ICS Response to COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted almost every aspect of life. Researchers at the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University are responding to these new challenges, working across disciplines to present clear-minded, research-based information that contributes to our understanding of the forces that are shaping the experiences of the pandemic.
This page captures ICS’ engagement with the issues surrounding and consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes articles, policy documents and discussions by ICS researchers as well as teaching resources developed through research activities to enhance the shift to online teaching. It also features our virtual seminars and workshops that have emerged in place of traditional on-campus presentations.
One key issue we collectively grapple with is the opportunities and challenges of carrying out research during a period of uncertainty. ICS researchers continue to work on the important issues that have been the focus of the Institute since its inception, including key topics like young people and social
media; inequality and community economies; the development of cultural infrastructure; and local and global responses to climate change.
Yet, we are also adapting and responding to the conditions that have emerged since the COVID-19 crisis. For some researchers, adapting has meant pausing projects that would be unethical or impossible to continue during the pandemic. For others, it has meant carefully altering methods, practices, timelines or focus in relation to the different social and economic realities of our research partners and participants. This is especially important for our continued engagement with the Greater Western Sydney region and other communities across the country.
We look forward to sharing our collaborative research and engagement activities with other Western Sydney University researchers, as well as those across Australia and the world, to help in navigating a path to recovery. Please do get in touch with us if you would like further information.
For University-wide updates and frequently asked questions please refer to Western Sydney University's Information on Coronavirus (COVID-19).
Events
Upcoming
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. Seminars are currently being held on Thursdays online. For more information about the upcoming seminar see the ICS Seminar Series page.
Previous Event Recordings
Beyond the Crisis: Transitioning to a Better World?
Professor Ien Ang presented the sixth seminar in the COVID-19 series co-hosted by the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation (ADI) and the Science and Society Network.
Contagion Design: Labour, Economy, Habits, Data
How is contagion designed? How do labour, migration, habits and data configure contagion? Across a program of four weeks of discussion and debate, this event explored the current conjuncture through these vectors to address issues of rising unemployment, restricted movement, increasing governance of populations through data systems and the compulsory redesign of habits. Design logics underscore both biological contagion and political technologies. Contagion is redesigning how labour and migration are differentially governed, experienced and indeed produced. Habits generate modes of exposure and protection from contagion and become a resource for managing biological and social life. Data turns contagion into models that make a virus actionable and calculable. But can the logic of pre-emption and prediction ever accommodate and control the contingencies of a virus? The aim of this event was to explore these issues and their implications for cultural, social and political research. If contagion never abandons the scene of the present, if it persists as a constitutive force in the production of social life, how might we redesign the viral as the friend we love to hate?
This event organised by the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University included speakers from the ICS together with national and international colleagues and research institutes.
Digital Media, Collaboration and Knowledge Production in an Epoch of COVID-19: Seminar on Theories, Methods and Practices for HASS Researchers
Disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) have a long and venerable history of inventive thinking to address emergent problems. The planetary contagion of COVID-19 and ensuing challenges have forced researchers across all disciplines to pause and reassess the relation between theory, method and practice.
This seminar invited some of Western Sydney University's leading scholars and creative practitioners in HASS to briefly present how they have enlisted digital media technologies in their research and teaching. Recordings of the seminar are now available for those who were unable to make the event.
Introduction by Ned Rossiter | Part 2 HCA Research by Roger Dawkins, Navin Doloswala and Rachel Hendery |
Part 3 SoSS Research by Jenna Condie and Garth Lean | Part 4 YRRC and ICS Research by Amanda Third |
Social Science Myth Busters By the Blab Coats Podcast
This live series of podcast for Social Sciences Week aims to tackle nitty gritty questions of sex, housework, animals, food, families, pop culture and more. Experts tackle some burning, awkward and fascinating questions about life and society through the findings of social science research, busting a few myths and stereotypes along the way.
