Postgraduate Studies in Gender, Work & Social Inquiry

Where are they now?  Great news from former students.
Current postgraduate research topics
Recently completed theses
Who to contact

The discipline has an active postgraduate body of students, making our postgraduate seminars a lively exchange of ideas. We have been able to provide a workstation for each postgraduate student who has needed it.  New research focuses for the discipline in which postgraduate students will be invited to participate are:

• Neoliberalism and its impact on women
• Work, communities and social change
• Colonialism , post-colonialism, gender and whiteness
• Health and gender (including masculinities and social theory in relation to health, illness and healing)
• Critical obesity studies

Apart from the faculty's structured program, we also provide seminars to new and continuing Ph.D. students on topics such as:

• ‘Being a Ph D student': Discussion about time organisation, planning
• Developing your Research Proposal
• Finding your voice
• 'Maintaining momentum at the road blocks'
• 'Presenting a seminar'
• Ethical issues
• Getting published
• A writing workshop
• Chairing a seminar and being part of a conference panel
• ‘The Next Steps' (after the Ph.D. for example preparing a c.v., applying for jobs, applying for postdoctoral fellowships)

Students are also provided with support for their research, for example to give papers at conferences or to travel interstate or overseas for research purposes.

Where are they now?

Mina Barling

My early twenties were spent caring for a toddler on my own, so I hadn’t seriously thought about tertiary education until a friend who worked at the University encouraged me to apply. I was accepted as a 24 year old adult student, and began my studies at the same time my daughter started school. In 2004, I completed a double degree - a Bachelor of Social Science majoring in Gender Studies, and a Bachelor of Health Science majoring in Public Health.  Juggling parenting with full time studies and work was tough, but I set myself very specific goals and remained focused on what I wanted to learn. I had amazing support from GWSI lecturers, who provided amazing encouragement.

I have since had exciting, challenging roles specialising in sexual and reproductive health, gender based violence, and social innovation and enterprise both in Australia and abroad. I currently live with my family in Cambodia, where I work for Marie Stopes International – a global leader in providing safe sexual and reproductive health services to underserved populations in over 40 countries. My role is to provide programmatic and technical support and leadership to the national program. I am currently completing a Masters in International Health Management; however, it is my formative learning as a Gender Studies student, that informs the critical, ‘big picture’ thinking that is essential to working in the international development field.

Dr Janette Hancock

Gender Work and Social Inquiry, I believe, offers a fantastic environment for scholars to ‘think outside the square’ and explore research topics that have impact beyond the university walls. As an undergraduate, postgraduate, Tutor and Online Instructor in GWSI for 8 years I found it to be a great space for innovative and reflective thinking. It was this environment, and the wonderful support of Professor Margaret Allen, which influenced my decision to undertake my Honours at GWSI in 2001 and subsequently my PhD, which was awarded in May 2007.

The skills, knowledge and friendships I developed while at GWSI have been invaluable and have enabled me to achieve more than I would have thought possible.

Dr Janette Hancock is now the Senior Manager for Organisational Development at Uniting Care Wesley, Port Adelaide

Dr Jessie Gunson

BA Hons First Class Sociology, Liverpool John Moores University, 1998-2001
MA Sociology, University of Leeds, 2001-2002
PhD, University of Adelaide, 2003-2007
ESRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, University of Edinburgh, 2008-2010.

After studying Sociology in the UK I moved to Adelaide to do my PhD in GWSI from 2003 to 2006. I studied the ways in which menstrual suppression was discursively constructed through public debates about extended cycle oral contraception. I am now at the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships, University of Edinburgh, where I have an ESRC Postdoctoral Fellowship in order to disseminate the findings of my PhD. I am interested in the sociology of science and biomedical knowledge, gender, families and relationships, and the body.

I was sad to leave Adelaide but wanted to be closer to my family in the UK as I have had 2 babies since finishing my PhD! My time at GWSI was very important to me. The collegial support throughout my PhD was great; I was lucky enough to find lifelong friends among my peers and drew inspiration from the research and teaching of the GWSI staff. The interdisciplinary nature of GWSI helped me to develop a strong sense of how my own interests in Sociology and Gender Studies sit in relation to the broader context of the Social Sciences. 

