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Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Info Day 2019

#23 in the world

For Arts and Humanities (2019 QS World University Rankings) Discover your study options

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Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

Leading teaching and research in 21st century humanities and social sciences

Driven by academic rigour, intellectual curiosity and social inclusion, we're committed to solving pressing global challenges.

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Study arts and social sciences

Realise your ambitions. Join our vibrant faculty.

Whether you’re fresh from high school, wanting to change career or upskill, or looking to delve into research, our reputation for world-class teaching and research makes us a leader for study in the arts and social sciences.

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Our research

From archaeological digs to artificial intelligence and legal ethics to language learning, we bring our love of knowledge and culture of excellence to the world's greatest challenges.

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Industry and community

Connect with us to meet our bright students, experience our lively events and hear from some of the best thinkers in Australia.

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Schools

The Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is home to some of the world’s most outstanding scholars.

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Our people

We are committed to delivering an exceptional curriculum and supporting both our staff and students to maximise their professional and academic potential.

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Facts & figures

#23 in the world for Arts and Humanities (2019 QS World University Rankings)
#27 in the world for Social Sciences (2019 QS World University Rankings)
Est. 1852 Over 165 years of teaching and research excellence
6 schools Economics; Education and Social Work; Languages and Cultures; Literature, Art and Media; Philosophical and Historical Inquiry; Social and Political Sciences

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Latest news

25 February 2020

wind farm

How should world leaders protect us?

A total fire ban was declared for NSW on the smoke-drenched evening last November when Professor Ole Wæver gave a talk “Hope vs Fear: climate change as a security issue”. When his six-month SSSHARC fellowship ended in January, he had watched the most destructive bushfires in Australia’s history turn the country into a dramatic case study for his theory.

25 February 2020

Sonja Van Wichelen standing outside the University's Social Sciences Building.

University of Sydney sociologist bound for the IAS in Princeton

Associate Professor Sonja Van Wichelen has been invited to join the prestigious Institute of Advanced Study in Princeton (IAS), which counts Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer among its past members.

21 February 2020

A teen girl with a white hair bow

The huge history of big hair bows

Hair bows may seem like cutesy accessories, but their facade is deceptively simple. Honorary research fellow in in digital cultures, Dr Fiona Andreallo, unravels the meaning behind the grosgrain.

14 February 2020

High angle photo of a robot

Can machines imitate human intelligence?

As rapid technological advances bring artificial intelligence into our daily life, the public imagination is still dominated by a Romantic fear that machines will take over the world.

10 February 2020

Abstract image under choppy water.

Oscars retrospective: Steven Spielberg's Jaws

Though now controversial for its portrayal of sharks as man-eaters, Jaws was - and remains - a groundbreaking cinematic feat. Film studies expert Associate Professor Bruce Isaacs explains what makes it a classic.

03 February 2020

The participants in the inaugural Summer Innovation Program with Dean of the University of Sydney Law School Professor Simon Bronitt and physicist and Senior Lecturer in Biomedical Engineering Dr David Martinez Martin (centre) and organiser Henry Gallagher (far left), standing in the courtyard at St Paul's College.

Student-engineered solutions at the nexus of law and science

An idea to label food to indicate the use of antibiotics to prevent the emergence of superbugs has seen a multidisciplinary team of students named the inaugural winners of the Summer Innovation Program (SIP) challenge.

31 January 2020

Cross-country dingoes have different-shaped heads

While older research has suggested that there are three dingo varietals, a new study adds to a growing pile of evidence that there are, in fact, two.

30 January 2020

Not just for laughs: 3 new ideas about humour

Funniness is culturally, contextually, and personally dependent, as highlighted in three pieces of quirky University of Sydney research.

29 January 2020

International MOU signed to collaborate on corpus linguistics research

The Sydney Corpus Lab and the Centre for Corpus Approaches to Social Science have started a new partnership to work on collaborative research in corpus linguistics.

24 January 2020

Map of Australia

250 years after James Cook, how should we view Australia Day?

One of Australia’s leading historians, Professor Mark McKenna reflects on our divergent attitudes to Australia Day.

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the country on which the University of Sydney campuses stand and our responsibility to respect and care for country, people and spirit.