Resources
HDR Key Thinkers and Concepts Lecture Series Videos
We have made available a series of lecture videos that introduce Higher Degree Research students to key theorists and concepts of central importance to sociocultural thought. With presentations from experts from within the Institute for Culture and Society and beyond, each session involves a one hour lecture followed by 30 minutes of questions and discussion.
The Key Thinkers and Concepts Lecture Series videos cover topics including Stuart Hall and Cultural Studies, Michel Foucault, Embodiment, Space and Place, Postcolonialism and Environmental Humanities.
Teaching Resources
A database containing 50 digital resources that may be used in online teaching have been developed by Institute for Culture and Society researchers. All resources are drawn from research projects and seminars by ICS researchers.
Race in Society Web Series
Race in Society (opens in a new window) is hosted by Associate Professor Alana Lentin and her colleague Dr Zuleyka Zevallos. The series, focused initially on race and the Coronavirus pandemic, features Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander critical race scholars, service providers and practitioners, along with other non-Indigenous people of colour who research and work in organisations addressing racial justice. New videos will be released every two weeks on YouTube.
Doing Ethnography Remotely
Professor Heather Horst is featured in the Doing Ethnography Remotely video series from Stanford Center for Global Ethnography. The conversations explore a wide range of digital and analog tools, techniques, and methods for use across the disciplines. They focus on past projects and the impact of remote methods on ethnographic research. Each concludes with advice to students who are planning ethnographic research projects in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr. Sharika Thiranagama (Stanford) interviewed Dr. Heather Horst on May 12th.
Research
Housing for thriving in a post-COVID World
The unprecedented 2019–20 fires, storms and pandemic highlight and intensify ongoing structural flaws in Australian society. The now common refrain is that we are all weathering the same storm, but in very different boats. Some of us relax in luxury yachts while others cling desperately to floating debris. Among Australians’ various experiences of the pandemic, the complexities of Melbourne’s social-housing lockdown demonstrated a microcosm of the issues at play, throwing harsh light onto the ongoing inadequacy of federal support for social housing and raising concerns about the over-policing of certain communities amid the intensifying context of Black Lives Matter. However, the lockdown also revealed the resilience of the communities impacted and the generosity of vast social networks in providing rapid, well-organised support.
Using Social Media during COVID-19: Examining the experiences of LGBTIQ+ Youth
This project is examining how LGBTIQ+ young people in Australia have been using social media platforms during COVID-19. The project examines the social media platforms they have participated on, how their behaviours have changed during the pandemic, and the impact of these technologies on their lives, particularly in relation to their health and wellbeing. The findings will support the development of key recommendations for social media platform design and practices, and be used to further understand digital technology use and engagement by LGBTIQ+ young people during this period.
News Literacy and Australian Teachers: How News Media is Taught in the Classroom report
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of teaching students the difference between real and fake or misleading news say the authors of a new report into news media literacy education. The News Literacy and Australian Teachers: How News Media is Taught in the Classroom report also recommends teachers be given more time, resources, and curriculum support to do so.
A collaboration between QUT’s Digital Media Research Centre (DMRC) and Western Sydney University’s Institute for Culture and Society, with funding from the Museum of Australian Democracy (MoAD) and Google Australia, the report is the latest outcome of the Advancing the Media Literacy of Young Australians project and surveyed several hundred primary and secondary school teachers Australia-wide.
Journal Articles
The (failed) promise of multimorbidity: chronicity, biomedical categories, and public health by Rebecca Lynch, Benjamin Hanckel, & Judith Green
Multimorbidity has become an increasingly prominent lens through which public health focuses on the ‘burden’ of ill health in ageing populations, with the promise of a more upstream and holistic approach. We use a situational analysis (drawing on documentary analysis and interviews with service providers, policy actors and people living with multiple conditions) in south London, UK, to explore what this lens brings into focus, and what it obscures.
