News
ICS Website not being updated temporarily
07 Aug 2025
While maintenance work is being done on the University website infrastructure the ICS website will not be regularly updated, please check our social media channels for information about ICS activities.....Read more.
2025 ICS Indigenous Research Seed Funding Recipients Announced
21 Jul 2025
ICS is proud to announce the recipients of the 2025 ICS Indigenous Research Seed Funds. These grants support Indigenous and First Nations early career researchers (ECRs). Aligned with the University’s Sharing Knowledges in Good Spirit Indigenous Research Strategy (2024–2028) these research projects centre Indigenous voices....Read more.
2025 ICS Industry Collaboration Fund Recipient Announced
21 Jul 2025
ICS is excited to support From “Recovery to Resilience: Community Leaders Workshop”, a project that brings together researchers, government agencies, and community leaders to explore the role of leadership in building disaster resilience. Led by Associate Professor Jessica Weir, this collaborative initiative is a $40,000 project co-funded by ICS and the NSW Reconstruction Authority. Co-investigators: Professor Pip Collin....Read more.
Continuing Interdisciplinary Innovation: 2025 HASS-STEM Collaboration Projects Announced
08 Jul 2025
The Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) is pleased to announce the successful recipients of the 2025 HASS-STEM Collaboration scheme. A central idea behind this initiative is to expand on activities specific to each of the programs and develop new initiatives that cut across HASS and STEM disciplines and partners within and beyond WSU.....Read more.
Collaboration between ICS, HCA, SoSS and Law – Funding Initiative 2025
10 Jun 2025
The Schools of Humanities and Communication Arts (HCA), Social Sciences (SoSS), and Law have partnered with the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS) to launch a new research capacity-building initiative. The scheme focuses on fostering cross-unit collaboration and supporting School-based researchers—particularly projects led by early-career researchers (ECRs).....Read more.
Australia is forecast to fall 262,000 homes short of its housing target. We need bold action
27 May 2025
Australia’s plan to build 1.2 million new homes by 2029 is in trouble. A new report by the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council (NHSAC) shows we are likely to miss this ambitious target by a huge margin. At the current pace, the council forecasts we will fall about 262,000 homes short of the goal. In other words, for every five homes we need, we’re only on track to build about four....Read more.
Climate change and the housing crisis are a dangerous mix. So which party is grappling with both?
29 Apr 2025
Australia is running out of affordable, safe places to live. Rents and mortgages are climbing faster than wages, and young people fear they may never own a home. At the same time, climate change is getting worse. Last year was Australia’s second‑hottest on record. Global warming is leading to more frequent and severe bushfires, floods and heatwaves.....Read more.
Meredith Jones – Forging a New Career Direction
11 Apr 2025
I used to get annoyed when strangers asked “Do you have children?” Nowadays, I cheerily reply “No, but I’ve had postgraduates.” Postgraduate supervision and subsequent mentoring have allowed me to develop long term relationships with younger people, some of whom become friends and/or colleagues. I take quasi-parental....Read more.
‘Shame, disgust, horror’: Kate Grenville faces her family history of stolen land in Australia – and asks us to feel it with her
02 Apr 2025
How do Australians feel about knowing the territory we inhabit was violently stolen from First Nations people? In Unsettled, Kate Grenville explores this through her own feelings. “I’ve been circling this book for years,” she writes. But its immediate context is the 60% “No” vote....Read more.
A $33 billion vote-grabber or real relief? Examining the Albanese government’s big housing pledge
28 Mar 2025
The Australian housing market is in crisis: soaring prices, increasing rental stress, declining home ownership rates and a growing number of people experiencing homelessness. In response, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced a $33 billion housing investment plan as part of his government’s latest budget. This is a central plank of Labor’s re-election pitch....Read more.
Will the government’s online gambling advertising legislation ever eventuate? Don’t bet on it
22 Feb 2025
As the next federal election came into view before the summer break, concern increased that Labor wouldn’t be honouring its commitment to introduce new restrictions on online (especially sport) gambling advertising during the current parliamentary sitting. Those fears were well-founded, despite pressure from many sides and broad bipartisan political support.....Read more.
‘A shameful call by Creative Australia’: the arts community reacts to Khaled Sabsabi being dropped from the Venice Biennale
18 Feb 2025
To be selected as the artist and curator team to represent Australia at the Venice Biennale is considered the ultimate exhibition for an artistic team. To have your selection rescinded, as has now happened to the 2026 team of Khaled Sabsabi and curator Michael Dagostino, is without precedent.....Read more.
