SABEL Conference - Abstracts
Justin Betar, School of Law - One Office, Many Disciplines: The Notary across Law, Technology, Ethics and Reform
The notary public occupies an unusual position in legal life: a single office authenticates documents for use across the world, yet it is regulated unevenly within Australia and has gone almost entirely unexamined in Australian scholarship.
This presentation draws on the first sustained Australian study of the office, which treats the notary as a meeting point for several disciplines at once. Law supplies the doctrinal frame, technology studies inform the analysis of artificial intelligence (blockchain and biometric verification), applies ethics addresses privacy, bias and accountability, comparison sets Australia beside civil law, common law, and mixed systems, and education research underpins a proposed national framework.
The original claim is that these tools displace notarial tasks but not the accountable human judgment that gives notarisation its legal force, a distinction that holds only once the civil and common law traditions are kept apart. The argument needs each of its methods. Doctrine to establish the law, comparison to test what is contingent, interview to reach practice that doctrine cannot, and policy analysis to ground reform. The presentation reflects on what such a blend gains, and what it costs.
This presentation draws on the first sustained Australian study of the office, which treats the notary as a meeting point for several disciplines at once. Law supplies the doctrinal frame, technology studies inform the analysis of artificial intelligence (blockchain and biometric verification), applies ethics addresses privacy, bias and accountability, comparison sets Australia beside civil law, common law, and mixed systems, and education research underpins a proposed national framework.
The original claim is that these tools displace notarial tasks but not the accountable human judgment that gives notarisation its legal force, a distinction that holds only once the civil and common law traditions are kept apart. The argument needs each of its methods. Doctrine to establish the law, comparison to test what is contingent, interview to reach practice that doctrine cannot, and policy analysis to ground reform. The presentation reflects on what such a blend gains, and what it costs.
Danielle McInness, Institute for Culture and Society - Territorial stigma and the news media representations of Western Sydney
The concept of territorial stigma – coined by urban sociologist Loïc Wacquant (1993) – describes a social and representational process through which negative associations become attached to geographical regions. Over the past two decades, territorial stigma has been widely applied in sociology and human geography to examine stigmatised regions including the Parisian banlieues, the Población in Santiago de Chile, and Tarlabaşı in Istanbul. While it has been widely adopted in the social sciences, the concept has significant and underexplored relevance for communication and media studies. Scholars acknowledge the role of news media in constructing negative place narratives and frequently use news coverage as a barometer of place-based stigma. However, precisely how journalists produce a spatial taint remains an underexplored topic.
This paper presents findings from a Master of Research study, which conducts the first systematic scoping review of the role of news media in producing territorial stigma and develops a new model for assessing the stigmatising features of contemporary news coverage. This new model is applied to a 2025 analysis of metropolitan print news coverage of Western Sydney. Consistent with the literature on territorial stigma, the results indicate that Western Sydney fits the criteria of a stigmatised region – with 72% of articles being predominantly negative; 94% containing at least one stigmatising editorial feature; 44% focusing on crime or disorder; and only 22% including voices from local communities.
Through a close reading of one illustrative case study – a news article which depicts Western Sydney as ‘sick’ and ‘unhealthy’ – the paper demonstrates how journalists contribute to the stigmatisation of a geographical region by framing it as environmentally unsafe or uninhabitable. By foregrounding the journalistic practices through which stigmatising narratives are produced, this study takes territorial stigma out of the social sciences and asserts its relevance to communication and media studies – contributing a new disciplinary perspective and highlighting the ongoing role of news discourse in shaping public perceptions of place.
This paper presents findings from a Master of Research study, which conducts the first systematic scoping review of the role of news media in producing territorial stigma and develops a new model for assessing the stigmatising features of contemporary news coverage. This new model is applied to a 2025 analysis of metropolitan print news coverage of Western Sydney. Consistent with the literature on territorial stigma, the results indicate that Western Sydney fits the criteria of a stigmatised region – with 72% of articles being predominantly negative; 94% containing at least one stigmatising editorial feature; 44% focusing on crime or disorder; and only 22% including voices from local communities.
Through a close reading of one illustrative case study – a news article which depicts Western Sydney as ‘sick’ and ‘unhealthy’ – the paper demonstrates how journalists contribute to the stigmatisation of a geographical region by framing it as environmentally unsafe or uninhabitable. By foregrounding the journalistic practices through which stigmatising narratives are produced, this study takes territorial stigma out of the social sciences and asserts its relevance to communication and media studies – contributing a new disciplinary perspective and highlighting the ongoing role of news discourse in shaping public perceptions of place.
Grace Thida, School of Arts - Myanmar Verbal and Nonverbal Communication Styles in Australia
Myanmar possesses a rich cultural and linguistic heritage, highlighting the importance of understanding its unique verbal and nonverbal practices. This qualitative case study will explore Myanmar verbal and nonverbal request strategies in social interaction and the development of Myanmar speakers’ intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in Australia. Studying Myanmar social interactions in Australia will be both practically and socially significant, particularly considering Australia's growing Myanmar population and its commitment to multiculturalism. Additionally, no previous studies in the Australian context have been examined despite several research studies regarding Myanmar cultures, language, and communication. This study will 20-30 adult Myanmar-speaking participants in Australia. The data will be collected through three sources: 1. an online Discourse Completion Task (DCT) 2. on-site observations, fieldnotes and video recordings, 3. interviews. Analytical tools, NVivo 15 and ELAN, will be utilised to code and analyse the data. This research aims to fill a substantial gap in the cultural and linguistic research of Myanmar students and migrants. A better understanding of Myanmar communicative norms will enable other professionals and international interactants engage in more effective and successful communication.
Christopher Hastas, School of Social Sciences - Exploring Para-Athleticism and Its Role in Identity Creation Through Powerchair Football
The paper researches the relationship between powerchair football participation and identity creation for PwD. For the purposes of this project, the 2023 Federation Internationale de Powerchair Football Association (FIPFA) Powerchair Football World Cup took place in Sydney, Australia from the 15th to the 20th of October and will be considered for its potential to provide great insights into para-athleticism and identity. Against the theoretical backdrop of structuration theory complemented by narrative theory, this project will engage narrative methodology to explore the researcher’s insider personal narrative, powerchair football players’ narratives, and the public narrative with specific focus on the said World Cup. Multi-method approach that includes autoethnography, semi-structured interviews, and a discourse analysis will be used to explore those narratives.
James R. Sadler, School of Business - Examining Social Robot Adoption among Clinicians: Clinician-Robot Adoption Model (CRAM)
The global population is on a trajectory toward a ‘population timebomb’ (Schwarz et al. 2014). By 2050 in Australia, 1 in 4 people will be over 65 (Australian Bureau of Statistics 2018). Consequently, there will be a dramatic increase in older adults requiring care and a higher demand for aged care practitioners. The aged care industry is already experiencing vast worker shortages, with many practitioners overworked, stressed and burning out of the profession. Moving into assisted living/care settings is challenging for the elderly. It unmoors them from essential social connections such as family and friends, as well as disrupting their long-standing routines and meaningful daily activities (Blazer et al. 2020). This can tarnish the quality of life for an older person by entrenching a more sedentary and socially isolated lifestyle (Blazer et al. 2020).
With advances in artificial intelligence and robotics, technological interventions in aged care are being increasingly discussed for use among older adults. Social robots are one such technology, which are emerging in this sphere. Social robots are a newer form of robotics, specifically designed for companionship, social interactions, and entertainment (Hegel et al. 2009). However, research among social robots in Australia is still emerging, especially among aged care practitioners. Therefore, a theoretical gap in the literature is prominent and needs further exploration. This research seeks to rectify this by building upon existing theories of technology adoption and use, such as the Unified Theory of Acceptance & Use of Technology (UTAUT), to formulate a more focused technology adoption model toward clinicians and social robots. The Clinician-Robot Adoption Model (CRAM) is the theoretical focus of this research.
With advances in artificial intelligence and robotics, technological interventions in aged care are being increasingly discussed for use among older adults. Social robots are one such technology, which are emerging in this sphere. Social robots are a newer form of robotics, specifically designed for companionship, social interactions, and entertainment (Hegel et al. 2009). However, research among social robots in Australia is still emerging, especially among aged care practitioners. Therefore, a theoretical gap in the literature is prominent and needs further exploration. This research seeks to rectify this by building upon existing theories of technology adoption and use, such as the Unified Theory of Acceptance & Use of Technology (UTAUT), to formulate a more focused technology adoption model toward clinicians and social robots. The Clinician-Robot Adoption Model (CRAM) is the theoretical focus of this research.
Tanya Phan, School of Business - Environmental sustainability: Perceptions and responses of SME cafe businesses and Millennial and Gen Z consumers in Vietnam
Sustainable practice implementation within firms and of sustainable consumption in emerging markets is critical for long-term sustainable development. This study explores environmental sustainability as perceptions and responses from small and medium enterprise (SME) cafés and young consumers in Vietnam. This study adopts an inductive, qualitative approach, using semi-structured interviews, with nineteen young consumers and thirteen staff from eight SME cafés.
Through the lens of theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and triple bottom line (TBL), the initial findings focus on young consumers’ understanding of sustainability, key sustainability themes, and obstacles to sustainable practice adoption and for SME cafés, the initial findings focus on the sustainable practice implementation, including motivations, examples and challenges for implementation. The combined two study findings are developed into an initial conceptual framework. Initial contributions include a dyadic approach to exploring perceptions of environmental sustainability from a set of consumers and service providers in an emerging economy, and managerial insights for SME cafes and relevant governments understanding consumers’ expectations around undertaking sustainable business practices, products and services. Further development of key propositions and the conceptual framework will enable future research to be scaled up for testing, generalisation, and applicability to other emerging contexts.
Through the lens of theory of planned behaviour (TPB) and triple bottom line (TBL), the initial findings focus on young consumers’ understanding of sustainability, key sustainability themes, and obstacles to sustainable practice adoption and for SME cafés, the initial findings focus on the sustainable practice implementation, including motivations, examples and challenges for implementation. The combined two study findings are developed into an initial conceptual framework. Initial contributions include a dyadic approach to exploring perceptions of environmental sustainability from a set of consumers and service providers in an emerging economy, and managerial insights for SME cafes and relevant governments understanding consumers’ expectations around undertaking sustainable business practices, products and services. Further development of key propositions and the conceptual framework will enable future research to be scaled up for testing, generalisation, and applicability to other emerging contexts.
