8-14 September 2025

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Informal Sport and the Urban Commons

Macquarie University 25 Wally's Walk, North Ryde

Visit the Arts Precinct at Macquarie University during this year's 2023 Social Sciences Week for a special preview of research findings from a visual ethnography project, Informal Sport and the Urban Commons, exploring the role that informal sport plays in facilitating social inclusion in the global city. Between September 5 to 8, the Theatrette at the Intercultural Foyer located inside the Arts Precinct will come to life with video interviews and documentary photography taken with temporary migrant workers in Singapore who share stories about the significance of informal sport in their everyday lives. Informal Sport and the Urban Commons is a visual ethnography that aims to provoke reflection on the intersection between leisure practices, migrant place-making, and the right to the city. Event details: Cost: FREE Date: September 5 to 8 Location: Theatrette, Intercultural Foyer Level 2, 25 Wally’s Walk, Macquarie University Drop in to meet and chat with the project team on September 5, 12pm to 3pm Project team Professor Amanda Wise (Macquarie University) A/Professor Selvaraj Velayutham (Macquarie University) Dr Kristine Aquino (University of Technology Sydney) James Loganathan (University of Technology Sydney) Project funded by Australian Research Council (Discovery Project) Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion, University of Technology […]

FREE
Ongoing

Social Science Week TikTok Challenge

Virtual

Are you ready to tell the world about an important social issue and showcase your creativity? Swinburne’s high school student TikTok challenge aims to showcase the social issues that are important to young people and highlight the role that technology plays in our everyday lives. Whether you're interested in sociology, history, Indigenous studies, political science, media studies, or any other social science discipline, this challenge is for you! The competition is open to all current Victorian high school students. The most engaging video will win $300, with $100 prizes for the most creative, and Swinburne student choice awards. Step 1: Create an engaging and informative TikTok video that explains a social issue that is important to you, and how it is impacted by technology. Make sure your video is captivating, concise, and visually appealing. You can use creative animations, text overlays, or any other TikTok features to enhance your content. Your video should aim to educate and entertain viewers, providing them with valuable insights and fostering curiosity about our technologically embedded social world.  Step 2: Include the hashtags #SSW2023 & #SwinSocialSciences in the caption of your TikTok video. Step 3: Follow and tag @SSW2023 and @SwinHASS in your video to ensure your entry is […]

Free

Walk and Goat Therapy: Why the Concerns about Counseling Outside are actually Opportunities

Virtual

Walk and goat therapy is a play on the notion of Walk & Talk, which gained in popularity during COVID-19 restrictions. This session will discuss the risks and opportunities of the non-talk elements of doing therapy outdoors in public spaces. The session is aimed at talk-therapists who wish to begin Walk & Talk sessions. Those who work outdoors may find the discussion interesting as this work often overlooks the wonderful opportunities of simple and uncontrollable encounters outdoors. Goats will be involved. Register to attend here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/walk-and-goat-therapy-w-graham-pringle-tickets-695928289247?aff=oddtdtcreator

Free

The Adventure Therapy Power Couple

Virtual

Why are Margaret and Josh talking about adventure therapy on their wedding anniversary? Because it was working in an adventure therapy organisation in Alaska where the two met! This session will explore their most important takeaways from a career working therapeutically in the outdoors. Register your attendance here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/the-adventure-therapy-power-couple-tickets-698807771857

Free

Cancelled?: Taking a Closer Look at ‘Cancel Culture’

Virtual

Cancel culture is a poorly defined, politicised and polarising socio-cultural phenomenon. At best, cancel culture is hailed as an empowering means for marginalised communities to hold high profile figures accountable for offensive actions. At worst, it is seen as a problematic and uncontrollable trend that demonises individuals under the guise of moral virtue, and stifles public debate. Digital spaces are also shaping the form, content and influence of cancel culture, unsettling previous hierarchies by allowing anyone with a social media account to ‘speak truth to power’ and call out views or conduct deemed problematic. This session will bring together scholars and activists working at the intersections of digital media practices, social justice issues and political activism to consider the phenomenon of ‘cancel culture’ and the constraints, problems and benefits it generates for digital subjects and scholars.

