutual understanding of Australia and Korea’s history, cultural heritage, and modern outlook.
Application deadline: April 27th. Read on...
| National Library of Australia Fellowships
Applications are now open for the 2026 Fellowships offered by the National Library of Australia. Researchers and creative writers are encouraged to apply for nine philanthropically funded Fellowships offered by the National Library of Australia in 2026.
Successful applicants will each receive $35,000 to support a sustained residency at the National Library in Canberra, as well as supported access to the Library’s collections, increased borrowing privileges, a dedicated desk in the Library’s Petherick Reading Room, and an allowance for high resolution digital copies of collection materials.
| | Bite Back! Food, Activism, and Care
Hybrid, May 27th
Submission deadline: TOMORROW April 11th. Read on...
| | | Call for Papers - Journals
| Sport, Recreation and Leisure in Contemporary South Africa
South Africa Review of Sociology (SARS) Special Issue
Three decades after the end of Apartheid, South African society remains characterised by high levels of inequality and economic disparities. These inequalities are primarily but not exclusively experienced through race, class and gender. These diIerences are also experienced in the realms of sport, recreation and leisure in South Africa. Sport in particular, is often touted as a panacea for divisions and conflict in societies by politicians and public commentators amongst others.
Abstract submission deadline: April 30th. Read on...
Building Inclusive Pandemic Preparedness: Perspectives from Sexuality and Cultural Studies in the COVID-19 era
Special Issue – Culture, Health and Sexuality
The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and intensified existing inequalities along intersecting lines of sexuality, gender, race, ethnicity, health status, and socio-economic background. Institutional responses to other global health crises – including HIV, Ebola, Zika, MPox, and the challenges of antimicrobial resistance – have further augmented these disparities and amplified their socio-political effects. These crises have also shaped and been shaped by evolving discourses of biopower, citizenship, and the politics of life and death. This special issue examines and advances the concept of “inclusive pandemic preparedness”, focusing on the intersections between cultural and social dynamics with health and sexuality in times of crisis, with particular attention to HIV and COVID-19. Read On…
Abstract submission deadline: April 15th. Read on....
Differential Mobilities in Contemporary Cities
Special Issue - Journal Forum Sociológico
The literature on urban mobility has made progress in recognising the diversity of commuting practices that emerge in contemporary cities. Based on a critique of the view that normalises and generalises commuting centred on home-work journeys, new research has highlighted differential mobilities that reveal the complexity of existing daily practices.
| New: From stability to fluidity: contemporary sociological perspectives on ‘normality’ in 21st century societies
September 10-12, 2025, Skopje
Association of the Sociologists of the R. Macedonia
Disability and Rights: The Possibilities and Limits of Rights Discourse under Neoliberalism
An online, two half-day conference
Friday, 13th June, 12:30 - 17:30 BST (UK Time) & Saturday, 14th June, 09:30 - 14:30 BST (UK Time).
Plenary Speakers:
- Ravi Malhotra, Professor of Law, University of Ottawa.
- Peter Bartlett, Professor of Mental Health Law, University of Nottingham.
Abstract submission deadline: TOMORROW 11th April, 5pm BST (UK Time). Read on...
Religion and the Contemporary Phase of Globalization: Possibilities and Challenges
3rd World Conference for Religious Dialogue and Cooperation
June 23-27. 2025, Krusevo, North Macedonia (Hotel Montana)
Abstract submission deadline: April 15. Read on...
| | Senses & Emotions
Online, October 4th & 5th
Sociologists have long understood that the social world it not a solely rational place: it is messy, it is interactional and it is felt. Emotion management has a key role in supporting both work done to nonhuman animals (e.g. animal testing, fHarming, slaughter), and for nonhuman animals (e.g. activism, caretaking, critical animal research).
Submission deadline: May 31st. Read on...
| | |  |  | The Jobs & Scholarships Board allows you to view opportunities that TASA Admin and fellow members have posted.
In 4 easy steps, you can upload job & scholarship opportunities from your member's profile screen. For instructions, visit here.
The Jobs & Scholarships Board is a public facing searchable feature of TASAweb.
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 | TASA’s Executive Committee (EC) governs the Association and manages its daily business as outlined in the Constitution and by established policies. A call for nominations for the 2027 – 2028 Executive term will be disseminated on July 1, 2026.
The November 2024 - November 2026 Executive Team can be viewed on TASAweb here.
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 | TASA was officially established under the name of the Sociological Association of Australia and New Zealand (SAANZ) in 1963, crystallising what was a long, and perhaps delayed process of the discipline’s development in Australia.
For the 50th anniversary celebrations in 2013, pages on TASA's history were added to TASAweb.
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 | The more members TASA has, the stronger our association can be.
To help spread the word about TASA, you can quickly and easily gift a TASA membership to someone from within your TASA membership profile.
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 | | TASA members have free access to over 90 peer-reviewed Sage Sociology full-text collection online journals encompassing over 63,000 articles. The image on the left shows you where to access those journals, as well as the Sage Research Methods Collection & the Taylor and Francis Full Text Collection, when logged in to TASAweb. If needed, here is a short instructive video on how to access the online resources. |
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 | TASA currently has 27 thematic groups in operation and members can join up to 4 groups. This can be done quickly, and easily via your membership profile.
Watch the very short video (1:30) to learn how to join a thematic group/s.
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 | TASA's Membership Directory allows you to search for members by country and state. It also has search functions for members of a particular thematic group, and members who are available for supervision and/or mentoring.
To learn how to search the Membership Directory, watch this very short video (1 min).
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 | Via your membership profile, you can update many options including adding a secondary email address, and indicating if you are available for mentoring, supervising, consulting, and/or talking to the media, for example. If you are in a Tier 2, Tier 3 & Tier 4 membership category, you can also opt in or out of receiving a hard copy of the Journal of Sociology.
All of these changes can be done quickly and easily. To learn how, watch this video (1 min). |
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Personal pronoun preferences can be added to your profile. There are 9 combination options to choose from. Please let Sally in TASA Admin know if your preference/s is not on the list and we will have them added.
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 | We encourage you to support your colleagues by sharing details of your latest publications with them via this newsletter. No publication is too big or too small.
Any mention of sociology is of value to our association, and to the discipline, so please do email through details of your latest publication/s (fully referenced & with a link, where possible), events, job adverts etc. for the next newsletter, to TASA Admin (right click to retrieve the email address). Usually, the newsletter is disseminated every Thursday morning. |
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 | As part of the agreement with Taylor & Francis, TASA members are entitled to a 30% books discount. This discount is valid on any full priced CRC Press or Routledge book.
To access the book discount, click on the following link and then log in to TASAweb: book discount link. |
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Admin (Sally): admin@tasa.org.au
Events (Penny): events@tasa.org.au
Membership (Ali): membership@tasa.org.au
Indigenous (John): indigenousmembership@tasa.org.au
Thematic Groups (Naomi): thematicgroups@tasa.org.au | |