Mikee Federizo, School of Business - Robots as Advertising Agents: Developing the Robot Advertising Model (RAM) for Out-of-Home Retail Environments
Social robots are transforming retail spaces at scale. Since 2014, more than 10,000 Pepper robots have been deployed globally appearing in Nescafé stores across Japan, Pizza Hut outlets across Asia, and airport dining environments. Despite this commercial adoption, no established framework exists for measuring their effectiveness as advertising agents. Existing models are limited to web advertising, social media advertising and out-of-home media, and fails to address the unique characteristics of a humanoid robot ads operating in retail environment.
This paper proposes the Robot Advertising Model (RAM), the first conceptual framework designed to measure consumer responses to robots as advertising agents. The RAM integrates five independent variables, namely informativeness, entertainment, irritation, expertise, and trustworthiness, mediated by attitude toward the robot to predict behavioural intention. The model will be tested through a 2x2 field experiment comparing a humanoid robot against a digital billboard, across central and peripheral advertising routes in a highly populated area in Parramatta.
Theoretically, this study bridges advertising effectiveness and human-robot interaction literature into a previously unmeasured domain. The RAM provides scholars and practitioners insights into what drives the consumer response to robotic ads in retail. Practically, it gives marketers a structured basis for evaluating robots as a viable advertising medium. As humanoid robots move from novelty to retail infrastructure, the RAM provides the first empirical basis for deciding whether they work as advertising agents, and why.
This paper proposes the Robot Advertising Model (RAM), the first conceptual framework designed to measure consumer responses to robots as advertising agents. The RAM integrates five independent variables, namely informativeness, entertainment, irritation, expertise, and trustworthiness, mediated by attitude toward the robot to predict behavioural intention. The model will be tested through a 2x2 field experiment comparing a humanoid robot against a digital billboard, across central and peripheral advertising routes in a highly populated area in Parramatta.
Theoretically, this study bridges advertising effectiveness and human-robot interaction literature into a previously unmeasured domain. The RAM provides scholars and practitioners insights into what drives the consumer response to robotic ads in retail. Practically, it gives marketers a structured basis for evaluating robots as a viable advertising medium. As humanoid robots move from novelty to retail infrastructure, the RAM provides the first empirical basis for deciding whether they work as advertising agents, and why.
Rajesh Nandakumar, School of Businessm - Exploring the Influence of Voice AI Shopping on Consumer Behaviour
Alexa, Siri, and Google Assistant are transforming voice commerce (Brinson, 2024; Hu et al., 2023). Transactional voice commerce (online shopping) is less examined than non-transactional voice AI adoption (e.g., playing music) (Chahal & Mahajan, 2025). As AI-EVA expands, the global Intelligent Virtual Assistant (IVA) market is projected to reach US$178.80 billion by 2034 (Precedence Research, 2024). Consumers will lean on algorithmic recommendations because AIEVAs do not offer visual product comparison like traditional websites do (Hari et al., 2025). The VAI (Voice Attitudinal Influence) model integrates the Theory of Planned Behaviour (Ajzen, 1991) and the Elaboration Likelihood Model (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986) to analyse the influence of cognitive (trust, privacy risk, and AI literacy) and emotional factors (social presence, human-likeness, and inspiring awe) on consumer attitudes and behavioural intentions in voice commerce in a cohesive manner that was studied fragmentally in the previous literature. VAI encompasses sequential vocal interactions, paralinguistic cues, and unique vocal appeals that text-based adoption models overlook. The research advances three formal assertions by moderating the rational, emotional, and prosocial voice appeals' effects on consumers' attitudes, leading to behavioural impact.
Valentina Schulte, School of Arts - Thinking Routines and how they can apply to a diverse range of disciplines
Thinking routines, developed by Project Zero at Harvard University, are teaching and research tools that are used to help students of all ages untangle complex ideas and problems. These could range from observation and interpretation of visual material, including texts, investigating perspectives and distilling information for data analysis.
Within my own research in the arts and media and work as a STEM educator at the Powerhouse, I have learnt to utilise these thinking tools to better help me think and analyse information more abstractly and organise my ideas.
This paper aims to discuss how I use a selection of different thinking routines such as ‘See, Think, Wonder’ and ‘What makes you say that’ to better understand my readings and research, and how they can be utilised across different disciplines that perhaps are less visually based, to foster curiosity, inquisitiveness, and approach your research from a different perspective.
Within my own research in the arts and media and work as a STEM educator at the Powerhouse, I have learnt to utilise these thinking tools to better help me think and analyse information more abstractly and organise my ideas.
This paper aims to discuss how I use a selection of different thinking routines such as ‘See, Think, Wonder’ and ‘What makes you say that’ to better understand my readings and research, and how they can be utilised across different disciplines that perhaps are less visually based, to foster curiosity, inquisitiveness, and approach your research from a different perspective.
Lilik Istiqomah, School of Arts - Crossing disciplinary boundaries through Photovoice: Lessons from translation education research
Photovoice is a participatory visual methodology that originated in public health and community research before being adopted in sociology, education, and other social science disciplines. Despite its growing use across these fields, its application in translation studies remains limited. This presentation explores how photovoice enables translation education research to cross disciplinary boundaries and broaden methodological approaches within translation studies.
Drawing on a doctoral study investigating Indonesian English language education students’ experiences of learning translation through Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools, the presentation reflects on the methodological journey of adapting photovoice to translation education research. The study combined participant-generated photographs, reflective narratives, interviews, classroom observations, and translation outputs to capture dimensions of student engagement that were often difficult to articulate through conventional qualitative methods alone.
The presentation argues that photovoice creates a productive meeting point between visual sociology, educational research, participatory inquiry, and translation-education studies. By enabling learners to represent and interpret their own experiences visually, the methodology offers deeper insights into the cognitive, affective, behavioural, and cultural dimensions of translation learning.
The presentation concludes by discussing the opportunities and challenges of using photovoice across disciplinary boundaries and highlights its potential to expand methodological diversity within translation studies, multilingual education, and technology-mediated learning research.
Drawing on a doctoral study investigating Indonesian English language education students’ experiences of learning translation through Computer-Assisted Translation (CAT) tools, the presentation reflects on the methodological journey of adapting photovoice to translation education research. The study combined participant-generated photographs, reflective narratives, interviews, classroom observations, and translation outputs to capture dimensions of student engagement that were often difficult to articulate through conventional qualitative methods alone.
The presentation argues that photovoice creates a productive meeting point between visual sociology, educational research, participatory inquiry, and translation-education studies. By enabling learners to represent and interpret their own experiences visually, the methodology offers deeper insights into the cognitive, affective, behavioural, and cultural dimensions of translation learning.
The presentation concludes by discussing the opportunities and challenges of using photovoice across disciplinary boundaries and highlights its potential to expand methodological diversity within translation studies, multilingual education, and technology-mediated learning research.
Muthiah, School of Arts - Translanguaging Practices Across Classroom Contexts in Tertiary EFL Classrooms
Tertiary EFL classrooms in South Sulawesi, Indonesia feature considerable linguistic diversity, and within them translanguaging has become a part of everyday classroom interaction. This study examines translanguaging, defined as the flexible drawing on learners' full linguistic repertoire, as both a naturally occurring communicative behaviour and a deliberate pedagogical strategy. The research is based on qualitative classroom observations conducted across seven speaking classes at two local universities, with a combined sample of 236 students and three lecturers. It set out to determine how translanguaging manifested, and for what purposes, across three distinct classroom activities: oral presentations, small-group discussions, and project-based activities. The findings revealed distinct patterns of language use across activities. In oral presentations, most frequently observed are English-Bahasa Indonesia and English-Arabic mixing, mostly through embedded clauses and content morphemes. Small-group discussions, by contrast, showed richer and more fluid combinations, notably English-Bahasa Indonesia and English-Bahasa Indonesia-local language mixes, expressed mainly through system morphemes and embedded clauses. Project-based activities were more restrained, drawing mostly on English-Bahasa Indonesia combinations realised through content morphemes. Emphasising key points was the dominant function of translanguaging across all activity types. Beyond this shared function, oral presentations also used translanguaging to integrate religious references which connected to the university's institutional character. while small-group discussions used it to clarify meaning, and project-based activities used it to reinforce requests. These results suggest that although translanguaging shares common purposes, its specific purposes are shaped by task demands, topic, and institutional context. The study adds to a more detailed understanding of translanguaging as a flexible, context-dependent pedagogical practice in multilingual EFL settings.
Vanessa Campbell, School of Arts - When Social Justice Meets Social Media: Navigating Mission and Visibility in the Not-for-profit Sector
Not-for-profit organisations (NFPs) operate at the intersection of two competing worlds: social justice and social media. While their purpose is to create social change, build community, and support vulnerable groups, they must do so within digital environments shaped by algorithms, engagement metrics, and attention economies. Unlike commercial organisations with dedicated communication teams and marketing budgets, many NFPs rely on volunteers or staff with limited communications training, informal planning processes, and constrained resources.
This paper explores how Western Sydney-based NFPs navigate the tension between remaining visible online and remaining focused on their mission. Drawing on a netnographic study incorporating interviews, survey data, social media analysis, and researcher immersion, the research examines audience responses to different forms of organisational content. Findings suggest that posts celebrating member achievements, milestones, donations, and collective successes consistently generate stronger engagement than educational or mission-focused content.
These outcomes highlight a paradox for NFP communication: the content most effective at attracting attention is not always the content most directly connected to social justice advocacy. By blending perspectives from public relations, social media studies, and community sector research, this paper examines how NFPs balance mission, visibility, and authenticity in increasingly competitive digital spaces.
This paper explores how Western Sydney-based NFPs navigate the tension between remaining visible online and remaining focused on their mission. Drawing on a netnographic study incorporating interviews, survey data, social media analysis, and researcher immersion, the research examines audience responses to different forms of organisational content. Findings suggest that posts celebrating member achievements, milestones, donations, and collective successes consistently generate stronger engagement than educational or mission-focused content.
