Research Spotlight

 

Australia faces a continual shortage of affordable, quality housing. Housing cooperatives, which are member-based organisations, provide rental and owner-occupied homes, offering members improved housing, community belonging, and better employment and education outcomes. The research project "Articulating Value in Housing Cooperatives", led by ICS researchers, investigates these benefits created by member efforts. The study reviews international and Australian cooperative housing sectors to gather evidence of their social and financial benefits, develop an assessment framework, and identify issues for growth. Find out more here.

News

ICS researchers in Future-Makers Issue 7
We are excited to share the release of the latest issue of Future-Makers! Some of our fabulous Institute researchers have again been featured in this issue: Karen Soldatić and Corrinne Sullivan’s inspiring collaboration helped launch the Dalarinji, Your Story project, which aims to enhance the social, economic, mental, physical, and cultural well-being
Professor Corrinne Sullivan named Western Indigenous Person of the Year
Congratulations to Professor Corrinne Sullivan for being honoured as Indigenous Person of the Year at the inaugural Western Sydney University NAIDOC Awards 2024!As an Aboriginal scholar from the Wiradjuri Nation in Central-West New South Wales and Associate Dean of Indigenous Education at the School of Social Sciences
Western Sydney’s childcare ‘desert’ locks women out of the workforce. Universal childcare could be a game-changer
Momentum is growing for the Australian government to provide universal early childhood education and care – free or very-low-cost childcare for all families. Access to quality, affordable childcare can help parents join or remain in the workforce – particularly women, who still perform the majority of unpaid household work.
We know social media bans are unlikely to work. So how can we keep young people safe online?
A war has erupted around young people’s use social media and it is messy. In the United States, surgeon general Vivek Murthy has recommended cigarette packet-like warnings for platforms like Instagram to remind teens and parents social media “has not proved safe”.
New play American Signs looks at the nefarious world of consultancies – but leaves Australia off the hook
Anchuli Felicia King’s new one-performer piece, American Signs, written for the talented Catherine Văn-Davies, thrusts us into the world of a campus hire at “The Firm”, one of the “Big Three” consultancies in the United States. Waiting to be either “right-sized”

Highlights

Audience at the Mapping the Humanities event.
ICS Seminar Series
The ICS Seminar Series presents an exciting breadth of social and cultural research from the Institute’s renowned staff and doctoral candidates as well as a range of national and international visiting scholars.
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Future-Makers issue spotlights ICS researchers
We're thrilled to announce the launch of the newest special issue of Future-Makers! This edition focuses on the theme of International Women's Day 2024, "Inspire Inclusion".
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Issues journal
Issues is a journal of short essays, housed at the Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University. We encourage each author to write in English and one other language.
Researchers
The Institute for Culture and Society, incorporating the Young and Resilient Research Centre and the Urban Transformations Research Centre, is made up of a cohort of researchers on staff and a number of Western Sydney University School-based members.