How your income and where you live increase your likelihood of getting COVID-19 by Dr Youqing Fan, Alan Morris, and Awais Piracha
If you suspected that poorer areas in Sydney were far more likely to bear the brunt of COVID it looks like you are right. New research shows that in some areas people were not able to work from home during lockdown because the areas comprised a high proportion of labourers or admin workers and so were more likely than others to fall ill.
On Living in an Already Unsettled World: COVID as an Expression of Larger Transformations by Paul James and Manfred B. Steger
This article argues that the current Global Covid Crisis, just as with the 2008–2009 Global Financial Crisis, is part of massive disjunctures in the way we live locally and globally. Instead of leading to positive transformation, if the GFC offers any lessons, responses to the present global crisis suggest that attempts to return to business as usual will exacerbate those disjunctures rather than ameliorate them.
Unsettling Subjectivity Across Local, National, and Global Imaginaries: Producing an Unhappy Consciousness by Manfred B. Steger and Paul James
This article analyzes the complex and subtle dynamics involved in producing and representing the global-local nexus in everyday life. Its socio-historical context is the destabilization of the current globalization system—and its associated global imaginary—from financial crises to the the populist explosion in the mid 2010s, and climaxing in the 2020 Global COVID crisis.
Disjunctive Globalization in the Era of the Great Unsettling by Manfred B. Steger and Paul James
Globalization is now at its most disjunctive phase in human history. The essays suggests that the planetary COVID-19 crisis has combined with the vulnerabilities of global capitalism to break down social routines. Yet, the current moment of the Great Unsettling also offers a critical opportunity to take stock of the present state of globalization. To this end, this article revisits and re-engages some pertinent themes raised in the pathbreaking 1990 Theory Culture and Society issue ‘Global Culture’. In particular, the article explores the crucial role of structural divergences that have been developing among major formations of globalization.
Engaged Ethics in the Time of Covid: Caring for All, or Excluding Some from the Lifeboat? by Paul James
The essay is organized around a single claim. If good ethics is the process of ongoing dialogical deliberation on basic normative questions for the purpose of instituting principles for action, then the COVID crisis, or any crisis, is not a good time for developing ethical precepts on the run. Given dominant ethical trends, such reactive ethics tends to lead to either individualized struggles over the right way to act or hasty sets of guidelines that leave out contextualizing questions concerning regimes of care. Good people will find themselves suggesting strange things, from setting up lifeboat scenarios to supporting structural racism. This essay argues against both these paths—crisis-ridden agonism or algorithmic resource-allocation—and turns instead to a form of ethics of care which takes its departure from older forms of ethics, while recognizing that modern and postmodern challenges no longer allow their grounding in animated relations, natural rights, or cosmological truths.
The global pandemic is accelerating housing crises by Dallas Rogers and Emma R. Power
Editorial Essay: What is clear is that internationally we need to rethink how the public, private, and not-for-profit housing sectors are going to work together in the future. We need housing systems that recognise traditional rights to land and that work to address the problems that were created through models of housing provision that are based in an unfettered market and wealth accumulation. Housing journals and housing research have a key role to play in this debate, and will be key to putting hard evidence into the public, policy and other debates.
Global Media Journal Australia Special Issue: Covideology: Mediating the Significance of a Pandemic
This issue contains contributions by ICS members on a range of topics that approach the phenomenon of COVID from a raft of perspectives with close attention to mediation and public communications. Full issue can be accessed here (opens in a new window).
COVID-19 and the affective politics of congestion: an exploration of population density debates in Australia, by Sukhmani Khorana, Cultural Studies
This essay considers the post-COVID-19 debates over the level of migration to Australia to understand how the rhetoric of ‘affective congestion’ which is used for population management has changed. On the one hand, it demonstrates that the concerns of white bodies regarding congestion are taken more seriously by the political and media mainstream than those of new migrants. On the other, it shows that COVID-19 is bringing the injustice of this approach to light, as seen in the case of the harsh lockdown imposed on public housing estates in Melbourne.
