Institute for Culture and Society

Current Students and Dissertation Topics

Nicholas Agafonoff - Do brands teach us things? An Ethnomethodology of Successful Versus Unsuccessful Brand Pedagogies - Supervisors: Megan Watkins and Gay Hawkins - PhD

Ilia Antenucci - Beyond the Cloud. Security and the Making of Digital Cities in Cape Town and Kolkata - Supervisor: Brett Neilson, Co-Supervisor: Jessica Whyte - PhD

Vanicka Arora - Post-Disaster (Re) Construction of Cultural Heritage: Negotiating Value, Authenticity and Acceptable Change in Kathmandu Valley, Nepal - Supervisor: Hayley Saul; Co-Supervisors: Emma Waterton and Denis Byrne - PhD

Emilie Baganz - 'Cities, Creative Production and Innovation' - Supervisors: Deborah Stevenson and Kylie Budge - PhD

Helen Barcham - Beyond the 'Docile Subject': Women's Entanglements with Therapy Culture as Ethical Self-Making - Supervisor: Tanya Notley, Co-Supervisor: Penny Rossiter - PhD

Utsab Bhattarai - Resilience Building: A Study of Livelihood Management Practices of the Sherpa People in the Khumbu (Everest) Region, Nepal - Supervisor: Robyn Bushell, Co-Supervisors: Emma Waterton and Felicity Picken - PhD

Christopher Cheng - Translocal Built Environment of Chinese Emigration from the Pearl River Delta to Australia - Supervisor: Denis Byrne, Co-Supervisors: Ien Ang and Jocelyn Chey - PhD

Bhavya Chitranshi - The Cusp of Postcapitalist and Feminist Praxis: In Adivasi Contexts - Supervisor: Katherine Gibson; Co-Supervisor: Stephen Healy - PhD

Alexandra Coleman - The Socio-Cultural Experiences of Students from Western Sydney Who Are the First in Their Family to Attend University - Supervisor: George Morgan; Co-Supervisor: Penelope Rossiter and Shanthi Robertson - PhD.

Matt Dalziel - What Role Does Socio-economic Status Play in Determining the Digital Information Seeking Behaviours Amongst Year 11 Students Considering Post-secondary Career Options? - Supervisor: Jerry Watkins; Co-Supervisor: Megan Watkins - PhD

Karen Sy de Jesus - Quo Vadis, Chinese Diaspora? Cultural Identities in the Transnational Social Field - Supervisors: Ien Ang and Shanthi Robertson - PhD

Luigi Di Martino - Digital Diplomacy - New Strategies for a Social Public Diplomacy - Supervisor: Ien Ang; Co-Supervisor: Greg Noble - PhD

Amelia Duong - Young Women in Hip Hop - MRes

Xuegang Fan - Alternative Food Networks in China: New Peasantry and Reproduction of Alternative Agricultural Space - Supervisors: Katherine Gibson and Stephen Healy - PhD

Kecia Fong - Challenging Conservation: Negotiating Space, History, and Culture - Supervisor: Donald McNeill; Co-Supervisors: Emma Waterton and Deborah Stevenson - PhD

Caroline Gasteen - Understanding, Evaluating and Critiquing Contemporary Digitisation Practices of Australian Museums - Supervisor: Fiona Cameron and Liam Magee - PhD

Mohammad Hanafi - 'Religious Values in Civic Engagement in Indonesian Higher Education' - Supervisors: Greg Noble and Megan Watkins - PhD

Sera Harris - Social Workers and Technology: Rethinking Relationships in Practice - Supervisor: Amanda Third, Co-Supervisors: Brian Robert Stout and Bob Hodge - PhD

Michael Hartup - Young Musicians' Experiences of Vulnerability and Resilience within their Music-Making Practice - Supervisor: Amanda Third; Co-Supervisor: Philippa Collin - PhD

Ha Hoang - Korean Popular Culture, Vietnamese Fan Practices and Transculturalism - Supervisor: Ien Ang; Co-supervisors: David Rowe and Anna Cristina Pertierra - PhD

Tsvetelina Hristova - Transformation of Professional Work Through Digital Mobility of Labour; the Case of Teleradiology - Supervisor: Brett Neilson; Co-Supervisor: Shanthi Robertson - PhD

Sky Hugman - Cross-Sector Knowledge Sharing - Supervisor: Amanda Third; Co-Supervisor: Philippa Collin - PhD

Clinton Johnson - Complicating Nation? Examining Federally Funded Touring Exhibition in an Assemblage Framework - Supervisors: Deborah Stevenson and Emma Waterton - PhD

Marina Khan - Technological Spaces and Network Governance: Transformations in the Australian Migration Industry - Supervisor: Shanthi Robertson; Co-Supervisor: Tanya Notley - PhD

Paul Kleynjan - Male Activists and Feminism - MRes

Amrita Limbu - Everyday Social Protection of Transnational Families: Nepali Migration to Australia and Qatar - Supervisor: Shanthi Robertson; Co-Supervisor: Brett Neilson – PhD

Jian Lin (joint award with University of Amsterdam) - Creative Labour in the Cultural Industries of China: Self-realisation, Governmentality and Subjectivity - Supervisor: Ned Rossiter - PhD