What’s going on with TikTok in the US, and what will this mean for Australia?
22 Jan 2025
According to the latest reports, TikTok has restored services in the United States after “going dark” on Saturday evening US time. The company turned off its services ahead of a nationwide ban that was set to take effect on Sunday. However, on Sunday, President-elect Donald Trump announced he would issue an executive order after he is inaugurated....Read more.
Inclusivity is the Key to Success
06 Dec 2024
Social enterprises are an important tool in humanitarian and development policy. However, western-centric thinking and an overemphasis on management tools and business strategies can hamper their effectiveness, warns Dr Isaac Lyne, a research fellow at Western Sydney University’s Institute for Culture and Society.....Read more.
Cheaper housing and better transport? What you need to know about Australia’s new National Urban Policy
04 Dec 2024
Imagine a city where everyone can afford a safe home, reach work or school without long, stressful commutes, and enjoy green parks and clean air. This is Anthony Albanese’s decade-long vision for Australia’s cities after last week’s release of the new National Urban Policy (NUP).As Transport and Infrastructure Minister in 2011, he introduced Our Cities, Our Future.....Read more.
New research reveals 97 percent of adult Australians have poor or limited ability to verify information online
03 Dec 2024
A new report, jointly released today by the University of Canberra (UC), Western Sydney University, RMIT University, and Queensland University of Technology, reveals that 97 percent of adult Australians have poor or limited ability to verify information online. The report also found that more than....Read more.
ICS Celebrates Exceptional Success in ARC’s Discovery Projects Scheme for 2025
27 Nov 2024
In a remarkable achievement, Institute researchers have secured over $3.3 million in funding for three ICS based projects in the ARC’s Discovery Projects (DP) scheme for 2025. This exceptional outcome comes with a sense of additional joy as all submitted applications were awarded.....Read more.
Live in an apartment and want to charge an electric car at home? Here are 4 ways to help that happen
27 Nov 2024
Being able to charge your car at home is a big drawcard for many electric vehicle buyers. But it’s rare to find chargers installed at apartment complexes in Australia. Getting chargers into existing apartment blocks can be complicated. Owners may not agree on whether to install them, or which technology to use. And the complex may not be well-equipped for the extra electricity load....Read more.
Disability & Digital Citizenship: Australian Consumers & Citizens with Disability Navigating Digital Society
28 Oct 2024
Australia has a long history of developments and discussions concerning disability and technology. Yet without the requisite policy frameworks and associated compliance and enforcement mechanisms, tangible progress has remained limited. In this light, this report provides a progress update on disability inclusion and accessibility, noting there is much unfinished business across....Read more.
ICS 2024 Graduates begin their careers with impact!
24 Oct 2024
As ICS 2024 graduates, Gina Gatarin, Francesca Sidoti, and Marina Khan are poised to make significant impacts in their fields. Their work on climate change, sustainable communities, and migration experiences reflects a commitment to creating positive change. Congratulations to all as they embark on this exciting new chapter!....Read more.
How can Australia make housing affordable for essential workers? Here are 4 key lessons from overseas
18 Oct 2024
Essential workers such as teachers, health workers and community safety staff play a vital role in ensuring our society works well. Yet soaring housing costs in cities like Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are squeezing essential workers out of the communities they serve. The issue is reaching crisis point across Australia.....Read more.
Clare Wright’s history of the Bark Petitions is a work of intimate storytelling, written with ‘charismatic authority’
11 Oct 2024
Clare Wright’s Näku Dhäruk: The Bark Petitions – subtitled “how the people of Yirrkala changed the course of Australian democracy” – tells a story that is already well known.In August 1963, Yolngu living at the Yirrkala Methodist Mission in Arnhem Land submitted two petitions to the Australian Parliament. Each combined paintings on bark with typed text, in both English and Gumatj.....Read more.
Data centre emissions are soaring – it’s AI or the climate
04 Oct 2024
Artificial intelligence (AI) is curating your social media feed and giving you directions to the train station. It’s also throwing the fossil fuel industry a lifeline. Three of the biggest tech companies, Microsoft, Google and Meta, have reported ballooning greenhouse gas emissions since 2020. Data centres packed with servers running AI programs day and night are largely to blame.....Read more.