These outcomes highlight a paradox for NFP communication: the content most effective at attracting attention is not always the content most directly connected to social justice advocacy. By blending perspectives from public relations, social media studies, and community sector research, this paper examines how NFPs balance mission, visibility, and authenticity in increasingly competitive digital spaces.
Nicole Lenoir-Jourdan, Writing and Society Research Centre - The Gendered Space of Puberty Blues as viewed through a Lefebvrian lens
Henri Lefebvre’s concept of socially produced space is used as a lens through which to examine how the beach in Puberty Blues produces gendered identities. We see these gendered identities reinforced through rituals and hierarchies of surf culture. Although the Australian beach is considered a democratic public space, associated with freedom and equality, Puberty Blues offers it as a social environment and one where belonging is distributed unevenly. Boys establish status via their occupation of the waves showing how surfing is a performance of masculinity and authority. Girls are positioned on the sand. It is here that their belonging is shown through their proximity to male surfers and the following of the surfer group’s codes. The division between sand and surf becomes a spatial expression of gendered power when looked at through a Lefebvrian lens. The paper contends that Debbie’s and Sue’s identities are formed through the spaces that they are allowed to occupy and the practices that they are expected to perform.
Rahmatul Furqan, Institute for Culture and Society - The Hidden Work of Visibility: Digital Labour Among Young Microcelebrities with Disabilities in Indonesia
Digital platforms have expanded opportunities for young people with disabilities to participate as content creators, advocates, and entrepreneurs. However, the everyday labour required to achieve and sustain online visibility remains largely overlooked, particularly in the Global South. Drawing on qualitative interviews with young Indonesian microcelebrities with disabilities, this paper explores how participants produce accessible content, engage audiences, navigate platform algorithms, and negotiate the tensions between advocacy, authenticity, and monetisation.
Bringing together perspectives from digital labour studies, disability studies, platform studies, and media and communication research, the paper argues that visibility is not merely a product of platform participation but a continuous form of labour shaped by intersecting technological, social, and cultural conditions. Participants describe visibility as both empowering and precarious, requiring ongoing emotional, creative, and relational work while confronting accessibility barriers and ableist platform norms.
By placing disability at the centre of debates on digital labour and creator economies, this paper demonstrates how an interdisciplinary approach reveals dimensions of platform work that are often absent from mainstream studies of influencers and digital entrepreneurship. In doing so, it contributes to more inclusive understandings of labour, participation, and visibility in Indonesia's evolving digital sphere.
Bringing together perspectives from digital labour studies, disability studies, platform studies, and media and communication research, the paper argues that visibility is not merely a product of platform participation but a continuous form of labour shaped by intersecting technological, social, and cultural conditions. Participants describe visibility as both empowering and precarious, requiring ongoing emotional, creative, and relational work while confronting accessibility barriers and ableist platform norms.
By placing disability at the centre of debates on digital labour and creator economies, this paper demonstrates how an interdisciplinary approach reveals dimensions of platform work that are often absent from mainstream studies of influencers and digital entrepreneurship. In doing so, it contributes to more inclusive understandings of labour, participation, and visibility in Indonesia's evolving digital sphere.
Restaria F. Hutabarat, School of Law - Data Governance in Digital Finance: Regulating Cross-Border Data Flows in Indonesia
The tension between data protection and data liberalisation has led some global institutions to frame strong data protection as a barrier to market integration. As the world’s fourth most populous country and a rapidly digitalising democracy, Indonesia provides a critical setting for examining how these tensions are managed in regulatory practice. Focusing on the period 2020–2025, this study explores how global data governance norms are interpreted and adapted during Indonesia’s digital economic transformation.
Using a socio-legal approach, the study examines the legal culture of the Indonesian Financial Services Authority (IFSA) to understand how regulators construct meaning and make decisions under conditions of uncertainty surrounding cross-border data flows. It conceptualises regulatory decision-making as a social process rather than a purely legal or technical exercise.
The research employs qualitative methods, combining interviews and document analysis to investigate regulatory practices and organisational culture within IFSA. By providing empirical insights into data governance in Indonesia’s financial sector, the study contributes to ongoing debates on data protection and digital governance, while offering lessons for understanding similar regulatory dynamics in other emerging Asian economies.
Using a socio-legal approach, the study examines the legal culture of the Indonesian Financial Services Authority (IFSA) to understand how regulators construct meaning and make decisions under conditions of uncertainty surrounding cross-border data flows. It conceptualises regulatory decision-making as a social process rather than a purely legal or technical exercise.
The research employs qualitative methods, combining interviews and document analysis to investigate regulatory practices and organisational culture within IFSA. By providing empirical insights into data governance in Indonesia’s financial sector, the study contributes to ongoing debates on data protection and digital governance, while offering lessons for understanding similar regulatory dynamics in other emerging Asian economies.
Abeer Alam, School of Business - Influence of personality congruency between charity brand and social robot
Social robots have transformed the way organisations interact with their customers. However, the non-profit sector remains underexplored. With existing issues of securing funds and volunteer retention, charities lose on potential donors. This highlights importance to look at strengthening donor relationships and intention through an innovative and engaging lens. This study examines whether personality congruency between social robots and nonprofit brands drives donor intentions. Drawing on theories from psychology, human-robot interaction and marketing, this study proposes a conceptual model called the Robot Personality Donation Model. A pilot experimental study was conducted using an introverted charity brand and a congruent introverted robot (Pepper), with data collected from 92 participants. Factor analysis and reliability tests confirmed the validity and consistency of measures. Regression results indicate entertainment and source credibility significantly influence attitudes toward the message, while empathy, expertise, and perceived persuasion do not. Furthermore, attitudes toward the message positively influence attitudes toward the robot, which in turn drive donation intention. The findings contribute to theory by demonstrating the importance of communication delivery and robot personality in shaping donor responses. Practically, the study highlights how nonprofits can leverage socially intelligent robots as persuasive agents to enhance engagement and optimise fundraising strategies through personality alignment.
Dr W.G. S. Konarasinghe, School of Business - Vector Spaces for Measuring Digital Maturity of an Organization
The third industrial revolution is commonly referred as the ‘Digital revolution’ or ‘Digital Transformation’. The digital revolution transforms the traditional businesses to a digital platform. Digital Maturity (DM) is the measurement used to assess the degree of adoption and application of digital technologies in an organization. The existing models use digital capabilities and leadership capabilities to assess the DM, however these models are not capable on quantifying the DM. Also, recent studies showed the importance of digital literacy for the success of DM. This study defines three dimensions for DM: Digital Capabilities (X), Leadership capabilities (Y) and Digital Literacy (Z). These dimensions satisfy the properties of a ‘Vector Space’ where a vector space is a mathematical environment made up of a set of vectors, set of scalars and two operations: vector addition and scalar multiplication. Hence, magnitude of the position vector (x, y, z) is the DM of an organization. This model has several advantages over the existing models. It helps the organizations to monitor their DM over time and identify their position within or between industries.
Sarah Nectoux, Institute for Culture and Society - The right to the inclusive city: counter-narratives of mobility across two “worlds” – Western Sydney and Seine-Saint-Denis
Mobility is more than moving from one place to another; it shapes participation, underlines who is a legitimate urban citizen and who must work harder to remain present in space. This presentation examines counter-narratives of mobility by people with disabilities across two “worlds”: Western Sydney (Greater Paris) and Seine-Saint-Denis (Greater Paris). Bringing together two geographical sites and two methods – semi-structured interviews and social media analysis – the research identifies distinct local experiences that still converge in the ways mobility is formed through labour and disorientation. Across both sites, the city extracts extra-physical, cognitive, affective and temporal labour from people with disabilities, while feelings of disorientation signal that these individuals are not the expected urban subjects. Together, these findings raise broader questions about who is given the means to produce the city and to exercise a right to the city: the right to belong, to shape everyday urban space through practice and to be recognised by those who plan, design, and govern the city as legitimate urban citizens. Ultimately, I argue that improving the mobility of people with disabilities is greater than “access fixes”, toward the need to address the broader ableist system within which mobility takes place.
Jo Davies, School of Social Sciences - Using diffractive, creative practices to facilitate emotional recalibration after disasters
Two creative, diffractive workshops were run with a group of people, including this researcher, that enabled us to process our 2019/2020 bushfire experiences in a community setting. The material -discursive workshop method utilised facilitated the emergence of multiple different stories about the fires to become visible, hearable and tangible. This was enacted through the engagement of bodily, affective and sensory materials, as we tuned into our bushfire memories, artworks, the environment, and each other. The dominant patterns of verbal, visual and embodied discourses held around our bushfire experiences were made visible, alongside newly emerging, or reshaped others allowing us to recalibrate and reinterpret our embodied memories. These, and other encounters such as listening and bearing witness to each other added more layers to our existing understandings of the bushfires, enabling us to become with them differently.
Patricia Arthur, School of Arts - The Power of Music Criticism: Shaping Rock Genres in the 1960s
When you imagine a classic rock band in its most basic line-up you envisage drums, bass guitar, lead guitar and vocalist. The format seems to be somewhat given when viewed from here in the 2020s. When we imagine a rock solo, why do we reflexly think of the lead guitar and not a flute or a church organ? It is not as if challenges to the soloing dominance of the guitar were commercially unsuccessful: Jethro Tull (flute soloist) and Deep Purple (organ soloist) sold millions of albums. Yet we don’t see that pattern repeated and normalised.
This paper examines the genre of rock in light of Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of ‘habitus’. The ‘field’ is the genre of rock music; its members having the ‘cultural capital’ of instrumental virtuosity and performance prowess. Nevertheless, what forces formed and maintained that field? Who were the gatekeepers of ‘taste’?
Using Framing Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis I hope to show how the rock music press at that time were significantly biased towards developing and maintaining the guitar hero legend at the expense of other instrumentalists. They achieved this in their writing by leaning into the predominantly masculine discourse around rock music at the time.
