Associate Professor Benjamin Hanckel
Dr Hanckel is a sociologist and an Associate Professor at the Institute for Culture and Society at Western Sydney University. Benjamin is based at the Young and Resilient Research Centre (opens in a new window). Benjamin’s research examines youth health and wellbeing, social inequalities in health, and social change. His recent work has explored the design and use of digital technologies for health, as well as the adoption and implementation of public health interventions.
His work has a particular focus on the wellbeing and lived experiences of young people, particularly those young people with diverse genders and sexualities. Benjamin’s research appears in Media, Culture and Society, Journal of Youth Studies, BMC Public Health, and Social Theory and Health. Benjamin is a convenor of The British Sociological Association’s (opens in a new window) Youth Study Group, and a member of The Australian Sociological Association (opens in a new window). Benjamin holds ongoing affiliate positions at King’s College London (KCL), and the University of Tasmania (UTAS).
He can be found on Twitter at @benhanckel
Qualifications
- PhD, 2017, University of Technology Sydney, Australia
- BSocSc (Honours), 2011, University of New South Wales, Australia
Research Focus
- Sociology of Youth/Childhood
- Public Health and Health Promotion
- Digital Health (emerging technologies, and digital health practices)
- Gender and Sexuality
- Methods of research
Selected Publications
Shepherd, A. and Hanckel, B. (2021), 'Ontologies of transition(s) in healthcare practice : examining the lived experiences and representations of transgender adults transitioning in healthcare', Health Sociology Review, vol 30, no 1 , pp 41 - 57.
Hanckel, B., Milton, S. and Green, J. (2020), Unruly bodies : resistance, (in)action and hysteresis in a public health intervention', Social Theory and Health, .
Ferfolja, T, Asquith, N, Hanckel, B & Brady, B (2020) ‘In/visibility on Campus? Gender and Sexuality Diversity in Tertiary Institutions’. Higher Education
Hanckel, B (2019), "I want my story to be heard...': Examining the Production of Digital Stories by Queer Youth in East and South-East Asia' in Nash, C. Gorman-Murray, A. (eds) The Geographies of Digital Sexuality. Palgrave Macmillan.
Hanckel, B, Ruta, D, Scott, G, Peacock, J, Green, J (2019), 'The Daily Mile as a Public Health Intervention: A rapid ethnographic assessment of uptake and implementation in south London, UK', BMC Public Health. 19, 1167-1180.
Hanckel, B, Vivienne, S, Robards, B, Byron, P, Churchill, B (2019), '"That's not necessarily for them": LGBTIQ+ Youth, Social Media Platform Affordances & Identity Curation'. Media, Culture and Society. 41(8), 1261-1278.
Byron, P, Robards, B, Hanckel, B, Vivienne, S, Churchill, B 2019, '"Hey, I'm Having These Experiences": Tumblr Use and Young People's Queer (Dis)connections', International Journal of Communication, 13, 2239-2259
Hanckel, B 2016, ‘Mitigating Risk and Facilitating Access to Capabilities: The Role of Affect in the Design of an ICT-tool for Queer Youth in Asia’, Emotion, Space and Society, 18, 35 – 43.
Hanckel, B & Morris, A 2014, 'Finding community and contesting heteronormativity: queer young people's engagement in an Australian online community', Journal of Youth Studies, 17(7), 872-886.
Hanckel, B., Garcia, L., Santos, G. and Manalastas, E. (2014), 'Assessing needs and capabilities : towards an ICT resource to support HIV-positive gay men and other MSM in Southeast Asia', Digital Culture and Education, vol 6, no 3 , pp 183 - 196.