Fabrication as Ethical Data Protection: A Methods Masterclass

RMIT Green Brain 336/348 Swanston Street, Storey Hall, Building 16, level 07, rooms 7&8, Melbourne

Protecting individuals’ identities is a continual challenge for researchers in the data age, when individuals can be easily identified based on their statements, images, and even their grammatical tendencies in writing or speaking. How can researchers using social science methods protect the privacy or anonymity of participants? One solution is to rebuild raw data into composite forms that present and/or evoke the researchers’ interpretations but do not use original materials gathered from participants. This is done primarily at later stages of the research when presenting findings. Using the strength of qualitative approaches, the researcher can transform verbal and visual materials gathered in field observations, interviews, and focus groups, as well as larger datasets generated through data scraping. In this masterclass, Professor Annette Markham presents her concept of ‘Ethical Fabrication’ followed by a workshop where participants practice techniques for building composites as narrative vignettes. The workshop will conclude with a brainstorming session on the practice and types of ethical fabrication in the era of generative AI. While it might seem easy to consider fabricating composite accounts in an automated fashion with cloud-based generative AI (ChatGPT, for example), this practice is ethical risky at present, as it essentially shares the raw dataset […]

Free

“Umibot”: Reflections on Building a Feminist Chatbot on Image-Based Abuse

Virtual

In this presentation, we provide a demo of the “Umibot” chatbot that we developed for victim-survivors, bystanders and perpetrators of image-based abuse. Drawing on a conceptual approach that embraces intersectional feminism and a feminist data ethics of care, we outline some of the challenges we confronted in the design and development of the chatbot. The Speakers: Professor Nicola Henry is an ARC Future Fellow in the Social and Global Studies Centre at RMIT. Her research focuses on the prevalence, nature and impacts of gendered violence, including legal and non-legal responses to addressing and preventing violence. Her current research is focused on technology-facilitated abuse and image-based sexual abuse. Dr Alice Witt is a Research Fellow in the Social and Global Studies Centre at RMIT. Her research investigates the exercise of governing power in the digital age, focusing on the intersections of regulation, technology, and gender. Alice’s research expertise includes content moderation on Instagram and other social media platforms; the governance of and by online platforms; and the regulation of women’s bodies.

Free

Supporting Refugee Students in Tertiary Education: A Conversation

Linkway Meeting Room, Level 4, John Medley Building University of Melbourne, Parkville

A conversation about gaps of inclusion in universities, and blocks and pathways to tertiary education for students with a refugee background This panel will consider gaps of inclusion in universities and blocks and pathways to tertiary education for current and prospective students with a refugee background. This event also features musician Sayeed Zaman Ibrahim, who will play the Hazaragi Dambora. Panel discussants include: Dr Karen Dunwoodie (Deakin University), Director at Deakin CREATE. She has worked, volunteered, researched and advocated in the refugee sector in Australia for the past 12 years and her research interests include progressing the field of refugee resettlement, principally focussing on career development and the impact access to tertiary education and training may have on the lives on refugees and people seeking asylum. Karen’s research interests extend to investigating why some employers may or may not be actively including people with a refugee background, as part of their employment diversity and inclusion strategies. Ms Lana Formoso, Deputy Mayor of Dandenong City Council and a Dandenong High School teacher. She is a dedicated community leader for her community specially newly arrived migrants and refugees in Southeast Melbourne. She is an SES volunteer and ambassador for MyRoom Children’s Cancer […]

Uniting for a Greener Game: A Dynamic Q&A Workshop

RMIT Storey Hall 342 Swanston Street Building 16, level 5, Melbourne

What is the key to greener sports that isn't green, or sport washed actions? Let's re-imagine how sport can truly play a role towards a better sustainable future. Through a captivating blend of a panel Q&A, thought-provoking discussions, and interactive activities we will explore the power of sport to action climate change and help the land we live on flourish. Sport organisations confront growing challenges and threats to the natural environment, that pose as a risk to how we play sport today. Responses require changes or modifications to organisational DNA and how sport operates. Some sports organizations are responding to this call for action by increasing their climate adaptability, action and implementing environmental sustainability practices. The central question is how does the sport organisation improve its relationship with the natural environment? In this live exploration, a mixed panel of industry and academic keynotes will share their insight and journey of environmental sustainability and will analyse foundations and strategies of organisational change —including some of the biggest, most difficult and pressing roadblocks and challenges. Following our speakers, we invite you to join us in an engaging discussion about your own journeys, contribute your insights, share your experiences, and be part of […]

Free

Climate Child Imaginaries

RMIT Design Hub Gallery Building 100, Victoria Street, Carlton, Melbourne

Today's youth face the unprecedented existential threat of climate change. The groundbreaking book, "Posthuman Research Playspaces: Climate Child Imaginaries," co-authored by Dr. David Rousell and Professor Amy Cutter-Mackenzie-Knowles, explores how children perceive climate change. Drawn from extensive research with Australian children, the book showcases a picture of how children's insights and imaginings can inform our understandings of climate change and its impacts on our current and future lives. The launch includes a panel discussion with intergenerational voices, discussing childhood, education and climate justice. The event is part of the "Wild Hope" exhibition at Design Hub Gallery, urging a shift towards community-led responses to the climate crisis through creativity and imagination. This event is part of Wild Hope: Conversations for a Planetary Commons.