This paper examines the genre of rock in light of Pierre Bourdieu’s theory of ‘habitus’. The ‘field’ is the genre of rock music; its members having the ‘cultural capital’ of instrumental virtuosity and performance prowess. Nevertheless, what forces formed and maintained that field? Who were the gatekeepers of ‘taste’?
Using Framing Theory and Critical Discourse Analysis I hope to show how the rock music press at that time were significantly biased towards developing and maintaining the guitar hero legend at the expense of other instrumentalists. They achieved this in their writing by leaning into the predominantly masculine discourse around rock music at the time.
Henry Chase Richards, School of Arts - Irony, sincerity and oscillation in the collected essays of Eda Gunaydin and Luke Carman
Henry’s thesis focuses on how the personal essay collections of Intimate Antipathies by Luke Carman (2019) and Root & Branch by Eda Gunaydin (2022) incorporate oscillation between tone and mood from irony to sincerity and back again, recurrently. Henry argues that the central feature of constant oscillation becomes the means for literary depth. This depth and the oscillation from which it stems, they argue, situates these works in the contemporary moment or metamodern epoch, while supporting the writers and their audiences to reflect on and engage with associated challenges, whether personal, interpersonal or societal. Henry’s presentation will give a window into their thesis by defining and unpacking oscillation between irony and sincerity, before demonstrating how this phenomenon manifests in the essays of Gunaydin and Carman through examples, before suggesting the effect of using this technique as a conclusion.
Kevin Dodds, School of Arts - Family Affair: Sisters in Crime aboard the Asia (5), 1830: Kinship, Poverty, Children and Co-Prosecution Signals in the Digitised Asia 5 Female Convict Indent
This paper uses the Asia 5 female convict indent as a pilot study in relational prosopography and digital humanities. The digitised spreadsheet contains 200 ship rows, of which 32 have been identified as familial or relationship rows: 22 same-ship female kin rows across 10 onboard clusters, and 10 rows identifying external kin already in the colonial field, including husbands, sons and a brother. The indent also records 130 children attached to 73 women: 69 male and 61 female. Because those children are unnamed and their ages are not recorded, the data exposes maternal responsibility while simultaneously concealing child movement, separation and mortality. The paper argues that the Asia 5 evidence is strongest when read as a history of kinship, poverty, prosecution, children and survival, rather than as proof of organised criminal gangs. In doing so, it demonstrates how a single digitised convict indent can shift analysis from individualised criminal biography to household systems, prosecution clusters and family disruption across Ireland and New South Wales.
Shoilee Sumiyaa, School of Business - Corporate Transparency in Disability Services: Evaluating Voluntary Public Disclosure Practices of Australian NDIS Providers
Despite regulatory reforms, funding constraints, and competitive pressures, voluntary disclosure by Australian National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) providers remains uneven, limiting stakeholders' ability to assess service quality, safeguarding practices, and organisational accountability. Recent audits and public inquiries have highlighted persistent shortcomings in quality and safeguarding, emphasising the need for transparent and meaningful public reporting.
This study aims to examine the transparency of voluntary disclosures by large Australian NDIS providers in their annual reports, against the NDIS Practice Standards. Applying stakeholder and legitimacy theories, it will employ content analysis to evaluate annual report narratives using the 24 NDIS Practice Standards outcomes across four core modules: rights and responsibilities for participants; governance and operational management; provision of supports; and support provision environment. It will develop Practice Standards transparency indices to assess the extent and quality of disclosure and explore variations in reporting across organisations. By identifying where disclosure is comprehensive or limited, the research is expected to provide new evidence on how far annual reports support stakeholder accountability and organisational legitimacy. The findings are expected to guide NDIS providers seeking to enhance reporting quality, transparency, and accountability, while informing regulators and policymakers on opportunities to strengthen reporting practices within the NDIS sector.
This study aims to examine the transparency of voluntary disclosures by large Australian NDIS providers in their annual reports, against the NDIS Practice Standards. Applying stakeholder and legitimacy theories, it will employ content analysis to evaluate annual report narratives using the 24 NDIS Practice Standards outcomes across four core modules: rights and responsibilities for participants; governance and operational management; provision of supports; and support provision environment. It will develop Practice Standards transparency indices to assess the extent and quality of disclosure and explore variations in reporting across organisations. By identifying where disclosure is comprehensive or limited, the research is expected to provide new evidence on how far annual reports support stakeholder accountability and organisational legitimacy. The findings are expected to guide NDIS providers seeking to enhance reporting quality, transparency, and accountability, while informing regulators and policymakers on opportunities to strengthen reporting practices within the NDIS sector.
Losa (Seilosa) Patterson, School of Social Sciences - The Loud Silence: When Our Island Drums Fall Silent – Towards a Pasifika Understanding of Racism, Racial Harm, and Recovery in the Sydney Diaspora
Racism is increasingly recognised as a significant social determinant of health, yet dominant understandings remain grounded largely in Western theories that do not fully reflect Pasifika worldviews, relationships, spirituality, or lived experience. This paper introduces a doctoral study that seeks to privilege Pasifika epistemologies in exploring how Pasifika peoples living in the Sydney diaspora understand, experience, and recover from everyday racism and racial harm.
Grounded in Indigenous Pasifika methodologies, the study employs sequential e-Talanoa (family conversations) followed by e-Talaloto (individual conversations), recognising that experiences of racism are first understood collectively before being explored personally. Guided by relational concepts such as vā and collective wellbeing, the research seeks to understand how racism affects identity, belonging, family, culture, faith, and health.
The metaphor The Loud Silence symbolises both the silencing of Pasifika voices and the enduring presence of our island drums that continue to call communities towards truth, healing, and hope. The study aims to contribute a culturally grounded understanding of racism, racial harm, and recovery that informs future theory, research, policy, and culturally responsive practice to advance health equity for Pasifika communities.
Grounded in Indigenous Pasifika methodologies, the study employs sequential e-Talanoa (family conversations) followed by e-Talaloto (individual conversations), recognising that experiences of racism are first understood collectively before being explored personally. Guided by relational concepts such as vā and collective wellbeing, the research seeks to understand how racism affects identity, belonging, family, culture, faith, and health.
The metaphor The Loud Silence symbolises both the silencing of Pasifika voices and the enduring presence of our island drums that continue to call communities towards truth, healing, and hope. The study aims to contribute a culturally grounded understanding of racism, racial harm, and recovery that informs future theory, research, policy, and culturally responsive practice to advance health equity for Pasifika communities.
Kazi Sultana, School of Social Sciences - Examining Older adults’ adaptations to AI-Enable Self-Service Checkout (SSC) in Retail: Developing an AI Ethics framework based on privacy, fairness and transparency for age inclusive Retail design
The rapid implementation of AI-enabled technologies in business, including the retail sector, brings significant efficiency in consumer service and overall operation. Despite this efficiency and advancement there are also concerns related to the ethical use and implementation of AI technologies, particularly self-service checkouts in supermarkets from the perspectives of older adults’ adaptation challenges. Comparison between traditional counter-service and AI-enabled self-service checkout technologies in large supermarkets required more study regarding vulnerable groups adaptation intention as it remains under-explored. AI-enabled Self-Service Checkouts ‘product recognition’ error reduction’, weight variation’, along with other issues need further investigation that might drive older adults to feel less interest and adaptation intention in using SSC technology.
The older consumers who experience lower levels of digital literacy are being excluded from various technological advancements which can alleviate the economic and social difficulties of their daily lives. This study aims to identify ethical challenges with the objective of understanding older adults adapting intentions to the using Self-service checkout (SSC) in large supermarkets. This research will contribute through an interdisciplinary approach by practical, social, and theoretical prospectives to mitigate ethical challenges of AI technologies implementation for gerontology and aging population studies towards a broader societal and economic impact.
The older consumers who experience lower levels of digital literacy are being excluded from various technological advancements which can alleviate the economic and social difficulties of their daily lives. This study aims to identify ethical challenges with the objective of understanding older adults adapting intentions to the using Self-service checkout (SSC) in large supermarkets. This research will contribute through an interdisciplinary approach by practical, social, and theoretical prospectives to mitigate ethical challenges of AI technologies implementation for gerontology and aging population studies towards a broader societal and economic impact.
Xinyi Mao, School of Education - Engaging with AI Intimacy: A Qualitative Study of Romantic Meanings and Practices among Emerging Adults in China
This study examines how Chinese emerging adults (aged 18–25) engage with AI companions in emotionally meaningful, relationship-like ways, and how these engagements relate to their broader understandings of intimacy. Amid limited school- and family-based relationship education and strong cultural taboos around adolescent romance, many young people in China are turning to new relational forms, including situationships, Dazi companionships, and AI intimacies, that minimise emotional risk. Adopting a qualitative, interpretive design, the study combines semi-structured interviews with an online qualitative survey to explore how participants develop AI-mediated intimacy over time, the personal, relational, and sociocultural conditions shaping it, and its implications for real-life relationships. The analysis draws on a feminist poststructural and Foucauldian framework, reading intimacy as discursively produced rather than natural, alongside Davila et al.'s relationship competence model, comprising insight, mutuality, and emotion regulation, used here as sensitising concepts extended beyond their original Western, human-to-human context. By bringing together media and technology studies, feminist theory, developmental psychology, and Chinese sociocultural analysis, the study treats AI intimacy not as a purely technological phenomenon but as a socially situated relational practice, illuminating how gendered scripts of care and emotional labour may be reproduced, or reworked, in human–AI relationships.
Tran Ngoc Quyen Quyen, School of Arts - Navigating the Shadowed Zalo: EFL Teaching as Invisible Labour in Vietnamese Higher Education
This presentation reports a mixed-methods project on how English as a Foreign Language (EFL) lecturers at a public university in Central Vietnam use Zalo, with Facebook as a secondary channel, for teaching. This use operates outside institutional governance, a condition known as Shadow IT. The first, quantitative phase surveyed 93 lecturers and found two unresolved patterns: lecturers who communicated most with students on social media did not integrate the platforms more into their teaching, and lecturers with over 20 years of experience remained fluent in online communication while adapting their pedagogy more slowly than junior colleagues. The present phase explains both by triangulating open-ended survey responses from the 93 lecturers, interviews with 21 lecturers, and interviews with five institutional leaders. The qualitative data show that lecturers deliberately keep social media in a logistical role, separate from formal teaching, and that senior withdrawal and junior burnout are responses to the same ungoverned condition. While leaders did discuss workload in institutional terms, lecturer concerns about the erosion of personal boundaries and the right to disconnect received zero references from leaders. Lecturers and leaders operate in different informational worlds. The findings point to the need for policy that recognises social media teaching as institutional labour, not personal choice.