Beyond the crisis: transitioning to a better world?, by Ien Ang, Cultural Studies
The COVID-19 crisis of 2020 is not just a short-term public health emergency. Instead, it has laid bare a broader and deeper organic crisis, produced by the intrinsic tensions and contradictions of the hegemonic neoliberal capitalist order. I discuss this organic crisis in terms of its active amplification of human divisiveness at various levels – class, racial, national, cultural – which impedes the generation of solidarity and cooperation in the name of a ‘common humanity’, required if humans are to live in harmony among each other and with the planet. By reflecting on a diverse range of barriers to such a desirable future, from the erosive role of human passions to the escalating new cold war between China and the West and the fundamental divisions exposed by the existential challenge of climate change, I argue that to have a chance of a liveable and equitable common future, we need to maintain a critical cosmopolitan horizon against the grain of self-interested closures and exclusions which underpin the organic crisis.
The State of Globality in a (Post)-COVID World, by Manfred B. Steger, New Global Studies.
This article assesses the current state of globality in the light of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. It opens with a concise survey of influential meanings and uses of "globality" in extant global studies literature. Offering clarifications and definitions on two pertinent keyword - "globality" and "globalization" - this overview provides a careful conceptual delineation of these two concepts as a prerequisite for determining their casual relation: globalization (the process) shapes globality (the condition).
Subjecting pandemic sport to a sociological procedure, by David Rowe, Journal of Sociology.
COVID-19 exposed the inner workings of sport as a machine that could be disabled by its own global interdependency. This article applies a sociological analysis to sport before, during and after the pandemic, arguing that an emphasis on the relationships between human rights and cultural citizenship is required to improve the social institution of sport.
Podcast Episodes
Dr Emma Power joins via CityRoad Pod (opens in a new window) with a group of leading Sydney-based urbanists who start a conversation about what cities will look like post-COVID and how pathways towards a just urban recovery might be fostered.
The BLab Coats COVID-19 Miniseries
In collaboration with ICS the BLab Coats podcast has developed a mini-series with a focus on the social and cultural effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, changes in research and higher education as a result of it.
How research is changing amidst COVID-19
Interviewed on the BLab Coats podcast, Professor Ien Ang discusses the impact COVID-19 is having on research and her advice to HDR’s in the context of the pandemic.
Action research amidst COVID-19
ICS PhD candidate Bhavya Chitranshi is interviewed on the BLab Coats podcast. Bhavya discusses what Action Research is and how her research in India has been changed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
What education will look like post-COVID-19
Professor James Arvanitakis speaks on the BLab Coats podcast about how education is changing and what the future of education could be post COVID-19.
Dr Emma Power is one of the hosts of the Housing Journal Podcast (opens in a new window). Episode 8.1 (opens in a new window) and 8.2 (opens in a new window) discuss the impact of COVID-19 on housing and the role of housing in post-COVID-19 recovery.
8. Housing Journal Podcast - Part 1 - May 2020 (opens in a new window)
In this episode Dr Emma Power and Dr Dallas Rogers outline the International Journal of Housing Policy’s editorial position on COVID-19. Leo Patterson Ross at the Tenants Union NSW, Carolyn Whitzman and Marie-Eve Desroche discuss COVID’s impacts on marginal groups in Australia and Canada.
8. Housing Journal Podcast - Part 2 - May 2020 (opens in a new window)
Beth Watts from Housing Studies outlines the journal’s response to COVID-19, Cameron Parsell from the University of Queensland considers it’s impacts on homeless people and Peter Mackie from Cardiff University reflects on lessons on post-crisis recovery in the global south. Julie Lawson at Housing Theory and Society asks Tim Blackwell from Uppsala University, Edwin Buitelaar from Utrecht University and Jago Dodson at RMIT about the role of housing in any COVID-19 recovery.
