Research
Excellence in research
SSSHARC curates a changing roster of interdisciplinary and collaborative research nodes that foreground excellence, innovation, creativity and engagement in the humanities and social sciences at their broadest stretch.
Our people are leading the critical evaluation of the impact of digital technologies on society and culture. Current projects focus on digital policy and regulation; engaging publics in a digital age; platforms, data and artificial intelligence; and games, play and the metaverse.
Digital Technologies and Society - Professor Terry Flew
Education Futures Studio - Professor Kalervo Gulson
Education Innovations White Paper Series
Automated Essay Scoring in Australian Schools: Key Issues and Recommendations
White Paper, November 2022
This white paper outlines critical issues associated with the use of Automated Essay Scoring (AES) technology in the Australian education system. AES cannot be approached from one dimension or scale. Educators, policymakers, and EdTech companies must work together to frame the use of AES in schools as a multi-scalar issue with interrelated ethical, social, technical, and political implications. While it is not recommended that AES be used in high-stakes testing, it is likely that AES will be widely adopted across time. There is now an opportunity for Australia to lead the way in the collective development of AES guidance, policy, and regulation.
Education Innovations Policy Brief Series
Automated Essay Scoring in Australian Schools: Collective Policymaking
Policy Brief, November 2022
This policy brief outlines the ways in which the Automated Essay Scoring (AES) sphere of impact is distributed across multiple stakeholders, locations and jurisdictions. Global developments indicate that AES is likely to become attractive to education system leaders in Australia in coming years. The complexity of AES systems cannot be resolved by a single stakeholder or siloed solutions. Collective policymaking across scales is necessary to identify networked tensions and possibilities in education. Interconnected learning, experimentation, and policymaking is urgently required. Multidimensional and multi-scalar action must happen now.
Our researchers are working on solutions to inequality using everything from counterfactual policy analysis to queer social theory. Current projects focus on the Australian superannuation system and its impact on old-age poverty, the asset economy, and the intergenerational transfer of wealth.
Inequality in Australia: Housing in the Asset Society - Professor Lisa Adkins, Professor Martijn Konings, Associate Professor Dallas Rogers
Superannuation in Australia - Professor Mariano Kulish, Professor Greg Kaplan, Associate Professor Aarti Singh, and Senior Lecturer Christian Gillitzer
Our researchers are committed to methodological innovation and integrity. Current projects advance the computational social sciences and expand notions of research co-design and creative practise research.
Computational Social Science Lab - Dr Olga Boichak
Corridor Cultures: A community-led approach to preventing gendered violence at school - Dr Victoria Rawlings
ART, PLAY, RISK: An interdisciplinary approach to child-friendly cities - Dr Sanne Mestrom
2023 Fellowship Collaborations
Our current Gilbert Fellows are:
- Dr Hannah Hamad (Cardiff) is collaborating with Associate Professor Anthea Taylor the ways in which celebrity culture shapes young women’s understandings of gender and sexuality in the UK and Australia.
- Professor Angus Nicholls (QMUL) is working on a micro-analysis of a selection of objects in the Rautenstrauch-Joest Museum’s Klaatsch collection in Cologne with Professor Annie Clarke, Dr Oliver Lueb and Professor Yixu Lu.
- Professor Shane Vogel (Yale) is working on race, performance, and the theatre of the absurd with Professor Mark Byron. He is also a contributing Faculty member of HISS.
Applications for 2024 Fellowships are now open, see our Opportunities for details.
Our current Hunt-Simes Fellows are:
- Dr Adam Greteman (SAIC) is collaborating with scholars, practitioners, and community members that work in schooling and LGBTQ+ community contexts with Dr Victoria Rawlings.
- Professor Scott Herring (Yale) will advance current research into queer age studies and queer U.S. modernity in dialogue with Associate Professor Melissa Jane Hardie and Professor Lee Wallace.
- Dr Xavier Ho (Monash) will critically examine queer game narratives in indie games in collaboration with Dr Mark R Johnson.
- Professor Karen Tongson (USC) will explore race in global popular culture through collaborations with Professor Lee Wallace, Associate Professor Alice Motion and Dr Victoria Rawlings.
- Professor Denise Tse-Shang Tang (LN) will work with Dr Shawna Tang on gender and sexualities, social spaces and cultural politics in Chinese societies.
Applications for 2024 Fellowships are now open, see our Opportunities for details.
Our current James Fellows are:
- Professor Nasir Uddin (CU) will research the comparative human rights situation between the Rohingyas and Bhutanese refugees in collaboration with Dr Susan Banki.
- Professor Siva Vaidhyanathan (Virginia) will explore internet governance in Ukraine and
- Russia following the Russian invasion of Ukraine with Dr Olga Boichak.
Applications for 2024 Fellowships are now open, see our Opportunities for details.
Image: Marek Piwnicki on Unsplash
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