Chenxi Chen, School of Arts - Linguistic Creativity in Bilingual Early Childhood: A Group Case Study of Language Play in a Chinese Classroom in Australia
This qualitative longitudinal study investigates how linguistic creativity develops among fifteen heritage Mandarin-speaking children aged 5–6 in a community language school in north-west Sydney, and how multimodal resources support their creative language use. Although Mandarin is widely spoken in multilingual Australia, many heritage language children rely primarily on English and experience difficulty using Mandarin actively in classroom interaction. Previous research has examined bilingual language play, but little is known about its development in formal classrooms or the role of visual materials and auditory elements.
Over six months, data were collected through weekly classroom recordings, teacher interviews, and field notes. Drawing on translanguaging theory, visual grammar, and situated-embodied creativity, the study combines inductive thematic analysis with multimodal discourse analysis using NVivo and ELAN.
Preliminary findings indicate that children’s language play develops from non-target forms towards increasingly complex and creative uses of Mandarin. Multimodal resources help children overcome lexical gaps, co-construct playful meanings, and experiment with Mandarin in low-stakes interactions. The study conceptualises linguistic creativity as both developmental and context-bound, proposes a model of heritage Mandarin-speaking children’s creative language development, and offers implications for heritage language pedagogy, bilingual education, and theories of early bilingual development research.
Over six months, data were collected through weekly classroom recordings, teacher interviews, and field notes. Drawing on translanguaging theory, visual grammar, and situated-embodied creativity, the study combines inductive thematic analysis with multimodal discourse analysis using NVivo and ELAN.
Preliminary findings indicate that children’s language play develops from non-target forms towards increasingly complex and creative uses of Mandarin. Multimodal resources help children overcome lexical gaps, co-construct playful meanings, and experiment with Mandarin in low-stakes interactions. The study conceptualises linguistic creativity as both developmental and context-bound, proposes a model of heritage Mandarin-speaking children’s creative language development, and offers implications for heritage language pedagogy, bilingual education, and theories of early bilingual development research.
Saumindra (Somu) Bhattacharya, Institute for Culture and Society - Developing global supply chain for sustainable growth of the Australian agribusinesses in the Indian markets
Although Australian agricultural exports remain a significant contributor to the national economy, export across sectors has become increasingly volatile, with the mean value of agricultural exports forecast to decline by 3% in FY2026 (ABARES, 2025). Increasing climate change events and reduction of farm productivity (by 23% since 2020) makes it urgent to increase exports. While existing studies have examined export competitiveness and supply chain efficiency independently, there is limited empirical evidence explaining how technology infused innovative supply chain practices influence sector specific export growth. Bridging the research gap, this mixed method study will combine a systematic literature review and a practice review methodology to examine in-depth case studies from 8 subsectors, preceded by a Qualtrics-based online survey of owners and managers. With the help of SPSS software and a deductive thematic analysis of the interview insights, in comparison with established theories, the study will contribute to the literature on agribusiness supply chain practices and how they influence firm performance, export outcomes and competitive advantage. Findings will provide policy and managerial implications for Australian agribusinesses seeking to expand exports and strengthen their competitive advantage in emerging markets like India. Furthermore, the study contributes to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2, 8, 9,12, and 17.
Kharman Mahmud, School of Arts - “If we burn, you burn with us”: Identity, Family, and Home in The Hunger Games Trilogy
Applying a literary approach through a genre lens to The Hunger Games trilogy, my thesis discusses how Collins’ trilogy adheres and/or subverts two of its identifiable genres – the dystopian and bildungsroman. With identity being the prominent focus of this, I also examine how family and home are intrinsically connected in the web of Katniss’s forming identity and sense of selfhood.
To do this, my thesis proposes two research questions:
1. How does The Hunger Games trilogy reimagine identity, family, and home?
2. How does Suzanne Collins’ use genre to construct identity, family, and home in the trilogy?
In exploring Collins’ hybridisation of dystopian traits within a bildungsroman framework, this thesis argues that the trilogy situates Katniss’s coming-of-age journey and her developing identity as negotiated and mediated, rather than emancipatory - like the traditional bildungsroman depicts. Katniss’s bildung is constructed through a cyclical structure of - struggle-survival, struggle-defiance, and struggle-(reluctant)redemption - to emphasise the simultaneous non/linearity of her bildung in this dystopian society. In the trilogy’s resolution,
Katniss’s social integration is partial; she is paradoxically free and marginalised from the socio-cultural pressures she faced during her adolescence when she achieves the final stage of the coming-of-age process, which is adulthood.
To do this, my thesis proposes two research questions:
1. How does The Hunger Games trilogy reimagine identity, family, and home?
2. How does Suzanne Collins’ use genre to construct identity, family, and home in the trilogy?
In exploring Collins’ hybridisation of dystopian traits within a bildungsroman framework, this thesis argues that the trilogy situates Katniss’s coming-of-age journey and her developing identity as negotiated and mediated, rather than emancipatory - like the traditional bildungsroman depicts. Katniss’s bildung is constructed through a cyclical structure of - struggle-survival, struggle-defiance, and struggle-(reluctant)redemption - to emphasise the simultaneous non/linearity of her bildung in this dystopian society. In the trilogy’s resolution,
Katniss’s social integration is partial; she is paradoxically free and marginalised from the socio-cultural pressures she faced during her adolescence when she achieves the final stage of the coming-of-age process, which is adulthood.
Katherine (Katie) Acheson, Institute for Culture and Society - Can Creative Practice Build Governance Infrastructure? Methodological Questions at the Intersection of Co-Design, Speculative Design, and Youth Digital Rights
Governance of AI and digital platforms is being established globally, but young people particularly those from marginalised communities, are almost entirely absent from those processes. This paper-in-progress examines whether creative and participatory practice can generate the governance participation infrastructure that young people need, rather than merely documenting its absence or advocating for its creation.
The proposed Doctor of Creative Arts project is grounded in a 2023 Churchill Fellowship examining international practice in youth-led governance across five countries and 33 expert interviews, which identified both the conditions required for meaningful structural participation and a critical gap: no equivalent participation infrastructure exists for AI and digital platform governance. Drawing on practice-led research traditions (Smith and Dean, 2009), participatory action research (Kemmis and McTaggart, 2005), and speculative and critical design (Dunne and Raby, 2013), the project mobilises three interconnected creative modes: participatory governance design with young co-designers, speculative design as epistemic provocation, and creative knowledge translation.
This presentation maps the methodological tensions at the intersection of these traditions, specifically, the friction between participatory action research's commitment to community-responsive process and speculative design's tendency toward designer-led provocation, and asks whether those tensions are problems to resolve or productive sites of inquiry in their own right. It is hoped this paper will contribute to interdisciplinary debates about what creative practice can generate as knowledge that empirical or theoretical research alone cannot, and how methods from across disciplines might strengthen practice-led approaches to urgent questions of digital governance.
The proposed Doctor of Creative Arts project is grounded in a 2023 Churchill Fellowship examining international practice in youth-led governance across five countries and 33 expert interviews, which identified both the conditions required for meaningful structural participation and a critical gap: no equivalent participation infrastructure exists for AI and digital platform governance. Drawing on practice-led research traditions (Smith and Dean, 2009), participatory action research (Kemmis and McTaggart, 2005), and speculative and critical design (Dunne and Raby, 2013), the project mobilises three interconnected creative modes: participatory governance design with young co-designers, speculative design as epistemic provocation, and creative knowledge translation.
This presentation maps the methodological tensions at the intersection of these traditions, specifically, the friction between participatory action research's commitment to community-responsive process and speculative design's tendency toward designer-led provocation, and asks whether those tensions are problems to resolve or productive sites of inquiry in their own right. It is hoped this paper will contribute to interdisciplinary debates about what creative practice can generate as knowledge that empirical or theoretical research alone cannot, and how methods from across disciplines might strengthen practice-led approaches to urgent questions of digital governance.
Nick Keys, School of Arts - Method and Literary Science
This paper discusses the problems of method that arise from trying to take literature seriously as an object of scientific study. The premise of my paper, and of my thesis project, is the contention that the ancient quarrel between Poetry and Philosophy, which in modern terms is the bifurcation of Literature and Science, is in the end a false distinction. All four of these things, whatever their differences, which are certainly real, are all ultimately dealing with or failing to deal with the same reality: the way things are. The nature of gravity does not change character when it crosses into literature, and the nature of human desire does not suspend its operation when it crosses into physics. Of course, they study different parts of this common reality and the methods they use to inquire are different. This paper will wrestle with the problems of method that I encounter when applying a hypothesis to the data of literary texts. These problems seems to be, on the level particular to literary science, equivalent to the general problem of thinking about the way things are, namely, how to treat things as parts of a whole, parts that can be separated and studied apart from the whole, and then how to put those parts back together in a way that does justice to the unity of the whole. In other words, how to get at the underlying continuity of the pattern without betraying the reality and meaning of differences.
Mohammad Harahsheh, School of Education - Becoming More Creative Through Interdisciplinary Research: Integrating Democratic Education, Participatory Action Research and Cultural Wellbeing in Jordanian Secondary Schools
This presentation demonstrates how interdisciplinary research can generate new understandings of teacher professional learning by integrating educational philosophy, participatory methodology, and cultural theory. My doctoral research explores how secondary English teachers in Jordan became more creative through a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project informed by John Dewey's theory of democratic education and the Cultural Wellbeing Framework.
Rather than treating creativity as a teaching technique, the study conceptualises creative teaching as an ongoing process of professional, relational, and cultural transformation. PAR enabled teachers to become co-researchers who collaboratively reflected on classroom practice, while Dewey's philosophy provided a democratic lens for understanding teacher learning and student participation. The Cultural Wellbeing Framework further extended the analysis by examining how creativity contributes to belonging, identity, agency, and meaningful educational experiences.