Instead of banning kids from online spaces, here’s what we should offer them instead
18 Sep 2024
Banning children under 16 from social media sounds like a seductive idea. For overwhelmed parents navigating their kids’ lives in a digital age, this move from the Australian government may seem like welcome relief.But evidence shows it’s highly unlikely bans will positively impact the youth mental health crisis in this country....Read more.
Social media is like sex – young people need education, not unrealistic bans
18 Sep 2024
The federal government has committed to a national plan to ban children from social media.Details are still scarce. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has acknowledged that “no government is going to be able to protect every child from every threat, but we have to do all we can”. But banning children....Read more.
Bunyip birds and brolgas: how can we better protect species important to Indigenous people?
18 Sep 2024
Kamilaroi Country lies in far northwest New South Wales, past Tamworth and crossing over the Queensland border. Here, the bunyip bird (Australasian bittern, Botaurus poiciloptilus), and the brolga (Grus rubicunda or burraalga in Kamilaroi) have been part of life, lore, spirit, dance and culture with Country for thousands of generations.....Read more.
We need to better support First Nations women with violence-related brain injuries. Here’s how
26 Aug 2024
Domestic violence causes disability for women through lasting impacts on their brains. Traumatic brain injury refers to damage to, or alteration of, brain function due to a blow or force to the head. This leads to bruising, bleeding and tearing of brain tissue. Such injury can have short-term (acute) effects or cumulative effects (over months or years). A 2008 study by researchers in Adelaide found....Read more.
Better Futures Now: Leisure, Health and Wellbeing: a talk by Emeritus Professor David Rowe
18 Jul 2024
This paper is based on a talk at Western Sydney University Research Week, Better Futures Now: Leisure, Health and Wellbeing, Parramatta City Campus, 15 July 2024.From Devil’s Hands to Healthy Minds and Bodies: A Social Scientific History of the Concept of Leisure.....Read more.
Taming the machine: should the technological revolution be regulated – and can it be?
18 Jul 2024
Back in 2005 – before the rise of social media or smart phones, let alone blockchain, metadata and OpenAI – computer scientist and entrepreneur Ray Kurzweil published a breathlessly prophetic account of what he called “the singularity”....Read more.
ICS researchers in Future-Makers Issue 7
17 Jul 2024
We are excited to share the release of the latest issue of Future-Makers! Some of our fabulous Institute researchers have again been featured in this issue: Karen Soldatić and Corrinne Sullivan’s inspiring collaboration.....Read more.
Professor Corrinne Sullivan named Western Indigenous Person of the Year
17 Jul 2024
Congratulations to Professor Corrinne Sullivan for being honoured as Indigenous Person of the Year at the inaugural Western Sydney University NAIDOC Awards 2024!As an Aboriginal scholar from the Wiradjuri Nation in Central-West New South Wales and Associate Dean of Indigenous Education at the School of Social Sciences....Read more.
Western Sydney’s childcare ‘desert’ locks women out of the workforce. Universal childcare could be a game-changer
12 Jul 2024
Momentum is growing for the Australian government to provide universal early childhood education and care – free or very-low-cost childcare for all families. Access to quality, affordable childcare can help parents join or remain in the workforce – particularly women, who still perform the majority of unpaid household work.....Read more.
We know social media bans are unlikely to work. So how can we keep young people safe online?
27 Jun 2024
A war has erupted around young people’s use social media and it is messy. In the United States, surgeon general Vivek Murthy has recommended cigarette packet-like warnings for platforms like Instagram to remind teens and parents social media “has not proved safe”.....Read more.
New play American Signs looks at the nefarious world of consultancies – but leaves Australia off the hook
21 Jun 2024
Anchuli Felicia King’s new one-performer piece, American Signs, written for the talented Catherine Văn-Davies, thrusts us into the world of a campus hire at “The Firm”, one of the “Big Three” consultancies in the United States. Waiting to be either “right-sized”....Read more.
Inquiry into civics education, engagement, and participation in Australia
24 May 2024
We currently live in an era where misinformation and disinformation spread rapidly, posing significant threats to our society, including the integrity of free and fair elections. To tackle this issue, the Joint Standing Committee on Electoral Matters adopted an inquiry into civics education, engagement, and participation in Australia.....Read more.
