Caring Futures SRC
Caring Futures is a Strategic Research Collaboration in the School of Social Sciences at Western Sydney University.
We bring together researchers, students, practitioners and community partners interested in care practices, care infrastructures and care ethics. Our work responds to the growing need to place care at the centre of social, institutional and ecological futures.
Grounded in relational and more-than-human care ethics, and guided by Indigenous knowledges and responsibilities to Country, Caring Futures understands care as both a topic of research and a way of working together. Through this collaborative approach, we aim to build more caring, just and sustainable futures.
What we do
Caring Futures supports collaborative research, teaching, practice and partnership focused on building more caring, just and sustainable futures.
Our work spans three interconnected research and practice streams:
1. Care Systems and Social Transformation
Research on care infrastructures, governance, labour, policy and institutions in contexts of climate disruption, inequality and social harm.
2. Care Practice, Pedagogy and Repair
Practice-based research exploring relational care, restorative practice, teaching innovation, professional practice and repair-oriented approaches.
Care Theories and Methodologies
Research informed by Indigenous, feminist, post-growth, critical disability and decolonial theories and methodologies, centring relational, community-based and culturally grounded approaches to care.
How we work
Caring Futures is designed as a care infrastructure. We aim to nurture relationships, support collaboration, build research capacity and create pathways for publications, grants, policy engagement, community partnerships and practical outcomes.
Our activities include:
- collaborative writing and grant development intensives
- partner-oriented workshops and public events
- reading and writing groups
- mentoring and leadership opportunities for ECRs, HDRs and sessional colleagues
- research engagement through newsletters, digital resources and public-facing outputs
Got a question or query? Would you like to join us?
Please email caringfutures@westernsydney.edu.au
Connect with us on LinkedIn.