Anisah Madden - Nourishing Deep Pluralism: How Community Food Sector Practices Build Rituals of Care and Connection Across Difference - Supervisor: Katherine Gibson; Co-Supervisor: Stephen Healy - PhD

Kelly Menzel - Exploring the Need to Recruit Aboriginal Health Practitioners in Mainstream Healthcare Settings - Supervisors: Louise Crabtree and Karen Soldatic - DCR

Daniel Musil -  'Co-Operating for a Just Transition' – Relationships to Economy, Work, Low-Carbon Transition and the Earthworker Cooperative - Supervisor: Katherine Gibson; Co-Supervisors: Louise Crabtree and Gerda Roelvink - PhD

Jasbeer Musthafa Mamalipurath - Conceptualisation of Discourse About Islam on a Secular Platform  - Supervisor: Shanthi Robertson; Co-Supervisors: Adam Possamai, Jennifer Cheng - PhD

Kate Naidu - Issues of 'Interculturality' in Indonesian Language Teaching - Supervisor: Greg Noble; Co-supervisor: Megan Watkins - PhD

Mauricio Novoa - Change in the Global Public Sphere: Redefining Knowledge Ecology for Industrial Design Artifact and Expertise in Education and Industry - Supervisor: Bob Hodge; Co-Supervisor: Juan Francisco Salazar - PhD

Pryor Aldous Placino - Lively Stones: a Study of Informal Sand, Gravel and Rubble Mining in the Philippines - Supervisor: Katherine Gibson; Co-Supervisor: Stephen Healy - PhD

Andrea Pollio - The Startup of Solidarity. Economic Experts, Social Enterprises and the Reengineering of Humanitarianism in Cape Town - Supervisor: Donald McNeill, Co-Supervisor: Sarah Barns - PhD

Lisa Portolan - How has online dating changed the way relationships are instigated, developed and navigated? - Supervisor: Amanda Third; Co-supervisor Philippa Collin - PhD

Cali Prince - The Fourth Space: Cultivating Collaborative Creativity in Praxis, at the Intersection of People and their Communities, Artists and Institutions - Supervisor: Philippa Collin; Co-Supervisors: Gabriela Coronado, James Arvanitakis - PhD

Billy Pringle - Is the Political 'Moment' of 'Brexit' and the Election of Donald Trump to the Office of US President Reshaping Australian Political Discourse, Particularly Discourses of Neoliberalism? Supervisor: Gregory Noble; Co-Supervisor: Brett Neilson.

Gina Rocafort Gatarin - Moving in Managed Chaos: Social Movements Changing Manila's Transport System - Supervisor: Paul James; Co-Supervisor: Anna Cristina Pertierra - PhD

Sajal Roy - Long-term Effects of Extreme Weather Events on Rural Livelihoods and Gender Relations: A Case Study of the Cyclone Aila's Impacts on the Shora (Muslim) and Munda (Hindu) Sundarbans Forest Communities of Bangladesh - Supervisor: Liam Magee; Co-Supervisor: Penny Rossiter - PhD

Oznur Sahin - City as Stage, City on Stage: Governing the City Through Performances - Supervisor: Deborah Stevenson; Co-Supervisor: Donald McNeill - PhD

Md Sabbir Sharif - 'Measuring Societal and Private Benefits of Well-Planned and Integrated Social and Affordable Housing' - Supervisors: Louise Crabtree and Neil Perry - PhD

Francesca Sidoti - Young Adults and the Disclosure of Choice - Supervisor: George Morgan; Co-supervisor: Greg Noble - PhD

David Spillman - Exploring Collaborative Competence - Supervisor: Bob Hodge; Co-Supervisor: Louise Crabtree - DCR

Ian Steep - An Inquiry Into the Lived Experiences of Nepalese Students Studying at Australian Third Party Providers of Higher Education Using Bourdieu's Theory of Practice - Supervisor: Megan Watkins; Co-Supervisor Tania Ferfolja - PhD

Alejandra Villanueva - Shaping Up Bodies: An Ethnography of Masculinities and Physical Training in Sydney - Supervisors: Greg Noble and George Morgan - PhD

Vanessa Whittington - Landscape, Affect and the Role of Heritage Interpretation - Supervisors: Emma Waterton and Denis Byrne - PhD

Yinghua Yu - How ‘white-collar’ Ethnic Chinese Women Professionals Negotiate Their Identities at Their Workplaces and Between Work and Family in Australia? - Supervisors: Greg Noble and Sheree Gregory - PhD

Recent Submissions

Cecilia Hilder - Young People's Digital Practices and Australian Youth-Led Activist Groups -  Supervisor: Philippa Collin; Co-Supervisors: Amanda Third and Tanya Notley - PhD (submitted)

Philippa Mansor - The Cultural Practice of Astrology: a Case Study of Contemporary Traditional Practice - Supervisor: Brett Neilson; Co Supervisors: Elaine Lally and Zoe Sofoulis - PhD (submitted)

Luke Munn - Approaching Algorithmic Power - Supervisor: Ned Rossiter, Co-supervisor: Juan Francisco Salazar - PhD (submitted)

Nigel Eades - The Impact of Culture and Communication: Living in Immigration Detention - Supervisor: Bob Hodge; Co-Supervisors: Megan Watkins and Tania Ferfolja - DCR