President: Alphia Possamai-Inesedy
Alphia Possamai-Inesedy is an Associate Professor of Sociology at the Western Sydney University. She was the editor in chief of the Journal of Sociology (2013- end of 2016) as well as the co-creator of the Risk Societies Thematic Group within the Australian Sociological Association. She has worked as an Associate Pro-Vice Chancellor of Academia and was responsible for the creation of the Master of Research at WSU (the first centralised degree of the University). Her recent work includes Sociology: A Down-to-Earth Approach (with Henslin and Possamai, 2014, Pearsons); as well as upcoming books on Digital Methods and examining religion through the digital (Sage and deGruyter). Alphia is currently involved in ongoing research that focuses on risk society, religion, and methodologies.

Vice-President: Kim Humphery
Professor Kim Humphery is the recently appointed Director of Charles Darwin University’s (CDU) Northern Institute

Secretary: Kay Cook
Kay Cook is a Professor and Associate Dean Research in the School of Social Sciences, Media, Film and Education at Swinburne University of Technology. Her research centres the experiences of the subjects of social policies, to examine how the gendered and classed status quo is constructed and maintained by research, administrative and policy hierarchies and processes. She works with advocacy organisations to foreground the personal, practical and institutional barriers faced by women as they seek to combine work and care within patriarchal, neoliberal societies that individualise women’s experiences and render their experiences invisible to policymaking processes that foreground quantification and behavioural economic explanations. Professor Cook's work has focused most specifically on the unjust construction and treatment of single mothers in social policy and family law, particularly with respect to child support, welfare, family violence and financial abuse. Professor Cook has previously been Editor-in-Chief for the Journal of Family Studies, Co-Director of the International Network of Child Support Scholars and an ARC Future Fellow.  

Treasurer: Anna Hickey-Moody
Anna is a Professor of Media and Communication at RMIT University and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow 2017-2021. She brings leadership experience from previous work at Goldsmiths College, The University of Sydney, Monash and UniSA. Anna is known for her theoretical and empirical work with young people with disabilities, young refugees and migrants, and men at the margins of society. Her books include “Deleuze and Masculinity” (Palgrave, 2019) ”Imagining University Education’ (Routledge, 2016), Youth, Arts and Education’ (Routledge, 2013), ‘Unimaginable Bodies’ (Sense Publishers, 2009) and ‘Masculinity Beyond the Metropolis’ (Palgrave, 2006).

Anna is  an ethnographer who is committed to advancing the public understanding of the value of sociology and, more broadly, raising public awareness of the social sciences and humanities in Australia.  Anna believes that sociological research makes societies happier, healthier and more sustainable.

Indigenous Portfolio Leader: Joann Schmider
Joann Schmider is a tropical rainforest Mamu woman who has lived in North West, north and south east Queensland, and Canberra, returning to FNQ traditional country in 2005. She is a small business manager providing governance and corporate support, strategic and operational planning, project management and stakeholder engagement services.

Joann has a Bachelor of Education, post grads in community development and Indigenous research, and Cert IVs in training, governance and leadership. She brings 30 years’ experience across social, cultural, economic and environment Indigenous related matters with community networks, organisations, government and academia.

Joann’s ongoing interests are culture and heritage, stronger public and industry recognition, and Indigenous opportunities in development. A particular interest relates to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women’s leadership in cultural and natural resource management and legal entities.

Public Sociology: Sophie Hickey
Dr Sophie Hickey is an applied sociologist and health service researcher at the Molly Wardaguga Research Centre, Charles Darwin University. She is a strong advocate for research done in partnership with community and makes an impact. She is also keen to boost the profile of applied sociology and public sociology nationally and internationally.

She currently manages a large partnership study to redesigned maternity care with First Nations mothers and children which has seen a profound reduction in preterm birth for women accessing the new model of care, as well as other health improvements. She has supervised and mentored First Nations community researchers and research students, as well as run research capacity building workshops for students and staff from Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations. She has contributed to research that has informed changes to policy and practice for the implementation of maternity services across South East Queensland and nationally; and co-coordinates an international coalition of Indigenous maternal and infant health researchers united in the common goal to use Indigenous-led research as activism for perinatal health gains.

Sophie is currently co-convenor for TASA Applied Sociology Thematic Group, Executive Committee member of HSRAANZ, and co-ordinator/co-founder of the Australian Institutional Ethnography Network. Her outstanding research achievements have been recognised by national and international peers: HSRAANZ New Investigator Award 2021 and CDU College of Nursing and Midwifery Emerging Researcher Award in 2020. She co-led HSRAANZ Best Overall Paper 2021, and co-authored the HSRAANZ Best Quantitative Paper 2019.

Postgraduate Portfolio Leader: Richa George
Richa George, is a 3rd year PhD candidate in the School of Social Sciences at Monash University. Richa's project lies at the intersection of social media research and critical studies in men and masculinities and examines the experiences of digitally engaged young men in Australia. Richa's other research interests include the sociology of youth, digital cultures, and qualitative methodologies. I began my PhD in Australia right at the cusp of the Covid-19 pandemic and witnessed, first-hand, the abject sense of lost time, lost opportunities, and a fractured belonging to my school and cohort. Richa joined TASA to build connections, and realising its potential to bring postgraduates together, joined the post graduate sub-committee to foster a platform where HDRs can connect, learn, hone their interests, and celebrate sociology.  

Equity and Inclusion: Heidi Hetz
Heidi is a sociologist interested in refugee storytelling and (self-)representation. Her PhD, awarded in 2020, explored the impact of Australian asylum seeker debates upon refugee participants’ storytelling about the refugee experience. At present, Heidi is working on two projects in refugee research. Since 2015, she has been a sessional teaching academic in the enabling program at UniSA College and she has lectured in sociology at undergraduate level. Heidi has also served as a  postgraduate representative for the Migration, Ethnicity and Multiculturalism (MEM) thematic group at TASA. Prior to 2015, she worked and volunteered with newly arrived refugees for several years.