By bringing together these complementary theories and methods within the context of Jordanian public schools, the research illustrates how interdisciplinary inquiry can address complex educational challenges that cannot be understood through a single disciplinary perspective. The presentation reflects on the opportunities and challenges of combining philosophical, methodological, and cultural perspectives in educational research and argues that interdisciplinary approaches provide richer explanations of teacher learning and educational change than any individual framework alone.
Rather than treating creativity as a teaching technique, the study conceptualises creative teaching as an ongoing process of professional, relational, and cultural transformation. PAR enabled teachers to become co-researchers who collaboratively reflected on classroom practice, while Dewey's philosophy provided a democratic lens for understanding teacher learning and student participation. The Cultural Wellbeing Framework further extended the analysis by examining how creativity contributes to belonging, identity, agency, and meaningful educational experiences.
By bringing together these complementary theories and methods within the context of Jordanian public schools, the research illustrates how interdisciplinary inquiry can address complex educational challenges that cannot be understood through a single disciplinary perspective. The presentation reflects on the opportunities and challenges of combining philosophical, methodological, and cultural perspectives in educational research and argues that interdisciplinary approaches provide richer explanations of teacher learning and educational change than any individual framework alone.
Geena Cheung, School of Arts - Exploring the therapeutic use of music technology by Registered Music Therapists within residential aged care settings in Australia
Technology has become increasingly embedded in everyday life, including in how people experience and access healthcare. However, the aged care sector has seen slower uptake of technology in care provision, despite rapid technological advances offering potential to support health, functional ability, and quality of life. Findings from previous workforce research suggest a similar pattern within music therapy practice, where music therapists have reported lower integration of music technology into interventions when working with older adults compared to other clinical populations. Additionally, older adults remain underrepresented in existing literature examining clinical applications of music technology, which has predominantly focused on disability, neurorehabilitation, and mental health contexts. This presentation will report preliminary findings from a survey-based study exploring how Registered Music Therapists use music technology in residential aged care settings, including perceived barriers and facilitators, and attitudes towards its use. Implications for practice and future research will be discussed through an interdisciplinary lens, incorporating perspectives from music therapy, healthy and active ageing, dementia care, and health services research.
Carolyn Galbraith, School of Education - Walking Outdoors as an Interdisciplinary Practice
The practice of walking is simultaneously a concept to be studied, a method of gaining data, and has the potential to be an essential tool for researchers, practitioners, and others working alongside children and their families. Walking itself can be studied from an interdisciplinary perspective, exploring its history, physiology, and social implications, but can also be used as an occupational tool, such as walking therapy, or, as in my work, part of a methodology to gain data from participants. As a research practice, walking may generate ideas, assist with problem-solving, and restore one’s attention after depletion. Walking outdoors offers benefits to human health and wellbeing, with particular advantages when walking in natural rather than urban settings. In my research, parents of children with and without autism went for a short walk in nature and shared their experiences afterwards. The participants reported that walking with their children provided opportunities for communication and connection, coordination and calm. The multiple possibilities of walking allow it to be a useful interdisciplinary practice for researchers across many fields.
Tianci (Yoko) Yuan, School of Business - The Impact of AI Adoption on A-REITs’ Financial Performance
My research topic is The Impact of AI Adoption on A-REITs’ Financial Performance, it discusses the impact of AI on the global economy, especially on the real estate market from various aspects. As my research focuses on A-REITs, a lot of investigations also be done to analysis the AI application on A-REITs company. Through the data collection of different A-REITs company's annual report and other literature reviews, we can see if the new technology of AI can benefit the company's profit and how.
This study will use the secondary data from MorningStar which provide up-to date detailed financial data of A-REITs. The methodology of this research is panel data regression. We will find if these A-REITs companies use AI on their financial performance in their annual reports. For further analyze, a specific Excel table will be done to demonstrate the different types of AI activities used for A-REITs in recently years.
Contributions to REITs: This study fills a key gap by linking AI adoption to financial performance in A-REITs, demonstrating how AI can enhance asset management and operational efficiency. It provides practical guidance for REITs to implement AI strategically, improving competitiveness, transparency and long-term value creation. Implications for Investors: This research shows how AI adoption influences the financial performance of A-REITs, helping investors make more informed investment decisions. It highlights AI implementation as a potential indicator of long-term growth, operational strength and innovation capacity.
This study will use the secondary data from MorningStar which provide up-to date detailed financial data of A-REITs. The methodology of this research is panel data regression. We will find if these A-REITs companies use AI on their financial performance in their annual reports. For further analyze, a specific Excel table will be done to demonstrate the different types of AI activities used for A-REITs in recently years.
Contributions to REITs: This study fills a key gap by linking AI adoption to financial performance in A-REITs, demonstrating how AI can enhance asset management and operational efficiency. It provides practical guidance for REITs to implement AI strategically, improving competitiveness, transparency and long-term value creation. Implications for Investors: This research shows how AI adoption influences the financial performance of A-REITs, helping investors make more informed investment decisions. It highlights AI implementation as a potential indicator of long-term growth, operational strength and innovation capacity.
Ahmed Bunduka, School of Social Science - Income Inequality - An Urban Socioeconomic Disparity (A Case Study of Western Sydney, Australia)
Income inequality is an interdisciplinary approach that interests not only economists, but also other social scientists including sociologists, health scientists, psychologists, criminologists, and political scientists. This paper will investigate the relationship between income inequality and economic growth for a sample of ten western Sydney local government areas for the periods 2010 to 2014, 2015 to 2019 and 2021 to 2025. The average economic growth during these periods will be regressed against the 2010, 2015 and 2021 values of inequality and controlled key social variables including initial growth, education, health, and occupation using OLS models. Although few previous studies show positive relationship between income inequality and economic growth, many studies reveal a negative relationship using cross-sectional data. There is no consensus in these theories thereby striking debatable premises. Western Sydney provides an opportunity to examine whether the relationship between income inequality and economic growth identified in national and international studies also holds at the metropolitan or regional level. This paper will offer insights into how government policymakers and development practitioners build sound policies geared towards inclusive growth of the economy. Based on the findings, appropriate recommendations will be proposed for policy reform.
Sarka Dvorakova, School of Business - Enhancing Local Government Service Delivery by Strengthening Internal Strategic Decision-Making: A Case Study of Councils in Western Sydney, NSW, Australia
Balancing limited financial resources with competing community priorities presents a significant strategic decision-making challenge for local governments. Yet, there is limited understanding of how internal strategic decisions are made to allocate resources and prioritise services. This research investigates the factors influencing internal strategic decision-making in three councils in Western Sydney , with a focus on domestic waste management, sport and recreation services, and infrastructure provision.
Using a qualitative multiple case study approach, the study examines the factors shaping internal strategic decision-making and seeks to develop an evidence-based Advanced Strategic Decision-Making Management Model. The research is guided by three questions: (1) how can local government service delivery be enhanced through an Advanced Strategic Decision-Making Management Model; (2) who are the key stakeholders involved in decision-making for the selected services; and (3) how are internal strategic decisions made for these services?
The study has received Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) approval and collected primary and secondary data through semi-structured interviews with 14 senior and middle managers, supported by documentary analysis. Data are currently being analysed using thematic analysis and triangulation. The findings are expected to advance the theoretical understanding of internal strategic decision-making in local government and inform the development of an evidence-based Advanced Strategic Decision-Making Model. The model will provide councils with a practical framework to improve resource allocation, strengthen governance, and enhance service delivery for local communities.
Using a qualitative multiple case study approach, the study examines the factors shaping internal strategic decision-making and seeks to develop an evidence-based Advanced Strategic Decision-Making Management Model. The research is guided by three questions: (1) how can local government service delivery be enhanced through an Advanced Strategic Decision-Making Management Model; (2) who are the key stakeholders involved in decision-making for the selected services; and (3) how are internal strategic decisions made for these services?
The study has received Human Research Ethics Committee (HREC) approval and collected primary and secondary data through semi-structured interviews with 14 senior and middle managers, supported by documentary analysis. Data are currently being analysed using thematic analysis and triangulation. The findings are expected to advance the theoretical understanding of internal strategic decision-making in local government and inform the development of an evidence-based Advanced Strategic Decision-Making Model. The model will provide councils with a practical framework to improve resource allocation, strengthen governance, and enhance service delivery for local communities.
Nicole Campbell, Institute for Culture and Society - Exploring infrastructure investment within Western Sydney: "Whose voices are heard? not heard? silenced?"
My research project focuses on decision making processes and practices in relation to urban planning and large infrastructure investment within Western Sydney. I am exploring “Whose voices are Heard? Not Heard? Silenced?”
My theoretical framework draws on Loic Wacquant’s “Territorial Stigmatisation” (Wacquant, 2006, 2009, 2014) as I examine whether the triangulation of class, race and the State might apply to decision making processes in parts of Western Sydney. I also draw on Tess Lea’s concept of the “Policy Ecology” (Lea, 2024), to consider what sits behind the artefact of a written policy like a published metropolitan planning strategy. What social norms, prejudices, political influences and competing timeframes may have influenced the end document produced?
My methodology uses a Foucauldian based discourse analysis (Bachhi and Goodwin, 2025), to analyse Sydney metropolitan planning strategies spanning the last 5 decades. Concurrently, I am undertaking semi-structured interviews with participants from NSW State government agencies, local government, commercial developers, consultants, First Nations organisations, and community based organisations within in Western Sydney.
In developing a clearer picture of the extent to which external and personal factors may influence decision making processes, my research makes a valuable contribution to governance, urban planning, policy development, and public administration.
Jingying Cai, School of Education - Analysing the Media Images of Women Tennis Players: A Mixed-Method Comparative Study of China and Australia
Women's sport has received increasing media attention in recent years, yet the representation of women athletes continues to vary across cultural contexts. This study will examine how Chinese and Australian mainstream media construct the public image of women tennis players during the Australian Open (2021–2025). It will adopt a convergent mixed-method approach within an interdisciplinary framework that integrates cross-cultural communication, gender studies, and sport media studies to investigate how cultural values, gender norms, and media practices shape news narratives.