Free

Fintech Futures

Virtual

Navigating the world of finance, credit and debt has become a normalised and unavoidable feature of young people’s lives. Financial technologies (fintech) represent a significant shift in the economic landscape, and the rapid pace of their development has outstripped both research and regulatory efforts. While some of the regulatory challenges posed by fintech have been mapped out, little is known about how people engage with fintech, including the specific financial information that they access and how fintech shapes their financial practices and sense of wellbeing. Digitisation is changing how everyday finances and services are organised and experienced. Buy now pay later (BNPL) services have changed modes of payment and (mis)understandings of debt, but also opened young people to be able to engage with financial instruments easily. Share trading apps such as Raiz and Robinhood, Crypto platforms CoinSpot and Binance, Gambling companies like Sportsbet and bet365 are readily accessible after a few clicks. Algorithms are making decisions about who can access housing or insurance, and these decisions result in the perpetuation of geodemographic, socio-demographic and racial inequalities. Algorithms and artificial intelligence are performing much of the sorting - that is, excluding - of who can and cannot use these products. Social […]

Free

Addressing Australia’s 21st Century Global Challenges

Seminar Rooms 2 & 3, Monash Conference Centre, 30 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000 Seminar Rooms 2 & 3, Monash Conference Centre, 30 Collins Street, Melbourne VIC 3000

As the 21st century proceeds apace, Australia faces new and old challenges, both domestically and internationally. Managing complex governance issues, preventing democratic fracture, balancing an ever-shifting geo-political strategic order, addressing the recognition and identity demands of marginalised groups, and responding to crises such as pandemics and climate change are among the most urgent of them. These challenges are, of course, not exclusive to Australia, being symptomatic instead of a rapidly changing global order. However, their manifestation, and any responses developed to address them, are inevitably shaped by the country’s distinctive history, culture, geography, location, and size. The papers presented in this panel will showcase research that seeks to address some of these challenges. The panel features a selection of researchers who have contributed to a forthcoming book under contract with Routledge that is co-edited by Dr Matteo Bonotti and Dr Narelle Miragliotta from Monash University.

Women’s eSafety by Design

Level 3, AMDC Building, Swinburne University, 469-477 Burwood Rd, Hawthorn 469-477 Burwood Road, Hawthorn

Women and girls face abuse, exploitation and threats of violence in a wide range of online spaces. Safety by Design puts women’s safety at the heart of digital technologies, preventing harm before it occurs and holding perpetrators to account. Join in a conversation envisioning a world of online safety and network with the eSafety Commissioner,Julie Inman-Grant, Swinburne researchers and Swinburne partner organisations working to end all forms of violence against women and children. The event will be hosted by: Dr Rachael Burgin, Senior Lecturer in School of Business, Law and Entrepreneurship and CEO of Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy (RASARA) Professor Kay Cook, Associate Dean of Research in the School of Social Sciences, Media, Film and Education Event highlights The event will commence with a keynote speech delivered by eSafety Commissioner, Julie Inman-Grant. This will be followed by an engaging panel discussion involving Swinburne researchers and collaborating partner organisations Networking drinks and canapés About the speaker Julie Inman Grant is Australia’s eSafety Commissioner. In this role, Julie leads the world’s first government regulatory agency committed to keeping its citizens safer online. Julie has extensive experience in the non-profit and government sectors and spent two decades working in senior public policy and safety roles […]

Starting early for children in need – where we start matters

The Braggs, G60 Bragg Lecture Theatre, Victoria Drive, University of Adelaide

This forum is held in conjunction with our partner organisation the Department for Child Protection. The message this year for National Child Protection Week (3-9 September) is that ‘Every child in every community needs a fair go’ and will be complemented with the theme ‘Where we start matters’. Our expert panel of speakers will present around their work in this area on a wide range of topics from babies, children, mothers and support programs. OUR SPEAKERS Dr Prue McEvoy, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist: Lead Psychiatric Director, Department for Child Protection on Child Maltreatment: the obstacle to children getting a fair go Brad Morgan, Director, Emerging Minds on Early Support, early in life: Mental health as a foundation for lifelong development Dr Alisa Willis, Head of Impact, Growth and Innovation, Junction Australia on Growing Together Gemma Crisp, Lead Clinician – Speech Pathologist, Therapeutic Carer Support Team. Department for Child Protection on Identifying children in care who are at risk of disability or developmental delay - living in rural and remote South Australia Dr Carmela Bastian, Senior Lecturer, College of Education, Psychology and Social Work, Flinders University on Safety and wellbeing of children in the context of women’s shelters A/Professor Yvonne Clark, Senior Research […]

