Dear ~~first_name~~,
We’re kicking off this week’s newsletter with a timely reminder that TASA Thursdays is on today at 12:30pm AEST! Fellow members Laetitia Coles and Zoe Staines will be joining us to explore what it means to apply sociology beyond academia - a conversation not to be missed. You’ll find full details and the event link further down in this edition.
In other exciting news, yesterday we launched our inaugural Career Stage Groups! This initiative is all about supporting members across the entire span of their careers, and we’re now calling for expressions of interest for conveners. You’ll find all the information you need immediately below this intro.
A friendly reminder, too, that the deadline for our Career Development Grant is fast approaching, now is a great time to get your application in.
And as always, we’ve included the latest member publications, events, opportunities, and more from across the sociological community.
Happy reading!
| Call for Conveners;
Inaugural Career Stage Group
| Hopefully you received our dedicated email yesterday announcing our new Career Stage Groups (CSG) initiative. The five new groups - Student, Early Career, Mid Career, Senior & Retired - are intended to foster community and peer support, as well as opportunities that are meaningful to members navigating each specific phase of their professional journey. As with our Thematic Groups, each CSG will be led by one or more conveners, who will have access to a TASAweb Control Panel to communicate with their group members and support relevant initiatives. Conveners will be well supported by Ali, our new Membership Director, Penny, our Events Manager, and Sally in TASA Admin.
If you are passionate about peer support and nurturing diverse careers across our sociology community then this role is for you!
We are seeking enthusiastic members to convene our inaugural Career Stage Groups who:
- Have a strong commitment to the goals and values of our association;
- Have a proactive and inclusive approach to leadership; and
- Have experience and/or interest in supporting professional development and engagement.
For the full Call for Conveners, please read on...
To apply, submit a brief statement about your interest in the role and any relevant experience via the orange link below by 20 May.
| | Fellow member David Rowe recently spotted a familiar book title tucked inside his apartment building’s car park book exchange:
This is Sociology: A Short Introduction, authored by two fellow members Dan Woodman and Steven Threadgold!
The surprise prompted the question: “What would Bourdieu say about that?”
The sociological serendipity doesn’t end there - Dan and Steve are currently working on a second edition of the very same book. Stay tuned!
| | | New: Knowing the City – movements, epistemologies, and visions
A one-day conference, 9 October, The University of Sydney
This event aims to explore ways of knowing the city and how these manifest in planning and the construction of the built environment.
The conference theme will be interpreted broadly and will include the following themes:
• Competing epistemologies and their translation into housing/planning policy
• Data, algorithms, and the city
• Infrastructures of Care
• Social movements related to the city
• Alternative ways of knowing the built environment such as through play or artistic expression
• Co-operative approaches to the city
Presentations at the conference will be recorded for use on the Urban Sociology TG webpage. The convenors will edit a special issue or collection of essays from conference presentations.
Abstract submission deadline: May 25th. Read on...
| | TASA Thursdays Applied Sociology: Breaking your research out of the academic bubble
🗓 TODAY Thursday 24 April | 🕧 12:30pm – 1:30pm AEST | 📍 Online
Join fellow members Laetitia Coles and Zoe Staines for a dynamic panel on applying sociology beyond academia. Discover how to amplify your research through media, engage with communities, and navigate industry partnerships. This session offers practical advice, honest insights, and a chance to ask questions - perfect for postgrads and early career researchers wanting to create real-world impact with their work.
Meeting ID: 814 1866 8058 Passcode: 004831
| | | 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 | | | TASA Thursdays Sociology of Music in Action
🗓 Thursday 29 May | 🕧 12:30pm – 1:30pm AEST | 📍 Zoom | 🎟 Free
Join us as we spotlight exciting new research from the Sociology of Music Thematic Group. Explore the impact of ‘stadiumism’ on regional musicians with fellow member Christine Bosworth, and uncover gendered utopias in DIY music scenes with fellow member Hannah Fairlamb. Don’t miss this fascinating dive into how music, place, and identity intersect in contemporary sociological research.
| | | |
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.
| | | 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: The Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (CHASS) has just released its 2025 Federal Election Statement, urging Australia’s next government to strengthen national capabilities in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS).
HASS plays a vital role in shaping an informed, democratic, and globally engaged Australia. From training the future workforce to preserving cultural heritage and contributing to export income through education and tourism - HASS matters. But its contributions are often overlooked, under-valued, and under-resourced.
CHASS, representing over 50 member organisations, outlines four key actions for the next government:
- Support curiosity-driven research – not just commercially driven outcomes, but the kind of big-thinking, civilisation-saving research that history shows pays off.
- Repeal Job-Ready Graduates – scrap the failed policy that punishes HASS students with higher debts and fewer opportunities.
- Rethink international student caps – ensure consistent policy that values international students and their contribution to our economy and universities.
- Properly fund the GLAM sector – support our national cultural institutions to preserve and celebrate our shared heritage.
These aren’t just policies, they're about Australia’s future as a democratic, culturally rich, and educated society.
We encourage you to read and share the full CHASS statement available here.
Let’s stand together to ensure that HASS has a strong and secure place in Australia’s next chapter.
| | New: The Male Complaint
Join fellow member Simon Copland discussing his latest book.
May 22nd, 5:30pm - 7:00pm AEST, Acton, Canberra
| | | 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. | 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.
| 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...
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.
| Caring During Crisis: Navigating Risk and Uncertainty in Health, Care and Beyond
European Sociological Association, Research Network 22 (Sociology of Risk and Uncertainty).
Wednesday 29 - 30 October
Campus Woudestein, Rotterdam
Keynote speakers include fellow member Jens Zinn
Abstract submission deadline: May 31st. Read on...
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
| | 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.
|
 | 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.
|
|
 | 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.
|
|
 | 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.
|
|
 | | 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. |
|
 | 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.
|
 | 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).
|
|
 | 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). |
|
 |
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.
|
 | 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. |
|
 | 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. |
|
President (Kim): president@tasa.org.au
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
Postgraduates (Molly): postgraduates@tasa.org.au | |