See all episodes on Soundcloud: International Journal of Housing Policy (opens in a new window).
Expert Commentary
Below is a selection of academic commentary on issues related to COVID-19. For a full list of media appearances see ICS in the Media.
Opinion Articles and Essays
How young LGBTQIA+ people used social media to thrive during COVID lockdowns
By Dr Benjamin Hanckel, and Dr Shiva Chandra, Institute for Culture and Society, Western Sydney University. 15 March 2021
During COVID-19 lockdowns, a major concern for LGBTIQ+ communities, mental health professionals and academics was that young lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and questioning, intersex and asexual+ people may suffer from being stuck in transphobic, biphobic or homophobic households. But encouragingly, our research found these young people largely managed to navigate these spaces successfully, by increasing their social media use, exploring identity through digital channels and finding safe ways to maintain family relationships.
Viral Nationalism
By Dr Malini Sur
On March 22, 2020, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi invited the public to demonstrate their appreciation for the Indian doctors and health workers who were battling COVID-19. At 5 p.m. the banging of plates, blowing of conch shells, and bursting of crackers reverberated in the air. One day later, the city of Kolkata reported its first death from COVID-19. Jostling crowds gathered to protest the cremation. Scared demonstrators held that the passage of the dead body through the locality and its cremation would spread the virus through the air.
Australia’s vaccine rollout to ramp up
Dr Vincent Ogu, Institute Associate, featured on the ABC, commenting on CVOID Vaccine rollout. Australia's vaccine rollout are about to be boosted with millions more eligible for a jab from Monday. So far just over 200,000 Australians have been vaccinated since the rollout began. Elias Clure followed three health professionals on the frontline of the rollout in Australia's suburbs and remote areas. Statement (opens in a new window) from the Department of Health.
Older Renters Are Lonely and Struggling Financially During COVID - Research Shows
By Dr Emma Power, Senior Research Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society. 4 December 2020
A new publication released by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) into the impact of COVID-19 on renters shows that older renters are more lonely than before the pandemic and are struggling financially. Dr Emma Power, from Western Sydney University’s School of Social Sciences and Institute for Culture and Society, analysed data as part of AHURI’s Rental Insights: A COVID Collection.
Cashless Payment is Booming, Thanks to Coronavirus. So is Financial Surveillance
By Jack Parkin, Digital Economist and Adjunct Fellow, Institute for Culture and Society. 10 September 2020
A banknote has been sitting in my wallet for six months now. As time ticks on, it burns an ever greater hole in my pocket. At first I felt uneasy spending it, following COVID-19 warnings to pay more attention to hand hygiene and the surfaces we all touch on a daily basis.
"Women’s Witness"
By Cali Prince.
"Women’s Witness", a poem by our PhD candidate Cali Prince, features in a new book exploring how mothers are managing the new requirements of mother-work under the destabilising restraints of the COVID-19 pandemic. By way of creative art, poetry, photography and creative writing along with scholarly research, the collection seeks to make visible what has been invisibilised and render audible what has been silenced: the care and crisis of mother-work through and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Check out the collection here (opens in a new window).
COVID-19 cases are highest in young adults. We need to partner with them for the health of the whole community
Australian data confirms coronavirus is more common in younger adults. People aged 20-29 have continually had the highest rates of COVID-19 cases. To reduce these rates and support young people to play their part in stemming community transmission, we need to understand their experiences during the pandemic.
State arts service organisations effective, engaged but endangered
By Cecelia Cmielewski. 14 August 2020
This week the NSW government’s arts funding arm, Create NSW, removed or significantly reduced funding to arts service organisations (opens in new window)Opens in a new window including Writing NSW, Playwriting Australia, the National Association of Visual Artists (NAVA) and Ausdance NSW. This short-sighted trend of cutting funding to arts organisations began several years ago.