A story of trauma, hope and regaining control, Nayika: A Dancing Girl is soul-stirring dance theatre
08 May 2024
The complex and grappling issue of violence against women takes centre stage in the soul-stirring solo dance drama Nayika: A Dancing Girl. During a dinner conversation in Sydney with her high school friend, The Dancing Girl (Vaishnavi Suryaprakash) reminisces about her early teenage years....Read more.
How much sport will you be able to watch for free under proposed new Australian broadcast rules?
12 Apr 2024
Watching sport on television and other screens is integral to the cultural lives of many Australians.This is why, in 1995, the anti-siphoning scheme was introduced to ensure sport “events of national importance and cultural significance” would not be captured exclusively by pay TV at the expense of free-to-air coverage.....Read more.
‘I’m home’: how co-operative housing could take pressure off Australia’s housing crisis
15 Mar 2024
At a time when everything from abolishing negative gearing to capping rents are being suggested as ways to reduce Australia’s housing crisis, little attention has been given to housing co-operatives.A housing co-op consists of a group....Read more.
First national study reveals housing co-operatives could be part of the solution to Australia’s rental crisis
15 Mar 2024
New research by Western Sydney University has revealed that housing co-operatives may form part of Australia’s answer to affordable and stable housing choices amidst a growing housing and rental crisis.....Read more.
International Women’s Day Future-Makers issue spotlights ICS researchers
14 Mar 2024
We're thrilled to announce the launch of the newest special issue of Future-Makers! This edition focuses on the theme of International Women's Day 2024, "Inspire Inclusion".....Read more.
Sydney Biennale invites us to celebrate our collective resistance in dark times
12 Mar 2024
The 24th edition of the Biennale of Sydney, titled Ten Thousand Suns, is an explosion of joy and creative energy across seven venues, including the sails of the Opera House and White Bay Power Station.This iteration, led by co-artistic directors....Read more.
Should you be checking your kid’s phone? How to know when your child is ready for ‘phone privacy’
05 Mar 2024
Smartphone ownership among younger children is increasing rapidly. Many primary school children now own smartphones and they have become the norm in high school. Parents of younger children may occasionally (or routinely) look at their child’s phone to check it’s....Read more.
When homes already hit 40°C inside, it’s better to draw on residents’ local know-how than plan for climate change from above
05 Mar 2024
Weather extremes driven by climate change hit low-income communities harder. The reasons include poor housing and lack of access to safe and comfortable public spaces. This makes “climate readiness” a pressing issue for governments, city planners....Read more.
Investigating Innovative Waste Economies: redrawing the circular economy
13 Feb 2024
Our planet is facing an increasingly severe problem of waste. Governments and businesses are promoting a solution called the circular economy (CE), which seeks to reuse and recycle resources. However, this approach does not tackle the intricate economic and cultural factors that contribute to the generation of waste.....Read more.
A Fool in Love is delightfully ridiculous and sharp-witted: social satire at its finest
12 Feb 2024
Van Badham’s A Fool in Love at the Sydney Theatre Company lampoons the modern Sydney vibe: a city obsessed with wealth, status and, of course, love.Designer Isabel Hudson’s candy-coloured set, lolly-pop-esque orange trees and sherbet-coloured tinsel attire seem to vibrate the essence of the city as we move juggernaut-like towards the festivities of Valentine’s day and Mardi Gras.....Read more.
Renewable projects are getting built faster – but there’s even more need for speed
31 Jan 2024
How long does it take to build a solar or wind farm? It’s a simple question with wide implications. To reach our ambitious 82% renewable energy target by 2030, we have to build many new projects – and start them soon.In 2022, renewables hit a new high of 36% of Australia’s total electricity production, double that of 2017. That’s good – but there’s a long way to go....Read more.
When the heat hits, inland waters look inviting. Here’s how we can help people swim safely at natural swimming spots
08 Jan 2024
People love to hang out around water, especially on hot summer days. And, for those who aren’t near the ocean, Australia is blessed with beautiful inland waterways....Read more.
Half-watched TV and part-heard radio: summer Test cricket is steeped in nostalgia, but these ‘traditions’ have short histories
05 Jan 2024
As the old year passes and a new one arrives, three notable sport events occupy the languid vacation hours. Melbourne’s Boxing Day and Sydney’s New Year’s Test matches are spliced by the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race....Read more.