Using mixed-method content analysis, the study will analyse news articles published by leading Chinese and Australian media outlets. Quantitative analysis will identify reporting patterns, including the frequency of key themes, framing strategies, and media focus. Qualitative content analysis will examine how language, cultural meanings, and gendered representations are constructed in news discourse. By integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches, the research will compare reporting trends across the two countries and examine how broader cultural and social contexts influence media portrayals of women athletes.
This study will combine interdisciplinary perspectives with mixed methods to provide a more comprehensive understanding of gender representation in sport. It will also contribute to discussions on cross-cultural communication, media practice, and gender equality in contemporary sport.
Using mixed-method content analysis, the study will analyse news articles published by leading Chinese and Australian media outlets. Quantitative analysis will identify reporting patterns, including the frequency of key themes, framing strategies, and media focus. Qualitative content analysis will examine how language, cultural meanings, and gendered representations are constructed in news discourse. By integrating quantitative and qualitative approaches, the research will compare reporting trends across the two countries and examine how broader cultural and social contexts influence media portrayals of women athletes.
This study will combine interdisciplinary perspectives with mixed methods to provide a more comprehensive understanding of gender representation in sport. It will also contribute to discussions on cross-cultural communication, media practice, and gender equality in contemporary sport.
Scott Meechan, School of Social Sciences - Ongoing Occupational Training and Citizen Engagement: How police officers and police organisational management perceive training and professional practice.
Police organisations face criticism regarding the quality of police-citizen interaction and how they engage with citizens. Much of the criticism is underpinned by the way officers meet service-oriented outcomes and whether they are professional. While research has focused predominantly on how initial academy-based training prepares officers for civilian engagement, there remains limited understanding of how post-academy training, referred to as ongoing occupational training (OOT), maintains or effects professionalism during police-citizen engagement. To examine this phenomenon, semi-structured interviews were conducted with police officers employed within one Australian police organisation. Consistent with the conference theme of interdisciplinary perspectives, the study integrates insights from policing, education, human society and psychology to analyse the impact of OOT on police-citizen engagement. Applying Social Identity Theory (Tajfel & Turner, 1979) and Procedural Justice Theory (Tyler, 1990), preliminary findings suggest that officers’ ability to engage professionally with civilians is shaped by the quality, content and delivery of OOT, together with informal learning experiences. These findings highlight that there is a significant need for police organisations to reassess the importance and structure of OOT and how it affects officer professionalism.
Adrijana Tomovic, School of Arts - Expectations, assumptions and realities of HDR candidates through supervisors’ lens
Western Sydney University’s (WSU) cohort of Higher Degree by Research (HDR) students is highly heterogeneous in terms of candidates’ academic, linguistic and cultural backgrounds (WSU, 2025). Within this diversity, WSU HDR supervisors not only supervise projects but also, quite often, have to reconcile their own world(s) with their candidates’ world(s) and find the best way to support their students towards successful completion of candidature. This paper presents WSU HDR supervisors’ views on HDR candidates’ academic readiness skills across academic communication literacy, research literacy and cultural literacy, as well as their assessment of the available support for HDR candidates at WSU. This is a qualitative study based on thematic analysis (Xu & Zammit, 2020) of the data collected through semi-structured interviews with 11 HDR supervisors at the Faculty of SABEL. The results show that WSU HDR supervisors recognise a range of challenges that HDR candidates are encountering across the three targeted sets of skills. They mostly agree that the reasons behind these challenges often stem from candidates’ diverse academic and cultural backgrounds, which are not always acknowledged. The participants shared their ideas for addressing these challenges at both the supervisory and institutional levels.
Tara Pound, School of Social Sciences - Preparing Adolescents for Disasters: Integrating Psychological, Educational and Community Perspectives to Inform Bushfire Preparedness Research and Interventions.
This presentation explores how interdisciplinary research can generate new understandings of adolescent disaster preparedness by integrating perspectives from psychology, education, disaster studies, and community resilience research. My doctoral research examines how evidence from these intersecting fields can inform the development of an adolescent bushfire psychological preparedness intervention for Australian communities.
Despite adolescents being increasingly exposed to disaster risks, preparedness programs have traditionally focused on younger children or adults, with limited attention given to adolescent-specific needs. This scoping review examined international evidence on adolescent disaster preparedness programs, exploring effective educational approaches, program strategies, and outcomes, with particular consideration of implications for bushfire preparedness.
Using a scoping review methodology, 22 studies from academic and grey literature were synthesised through a deductive framework analysis. Findings were mapped across seven domains of disaster preparedness and resilience, allowing evidence from diverse disciplines and hazard contexts to be integrated. Results highlighted that existing programs commonly prioritise hazard knowledge and awareness, while psychological, behavioural, and social dimensions of preparedness remain less developed. Experiential and participatory approaches, including simulation, collaboration, reflection, and real-world problem solving, demonstrated greater potential for developing confidence, self-efficacy, and preparedness behaviours than passive instructional approaches.
By bringing together psychological theory, educational practice, and disaster resilience frameworks, this research demonstrates how interdisciplinary approaches can address complex challenges that extend beyond the boundaries of a single discipline. The presentation will reflect on the value of integrating diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives to inform the design of culturally and contextually appropriate bushfire preparedness programs for adolescents in Australia.
Despite adolescents being increasingly exposed to disaster risks, preparedness programs have traditionally focused on younger children or adults, with limited attention given to adolescent-specific needs. This scoping review examined international evidence on adolescent disaster preparedness programs, exploring effective educational approaches, program strategies, and outcomes, with particular consideration of implications for bushfire preparedness.
Using a scoping review methodology, 22 studies from academic and grey literature were synthesised through a deductive framework analysis. Findings were mapped across seven domains of disaster preparedness and resilience, allowing evidence from diverse disciplines and hazard contexts to be integrated. Results highlighted that existing programs commonly prioritise hazard knowledge and awareness, while psychological, behavioural, and social dimensions of preparedness remain less developed. Experiential and participatory approaches, including simulation, collaboration, reflection, and real-world problem solving, demonstrated greater potential for developing confidence, self-efficacy, and preparedness behaviours than passive instructional approaches.
By bringing together psychological theory, educational practice, and disaster resilience frameworks, this research demonstrates how interdisciplinary approaches can address complex challenges that extend beyond the boundaries of a single discipline. The presentation will reflect on the value of integrating diverse theoretical and methodological perspectives to inform the design of culturally and contextually appropriate bushfire preparedness programs for adolescents in Australia.
Scott Davis, School of Arts - Surviving Through Syncretism: The Transformation and Resilience of Indigenous Cosmologies in Palawan
This paper explores the transformation of indigenous cosmological beliefs in Palawan under the influence of Christianity and Islam. Focusing on rituals such as the Pagdiwata and spiritual figures like diwatas and Mangindusa, it examines how these traditions have been reinterpreted through processes of syncretism and adaptation. Drawing on secondary sources and archival research, particularly on the Taaw’t Bato and Tagbanua peoples, the study reconstructs fragmented histories. It argues that syncretism operates as a strategy of cultural survival rather than simple fusion, highlighting how indigenous communities negotiate identity, belief, and belonging within changing religious landscapes shaped by colonialism, modernity, and globalisation.
Matthew Lahoud, School of Arts - Designing conditions for relational reasoning: SEED AI as a platform for pedagogy, practice and research
Design education and practice increasingly operate within entangled social, ecological and technological conditions, while many established approaches can privilege human-centred, solution-led processes shaped by efficiency and output. Social and Ecological Engagement in Design (SEED) responds with an adaptive framework for relational and systems-oriented inquiry across lateral creative phases. SEED AI extends the framework into an interactive environment where pedagogical and practice-based principles can be experienced and applied.
Building on research positioning SEED AI as a learning companion (Lahoud, 2025), this presentation demonstrates an integrated platform spanning pedagogy, practice and research, combining dialogic interaction, reflection and conversational systems mapping. Productive friction challenges premature solution-making by creating space for conceptual depth and contextual attunement, while a ‘living synthesis’ gathers, reorganises and visualises emerging context, tensions, and possibilities. Together, these processes operationalise SEED by encouraging participants to question assumptions, reframe situations, trace relationships and consider the wider implications of their work.
Rather than automating or accelerating design outcomes, SEED AI seeks to support social–ecological awareness while centring human creativity, agency and responsibility. Informed by practice-led design workshops, the presentation considers how the platform might be adapted and evaluated across settings, while generating research material for studying relational reasoning and human–AI interaction.
Building on research positioning SEED AI as a learning companion (Lahoud, 2025), this presentation demonstrates an integrated platform spanning pedagogy, practice and research, combining dialogic interaction, reflection and conversational systems mapping. Productive friction challenges premature solution-making by creating space for conceptual depth and contextual attunement, while a ‘living synthesis’ gathers, reorganises and visualises emerging context, tensions, and possibilities. Together, these processes operationalise SEED by encouraging participants to question assumptions, reframe situations, trace relationships and consider the wider implications of their work.
Rather than automating or accelerating design outcomes, SEED AI seeks to support social–ecological awareness while centring human creativity, agency and responsibility. Informed by practice-led design workshops, the presentation considers how the platform might be adapted and evaluated across settings, while generating research material for studying relational reasoning and human–AI interaction.
Reza Taghipour, School of Arts - Persuasive Murals in Iran: Artistic Depictions of Violence and War
This practice-led research project investigates the socio-political nature of Iranian public art, focusing principally on murals composed after the 1979 Iranian revolution that juxtapose images of artistic beauty with depictions of war and violence. Consequently, the primary objective of this research is to investigate the persuasive power of mural art in Iran by examining how the combination of aesthetically beautiful images containing violent and warlike themes serves to influence public perception and collective consciousness. The project’s creative component will also employ culture jamming design techniques to subvert existing elements of the murals, thereby creating a contrasting art form to generate the opposite effect. To critique the propagandistic function of Iranian mural art, these “remixed” artworks, in stark contrast to their principal themes (for example, concerning the justification and glorification of war), intend to promote social awareness, peace, anti-war sentiment, and democratic ideals. The project utilises a comprehensive methodology that includes aesthetic evaluation through visual analysis techniques such as Gestalt theory. Furthermore, the dialogue between empirical research and creative work, including experimenting with different techniques and visual elements, holds the potential to unlock innovative artistic creations inspired by Iranian mural art.