Future of Arts in Australia: Experts Call for Policy Changes to Overcome Crisis
By Emily-Kate Ringle-Harris. 25 June 2020
The visual arts in Australia have, like all arts, been profoundly challenged by the COVID-19 pandemic. The closure of galleries and markets; cancellation of art festivals; the isolation of artists from their communities; and inadequate financial support from the federal government, have all delivered a huge blow to the economies of the visual arts and weakened their capacity to engage with the public.
Migrants and food during COVID-19: Stories of Destitution, Enterprise and Solidarity
By Dr Sukhmani Khorana. 8 June 2020
While Australia has embraced the enrichment of local culture and food, the individuals who bring this enrichment have found themselves stranded and abandoned by Australian institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Dr Sukhmani Khorana writes on the role food plays in migrant cultures, social support, and the resilient potential of multiculturalism.
Singles in lockdown: a new approach needed
By Dr Zoe Sofoulis. 29 May 2020
Pandemic lockdown policies focusing on traditional families and households can result in single people effectively living in solitary confinement. Adopting a ‘co-virality’ model may slightly increase viral risk but offers a major gain for mental health. Dr Zoe Sofoulis writes on this at Croakey.org and expands further in a blog post.
Tonight we riot? What Nintendo’s ‘revolutionary’ video game misses about worker liberation
By Dan Musil, Professor Katherine Gibson, Associate Professor Marcelo Vieta (University of Toronto) and Dr Stephen Healy. 21 May 2020.
Research by the team suggests worker ownership should be a central plank to rebuild more sustainable, equal and resilient post-COVID-19 economies (opens in a new window). Benefits of working cooperatives include dignified work that supports workers and society at large, responsiveness to the communities and environments in which they operate, creation of social trust, fostering of worker innovation and resilience during tough economic times.
American politics: Voting in a time of a pandemic
By Professor James Arvanitakis. 16 May 2020.
Professor James Arvanitakis writes about the impact of COVID-19 on American politics (opens in a new window)including how it may impact the upcoming election.
Coronavirus is the Ultimate Demonstration of the Real-World Impact of Racism
By Associate Professor Alana Lentin. 12 May 2020.
Associate Professor Alana Lentin writes that as coronavirus continues to rampage across the globe, it has become apparent that, while biologically the virus may not discriminate, it is having a much worse effect on people from ethnic minorities (opens in a new window).
Cultural Justice: Creativity in a Time of Crisis
By Dr Zelmarie Cantillon. 1 May 2020.
The COVID-19 crisis has made it clearer than ever how crucial arts and culture are to our everyday lives. We rely on arts and culture for entertainment, education and distraction, but also as an outlet to respond to unsettling circumstances.
There's a Crucial Voice Missing in the Debate About Reopening Schools
By Dr Joanne Orlando. 29 April 2020.
Dr Joanne Orlando writes about children's voices being missing from the debate around schools reopening. Children are at the centre of this school dilemma (opens in a new window)so their experiences and views are important, she says.
Viroloistics II: The Logistics of Viral Transmission
By Professor Brett Neilson. 18 April 2020.
In part 2 of this Essay for the COMPAS Coronavirus and Mobility forum (opens in a new window), Professor Brett Neilson discusses the language of anticipation in regards to the predictability of the COVID outbreak and the relation of logistics to epidemiology. This piece has been translated and is now also available in Chinese.
Virologistics I: The Virus as Logistical "Force Majeure"
By Professor Brett Neilson. 18 April 2020.
In part 1 of this Essay for the COMPAS Coronavirus and Mobility forum (opens in a new window), Professor Brett Neilson explores disruptions to supply chains and logistical networks occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic and the role force majeure plays in the transformation of capital currently underway. This piece has been translated and is now also available in Chinese.
American politics: Understanding the populist pandemic
By Professor James Arvanitakis. 18 April 2020.
Professor James Arvanitakis writes on the role of populism in American politics (opens in a new window)and how it is affecting responses to COVID-19.