Alan Han

Alan is a PhD student at the University of Queensland’s School of English, Media Studies and Art History. He has published and presented conference papers in the areas of cultural studies, museum studies, race, gender and sexuality. His thesis is a cultural history of the miner in selected Australian and Malaysian mining museums. Recently he was awarded a prestigious fellowship with the Australia Malaysia Institute, which enabled him to work at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur. He hopes to work in the area of cultural heritage protection in developing countries.

Graduate experiences
I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) majoring in Gender Studies at GWSI.  Studying gender has expanded my understanding of the relationship between social inequality and power.  As I intend to work in the area of community development, my qualifications in gender studies provides me with a sound grasp of the challenges disadvantaged communities face, not only in terms of gender inequality, but also discrimination on the basis of race and class. My passion for challenging social disadvantage was fostered by the committed and enthusiastic staff at GWSI, many of whom continue to mentor me, even though I have graduated. My personal drive to use my degree to contribute to social change can be attributed to the thought-provoking courses offered by GWSI and its passionate staff.

Current Postgraduate Research Topics

Clare Bartholomaeus  (joint with Politics) Constructing Young Masculinities and Gender Relations:Boys,girls,teachers and parents discuss gender in primary school

Tara Bates    The effects of weight gain on women after taking antipsychotic medication

Karina Bria    Prevalence of Postnatal Depression in New Fathers

Kanchana Bulumulle   Gender Dynamics of Career Mobility Among Women Academics in Sri Lanka

Anne Burger    Resource Policy in neo-liberal times:electricity in Ashlu Canyon,British Columbia and water for mining at Olympic Dam,South Australia

Jennifer Caruso   A Study of Aboriginal Responses to the 1967 Referendum

Thomas Cole    Organisational Change Processes: A Study of Australian Football League Clubs

Damian Creaser   Masculinities,Mood and Finitude:A Phenomenology of Coronary By-Pass Surgery

Helen Ewart    Gender in 19th Century Australian Rural Towns

Sharyn  Goudie  Creating better pathways for young people experiencing homelesness through sustainable accomodation and support program models

Ruthie O’Reilly    An Investigation of the Meaning of 'Solo Living' for Concepts of Intimacy and Connectedness

Jillian Schedneck     Gender, Modernity and Nationalism in the United Arab Emirates

Kirsty Whitman    Masculinity, Class and Australian Popular Culture

Gabriella Zizzo   Breast Milk Banks

Recently completed PhDs (since 2006)

Jane Andrew  Beyond the creative fix: Towards an understanding of creativity's place in South Australia's economic development agenda

Penelope Eate Walking wounded: Cinematic representations of masculine,post-modern anxiety in the urban space 

Pauline McLoughlin Tenuous guests: Couch surfing through homelessness in the lives of Australian Youth 

Kathyrn Davidson   Monitoring Systems for Sustainability: What are they Measuring?

Keri Chiveralls  Exploring the Missing Links: A Critical Inquiry into the Role of Social Capital in Australian Regional Development

Ros Averis  Averting the Crisis - or Avoiding the Compromise? A Regulation Approach to Social Inclusion Policies and Practices in the Australian Context.

Pam Papadelos   Derridean Deconstruction and Feminism: Exploring Aporias in Feminist Theory and Practice

Alia Imtoual   ‘Taking things personally': young Muslim women in South Australia discuss identity, religious racism and media representations

Janette Hancock   A Not So Innocent Vision: Re-Visiting the Literary Works of Ellen Liston, Jane Sarah Doudy and Myrtle Rose White (1838-1961).

Jesica Gunson   The Trouble With White Pants: Medicalisation and Agency in the Context of Menstrual Suppression

Lareen Newman   Images and Impacts of Parenthood. Explaining Fertility and Family Size in Contemporary Australia.

Anne Morris  Optimising the "spaces in-between": The maternal alienation project and the politics of gender in macro and micro contexts.

Sally Gibson  Creating Controversy: Sex Education and the Christian Right in South Australia.   

Toni Delany   To entrap and empower: Maternal responsibility in an age of neoliberal health

Contact

For further details on postgraduate study please contact:

Dr Megan Warin
Postgraduate co-ordinator
Tel: 8303 4864.
Email: megan.warin@adelaide.edu.au

And/or Sarah Hoggard
Discipline administrator

Tel: +61 8 8303 3737
Email: sarah.hoggard@adelaide.edu.au