Ansa Riaz, School of Social Sciences - Socio-cultural construction of Child Sexual Abuse in Pakistan
This study aims to explore the socio-cultural construction of child sexual abuse (CSA) in Pakistan, with a focus on how parents, community leaders, and stakeholders construct CSA. Following a qualitative research design, sixteen face-to-face in-depth interviews were conducted with parents, community leaders, and stakeholders. The findings identified that participants construct CSA as a gendered phenomenon shaped by socio-cultural norms and reinforced by ineffective support systems and media globalization. They termed it gendered due to gender roles and gender stereotyping determining the risk, vulnerability, and impact. Besides, socio-cultural norms of procreation, marriage, parenting, and social interactions shaped its gendered construction. The cultural scripts were identified as dominating the description of offenders' drivers of sexual offence. Support systems were considered ineffective in implementation, with biased, unprofessional behaviours, and corrupt practices. The results revealed that the police and judiciary reinforced the same social norms that promote silence and non-reporting. Whereas the child protection system was identified as inadequate in terms of approach, coverage, and services. Lastly, the media’s coverage was constructed as positive for CSA visibility, and the internet was termed as facilitating uncensored access to sexual content promoting CSA. The results will help to develop a comprehensive community-centred child safeguarding framework.
Yutong Zhang, School of Arts - A Comparative Analysis of ChatGPT and DeepSeek in English-Chinese News Translation
Large language models (LLMs), including ChatGPT and DeepSeek, are increasingly used in cross-cultural communication and global news production. However, systematic comparisons of their English-Chinese news translations remain limited, particularly in how they reconstruct meaning, stance, and cultural or political perspectives. This ongoing study examines how ChatGPT-4o and DeepSeek-V2 translate English language news into Chinese from a translation studies perspective. Guided by Skopos Theory, Critical Discourse Analysis, Translation Quality Assessment, and Media Framing Theory, it considers both the linguistic quality of the translations and the ways in which news meaning is reconstructed across languages. The analysis covers news reports on politics, economics, technology, and culture, focusing on accuracy, fluency, terminology, journalistic style, cultural and political sensitivity, stance, and ideological framing. Selected examples illustrate how the two models may interpret and represent the same source text differently. The study contributes to current research by bringing translation theory, discourse analysis, translation evaluation, and news framing into an interdisciplinary framework for examining AI news translation. It extends discussions of translation quality beyond linguistic accuracy and offers further insight into the relationship between human interpretation and AI-generated language in global news communication.
Mitra Khalili, School of Social Sciences - Does a greener neighbourhood mean you pay less for cooling when it is hot?
Extreme heat is increasing the demand for domestic cooling. Urban tree canopy is widely recognised as a nature-based solution that can mitigate heat exposure. However, its influence on household electricity consumption during extreme heat remains poorly understood.
This study investigates the relationship between tree canopy cover, extreme heat and residential electricity use across the Ausgrid electricity network and its 1.8 million customers. The presentation will unpack the relationships between tree canopy cover and electricity use during summer, taking household wealth into account. The analysis was based on data from 736 smart meters across the operating area of Ausgrid in Metropolitan Sydney.
Applying quantitative analysis and regression modelling, results revealed significant socioeconomic differences in the cooling benefits provided by urban trees. Greater canopy cover was associated with reduced electricity use during hot days in areas where households were less wealthy. In contrast, increasing tree canopy cover had little to no effect on the electricity use of wealthier households during the same hot days.
These results indicate that growing new trees in areas where household income and tree shade are low will lead to better thermal and monetary outcomes for residents. Recommendations for urban greening policies that better address energy-equity are provided.
This study investigates the relationship between tree canopy cover, extreme heat and residential electricity use across the Ausgrid electricity network and its 1.8 million customers. The presentation will unpack the relationships between tree canopy cover and electricity use during summer, taking household wealth into account. The analysis was based on data from 736 smart meters across the operating area of Ausgrid in Metropolitan Sydney.
Applying quantitative analysis and regression modelling, results revealed significant socioeconomic differences in the cooling benefits provided by urban trees. Greater canopy cover was associated with reduced electricity use during hot days in areas where households were less wealthy. In contrast, increasing tree canopy cover had little to no effect on the electricity use of wealthier households during the same hot days.
These results indicate that growing new trees in areas where household income and tree shade are low will lead to better thermal and monetary outcomes for residents. Recommendations for urban greening policies that better address energy-equity are provided.
Sara Shaji, School of Arts - Postcolonial Narratives of Existence and Coexistence: Exploring Human–Animal Relations in Selected South Indian Fiction
This research project examines selected South Indian novels through the lens of postcolonial ecocriticism and the concept of animal colonialism. Despite the elucidation of colonial power, resistance, and identity of individuals, postcolonial literature has also integrated nonhuman life into systems of governance and ecological control, thereby creating novel dimensions to human-animal relationships. Even with the flourishing studies of postcolonial ecocriticism and animal studies, the multispecies postcolonial literary contexts from a regional spectrum, especially from South Indian fiction, remain largely unexplored. Western literary animal studies theory draws on the discourses of Locke, Derrida, Baudrillard, Berger, and others to comprehend human-animal relations and their ideological consequences for current anthropocentrism. Literary animal studies in India definitely draws ideas from the western concept of Human-Animal Studies, but has its roots in the pre-colonial ages of Sanskrit writings and Buddhist narratives that valued animal consciousness and non-injury/Ahimsa. Primarily employing qualitative methodology and particularly a close reading analysis of Poonachi by Perumal Murugan, Adam by S. Hareesh, The Tusk Did that Damage by Tania James, The Ministry of Utmost Happiness by Arundhati Roy and Government Brahmana by Aravind Malagatti, this research investigates how the remnants of colonialism shape multispecies identity in the postcolonial present of South India. Ultimately, the project aims to position the role of humanities in general and South Indian fiction in particular within the global academia for discussing the ongoing environmental precarity and climate change.
Joelle Hajal, School of Business - The Economic Burden of Foodborne Disease: A Systematic Review of Cost Frameworks and Economic Perspectives in High Income Countries
Background and Objectives: Foodborne diseases pose a public health challenge, generating substantial socioeconomic impacts on health‑care systems, individuals, businesses and governments. The analysis of the economic burden of foodborne diseases is often focused on direct costs and hence, the study aimed to systematically review different aspects of the economic burden of foodborne disease in high-income countries.
Methods: Databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, EconLit, CINAHL, Scopus, Business Source Complete, SocINDEX, APA PsycInfo and Web of Science) and grey literature were searched to March 2025. No restrictions were placed on study design. Two reviewers independently screened all records and extracted data on methodological characteristics, foodborne disease details and economic characteristics. Study quality was assessed using a fourteen‑item tool. A narrative synthesis summarised findings across three dimensions: cost domains (direct medical, direct non‑medical, indirect and intangible), specific cost components within each domain, and the economic perspectives adopted.
Results: Ninety studies from 21 countries were included, most from North America and Europe, with the United States contributing nearly half. Direct medical costs were reported in 90% of studies, while direct non‑medical, indirect and intangible costs were less consistently captured (76%, 41% and 37%). Hospital care, outpatient visits and medication costs were the most frequently reported components, whereas public health response costs, household out‑of‑pocket expenses and industry losses were often omitted. Most studies adopted a societal perspective (76%).
Conclusion: Foodborne disease imposes a substantial yet consistently underestimated economic burden in high‑income countries, as studies typically report narrow, medically focused costs and rarely capture the full societal impact.
Methods: Databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, EconLit, CINAHL, Scopus, Business Source Complete, SocINDEX, APA PsycInfo and Web of Science) and grey literature were searched to March 2025. No restrictions were placed on study design. Two reviewers independently screened all records and extracted data on methodological characteristics, foodborne disease details and economic characteristics. Study quality was assessed using a fourteen‑item tool. A narrative synthesis summarised findings across three dimensions: cost domains (direct medical, direct non‑medical, indirect and intangible), specific cost components within each domain, and the economic perspectives adopted.
Results: Ninety studies from 21 countries were included, most from North America and Europe, with the United States contributing nearly half. Direct medical costs were reported in 90% of studies, while direct non‑medical, indirect and intangible costs were less consistently captured (76%, 41% and 37%). Hospital care, outpatient visits and medication costs were the most frequently reported components, whereas public health response costs, household out‑of‑pocket expenses and industry losses were often omitted. Most studies adopted a societal perspective (76%).
Conclusion: Foodborne disease imposes a substantial yet consistently underestimated economic burden in high‑income countries, as studies typically report narrow, medically focused costs and rarely capture the full societal impact.
Huong Ho, School of Arts - A developmental portrait of acquiring Vietnamese as a second language
Vietnamese is recognised as a community language in several countries including Australia, and taught in university programmes worldwide (Tran, 2018; Phan & Sakach, 2026). Nevertheless, the acquisition of Vietnamese as a second language remains underexplored within theories of language processing. This study addresses that gap by investigating how Vietnamese L2 learners acquire structures in the language, within the framework of the Lexical Mapping Hypothesis (Pienemann et al., 2005; Bettoni & Di Biase, 2015) and Processability Theory (Pienemann, 1998). Longitudinal data were elicited from adult learners of Vietnamese as a second language over three to nine months, using speaking tasks designed to prompt varied sentence types. Results show a consistent developmental pattern across learners, who initially rely on default mapping, assigning the most prominent thematic role, the agent, to subject function, before progressing through default mapping with an additional argument and finally to non-default mapping, where the least prominent thematic role functions as subject. These findings may inform the teaching of Vietnamese to Vietnamese second language learners. As Vietnamese is an Austroasiatic language, they may also contribute to the typological validity of the Lexical Mapping Hypothesis and Processability Theory, which are supported across several other language families (Kawaguchi et al., 2023).