Forget Old Screen ‘Time’ Rules During Coronavirus. Here’s What You Should Focus on Instead
By Dr Joanne Orlando. 10 April 2020.
COVID-19 has left parents grappling with the challenges of online learning, entertainment and work. It’s natural the amount of time children spend using screens will now increase. But that’s OK. There are ways to make the best of kids’ increased use of screens.
American politics: Politics in a time of pandemic
By Professor James Arvanitakis. 4 April 2020.
Professor James Arvanitakis writes that there are five dimensions of American life that may provide insights into the pandemic environment (opens in a new window)and how it could work for Trump despite his initial handling of the crisis.
Young People Are Anxious About Coronavirus. Political Leaders Need to Talk With Them, Not at Them
By Philippa Collin, Dr Teresa Swist and UTS, University of Sydney and University of Melbourne colleagues. 3 April 2020.
Young people in Australia are among the fastest-growing group to contract COVID19. Our research has found that, contrary to popular belief, many young people in Australia are seriously concerned about the virus.
The Safest Sex You’ll Never Have: How Coronavirus is Changing Online Dating
By Lisa Portolan. 31 March 2020.
When Tinder issued an in-app public service announcement regarding COVID-19 we all had a little laugh as a panoply of memes and gags hit the internet. Two weeks later the laughter has subsided, but the curiosity continues. How will singles mingle in the time of Corona?
Don't Let the Pandemic Stop You Finding Love Online
By Lisa Portolan. 29 March 2020.
Love in the time of Corona is intensely felt. Or more accurately, people are intensely swiping right. It makes sense to some extent. As a result of COVID-19 and social distancing policies, more and more Australians are working and studying from home and that means a spike in dating app usage (opens in a new window).
All Sport is Global: A Hard Lesson From the Pandemic
By Emeritus Professor David Rowe. 28 March 2020.
There is a common saying that all politics is local. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, we should invent a new one: all sport is global. In a few short months, worries about sport – especially via the media – being only too available, have given way to complaints that live sport action has become as rare as panic-purchased toilet paper.
Lessons From the Great Depression: How to Prevent Evictions in an Economic Crisis
By Vanessa Whittington. 26 March 2020.
There are distinct parallels between the severe economic downturn of the 1930s and the economic repercussions of the COVID-19 crisis in terms of mass business closures and worker layoffs. The Australian government has estimated that one million Australians could become unemployed as a result of the coronavirus.
Why Housing Evictions Must Be Suspended to Defend Us Against Coronavirus
By Dr Emma Power and University of Sydney and UNSW colleagues. 23 March 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic is a double crisis affecting public health and the economy. And both aspects are playing out in our housing system – in our homes. Our homes are the “first line of defence against the COVID-19 outbreak”, as the UN’s Special Rapporteur on Housing puts it. But, depending on how our housing system responds, it could make the double crisis worse.
Incomes are 'Evaporating Overnight': Why Casuals Need Help to Ride Out the Pandemic
By Associate Professor George Morgan. 11 March 2020.
Associate Professor Morgan explains the impact of COVID-19 on casual and gig economy workers (opens in a new window)who face loss of income and precariousness.
3 Ways to Help Children Think Critically About the News
By Dr Tanya Notley and Associate Professor Michael Dezuanni (QUT). 25 February 2020.
Like adults, children use the news to learn about what’s happening in the world. But the circulation of misinformation, such as the recent spread of fake news about COVID-19, blurs our understanding of events and issues. Here are three things you can do (whether you’re a teacher or parent) to help children critically think about the news.
Radio and Television Interviews
Professor James Arvanitakis regularly appears on ABC radio and television programs commenting on current news, American politics, and responses to COVID-19. Commentary includes 702 ABC Sydney (opens in a new window)(at 2:31:40) on his experiences of living in Wyoming and travelling within the USA, American politics and approaches to COVID-19; and ABC 24 Weekend Breakfast (syndicated nationally) on American politics including US President Donald Trump encouraging places of worship to open, controversial comments by Joe Biden and implications of postal votes, in May. Further comment on ABC 24 Weekend Breakfast, ABC News (syndicated nationally) and ABC 24 The Drum in April 2020.
