International fellowships driving collaboration

In 2022, the Sydney Social Sciences and Humanities Advanced Research Centre (SSSHARC) is furthering sixteen research collaborations between academics in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS) and international scholars working in aligned disciplines.

The 2022 SSSHARC Fellowships have been designed to internationalise the research efforts of FASS colleagues. Separated into three research streams, these Fellowships allow researchers of international standing in the humanities, social sciences, and sexuality studies to visit the University to work closely with their academic hosts on a program of shared research.

Sex education

Victoria Rawlings and Kellie Burns are working with Hunt-Simes Fellow Jen Gilbert (York U, Canada) on discussions around gender and sexuality in the classroom. Confronting the reality around sex education in schools, Professor Gilbert and Dr Rawlings have analysed the ways that the ‘parental rights’ lobby puts trans and queer kids at risk. This research collaboration has established dialogues between academic researchers and education professionals to understand the dynamics between students, teachers, families, and politicians in pursuit of comprehensive, medically accurate information about sexuality and gender in schools.

Domestic violence and the ancient world

As the first of its kind, Eleanor Cowan will be working with Humanities Fellow Tim Parkin (UoM) on the development of a comprehensive database of Domestic and Intimate Partner Violence in the ancient Roman World. Drawing from textual and object-based artefacts, the database will be instrumental in developing an understanding of how domestic violence was endemic in the ancient world. Professor Parkin and Dr Cowan intend the results of their research to benefit those working to develop legal and non-legal challenges to cultures of violence today.

Education and AI 

Bringing together researchers, policymakers, psychometricians, computer science engineers and the teaching profession, Kal Gulson is collaborating with Social Sciences Fellow Greg Thompson (QUT) on the consequences of automated essay marking. Their findings will be published in an outward-facing document that will guide the development of policy in this area. In addition, Professor Gulson and his team will be launching a digital marking prototype to inform understanding of the potential benefits or challenges of the use of AI in education.

The Fellowship partnerships implemented through the Centre are indicative of a growing appetite for in-person collaboration and a commitment to new ways of generating and sharing research findings with wider audiences.

2023 Fellowships

This month, SSSHARC is announcing a further ten Fellowships for 2023 that will see researchers from Cardiff, Chittagong (Bangladesh), Lingnan (Hong Kong), Monash, University of Southern California, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, University of Virginia and Yale partnering with FASS academics in education, English, gender and sexuality studies, government and international relations, and media studies to advance world-changing research in their fields.

Some of these Fellows will also join SSSHARC in the development and delivery of the inaugural Hunt-Simes Institute in Sexuality Studies (HISS). Launching in early 2023, HISS will be timed to coincide with Sydney Mardi Gras, Sydney World Pride and other events of relevance to the LGBTQI+ community. As the first institute of its kind in the Asia-Pacific region, HISS is designed to raise the international reputation of the University of Sydney in the area of sexuality studies via the provision of high-quality graduate masterclasses that will attract outstanding early-career researchers from across Australia and the broader region.

Details of ongoing collaborations and information on the Institute will be featured on the SSSHARC website and social media channels.