Paddleboarding in Your 90s: Outdoor Therapy with Older People

Virtual

Who says adventures in therapy are only for the young? Social worker and occupational therapist Unda Avota from Adventure Therapy Latvia proved otherwise in her recent work involving horseback riding, boating, hiking, and ropes courses with senior populations. This workshop will examine some of the lessons learned from working with older people in the outdoors. Register your attendance here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/paddleboarding-in-your-90s-outdoor-therapy-with-older-people-tickets-695935510847?aff=oddtdtcreator

Free

Climate finance: taking a position on climate futures

The 2023 Paul Bourke Lecture presented by Dr Sophie Webber, School of Geosciences, University of Sydney. Climate change is increasingly conceptualised in financial terms. In policy and politics, climate change is viewed as a problem of bridging ‘financing’ gaps between the anticipated costs of climate change and available public and private finance, between developed and developing countries, and between mitigation and adaptation activities. These categorisations tend to frame climate finance as a neutral and technical tool for meeting shared goals for responding to climate change. In this presentation, hear an alternative geographical perspective that is focused on how the ideas, instruments and institutions of climate finance are reshaping the relationships between our economies and climate change. Illustrated with examples of adaptation finance from the Asia-Pacific region, I outline different configurations of climate finance and demonstrate their potentials for more democratic and just climate futures. Plus Q&A, followed by a cocktail reception. Dr Sophie Webber is an ARC DECRA Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer in Geography in the School of Geosciences at the University of Sydney and a winner of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia's Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research. Presented in partnership with the Academy […]

The Palestinian Catastrophe

The Great Hall, Quadrangle (A14), The University of Sydney, University Place.

Presented by Conversation at the Crossroads in association with the School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Sydney. The Palestinian catastrophe, known as the Nakba, refers to the devastation of the Palestinian homeland in 1948, and with it the displacement of the majority of Palestinian Arabs. The Catastrophe did not end in 1948. 75 years later Palestinian lands remain under occupation. As the dramatic use of military force in recent weeks shows, violence, discrimination and displacement remain the lot of the Palestinians. What is a principled response? Which way for a just peace? What constructive initiatives can Australia and other governments take? What of the UN? Is civil society everywhere ready to assume its responsibilities? The peace of the region and the world beyond hangs in the balance. Keynote Address: The Hon Bob Carr, former Foreign Minister for Australia and NSW’s longest continuously serving premier, is Industry Professor (Business and Climate Change) at University of Technology Sydney (UTS). He previously headed the Australia-China Relations Institute at UTS as Director and Professor of International Relations. Professor Carr is Honorary Professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University; recipient of the RSIS Distinguished Visiting Fellowship from Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University and the Fulbright Distinguished […]

Free
Featured Featured

The Great Debate: Does sport unite or divide us?

National Library of Australia Parkes Pl W, Canberra

A Social Sciences Week special event Tuesday 5 September, 6.00 – 9.00pm AEST National Library of Australia Join us for a lively evening of discussion and debate at the National Library of Australia (NLA) in Canberra as we explore the power of sport to bring us together, or push us apart, alongside a matched exhibition at the NLA. Our esteemed speakers are Academy Fellows and published authors, The Hon Andrew Leigh MP and Emeritus Professor David Rowe who will take the stage to explore this fascinating theme alongside Seriously Social podcast host and journalist Ginger Gorman who will moderate the debate. The Great Sports Debate promises to be a thought-provoking and entertaining event, with opportunities for audience participation and engagement. Ticket includes access to the National Library of Australia's exhibition Grit & Gold: Tales from a Sporting Nation, drinks and canapes followed by the debate at 7pm, followed by Q&A. Proudly brought to you by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia and the National Library of Australia, with support from Synergy Group. We are delighted to announce that a portion of the proceeds from ticket sales to the Great Debate will be donated to the Indigenous Literacy Foundation charity in support of Indigenous […]

Social Sciences at Parliament House

Parliament House 1 Salamanca Pl, Hobart

University of Tasmania researchers and students take the burning issues in the Social Sciences direct to members of the Tasmanian Parliament. Hosted by Professor Kate Darian-Smith, FASSA, (Executive Dean – College of Arts, Law and Education) with Professor Ian Anderson, FASSA, (Deputy Vice-Chancellor – Academic).