1233 ABC Newcastle interviews Professor Paul James on male politicians and different countries' approaches to handling COVID-19. 22 May 2020.
2SER radio (opens in a new window) and The Wire interviews Associate Professor Karen Soldatic on the Senate inquiry into Newstart, the COVID-19 Supplement and the future of the JobSeeker Payment, and why it is important for people with disabilities to receive support through the Disability Support Pension. 6-7 May 2020.
702 ABC Sydney Afternoons interviews Associate Professor Shanthi Robertson on migration policy including economic consequences and impacts post-COVID-19 (syndicated to ABC Central Coast NSW). 702 ABC Sydney Focus interviews Associate Professor Robertson on the impacts of COVID-19 on international students and how government and universities are responding (syndicated to ABC Central Coast NSW, ABC Capricornia). 5-6 May 2020.
702 ABC Sydney Drive interviews Dr Joanne Orlando on how workplace practices might change as COVID-19 restrictions ease, and in the future (syndicated to ABC Central Coast NSW). Channel 7 Sunrise interviews Dr Joanne Orlando on children's screen time during COVID-19. ABC Radio Newcastle (opens in a new window)interviews Dr Orlando on tips for avoiding digital hoax requests. April and May 2020.
ABC Gippsland interviews PhD candidate Dan Musil, and secretary of Earthworker Cooperative in Victoria, on the future of manufacturing in Australia and the impacts of COVID-19, including the recent research by Professor Katherine Gibson and Dr Stephen Healy on a just and sustainable manufacturing culture in Australia. 27 April 2020.
ABC Newcastle Mornings (opens in a new window)interviews Professor Katherine Gibson on the future of manufacturing in Australia and how local manufacturers have been assisting with production during the COVID-19 pandemic. 6 April 2020.
3AW Radio (opens in a new window)interviews Associate Professor George Morgan on the financial vulnerability of casual workers who don’t have sick leave entitlements if they are unable to work due to Coronavirus (syndicated nationally). 12 March 2020.
Further Media Comment
Skye Tasker speaks to news.com.au on how she pivoted to examine trends in the context of coronavirus, and extensively interviewed a cohort of case studies aged 12 to 24. 31 August 2020
SBS News publishes comment by Associate Professor Shanthi Robertson on how attitudes towards migrants can be affected by an environment of economic uncertainty. 11 June 2020
ABC News quotes Dr Sukhmani Khorana on reconnecting with cultural practices during a pandemic. 5 June 2020
New York Times (opens in a new window)interviews Emeritus Professor David Rowe on Sydney during a time of stay at home orders and the value of moments outdoors (republished by by MSN Canada, MSN USA and others). 4 May 2020.
ABC News (opens in a new window)publishes comments by Dr Joanne Orlando on what comprises quality screen time for children (republished by MSN Australia). 1 May 2020.
The Conversation (opens in a new window)publishes an Open Letter to the Prime Minister to extend Coronavirus support to temporary workers. Associate Professor Shanthi Robertson is a signatory. 7 April 2020.
ABC News (opens in a new window)interviews Dr Joanne Orlando on how working remotely due to Coronavirus might change how people work in the future (republished by MSN Australia). 28 March 2020.
Comment by Emeritus Professor David Rowe on the negative effect on Australian sports fans of not being able to watch live sports is published in The Canberra Times (opens in a new window), 7 News (opens in a new window), Daily Mail Online (UK) and over 120 other outlets. ABC 24 News Afternoons and 720 ABC Perth interview Emeritus Professor Rowe on the implications the pandemic could have on the Tokyo Olympics and other large sporting events (syndicated to ABC 1 Perth). February and March 2020.
