2023 Monash Social Sciences Week success

Monash Social Sciences Week held from 4 - 8 September 2023, was a success.

We ran four events (one webinar and three hybrid events) and a photo essay competition for high school students, joining up with universities across Australia to showcase social science research and the contributions social scientists make to our society.

Around 200 people attended our events across the week. More than 300 people registered their interest for the various events - a group we can shortly share event recordings with, for those who couldn't make it on the day or who want to watch the events again and share them with their own networks.

Articles in Monash Lens have already emerged from two of the events: https://lens.monash.edu/@politics-society/2023/09/06/1386111/disinformation-in-the-city-the-challenges-facing-australian-and-indonesian-local-governments and https://lens.monash.edu/@politics-society/2023/09/04/1386105/cancelled-beyond-reductive-approaches-to-cancel-culture-as-bad-or-good. One of the sessions has even been picked up by ABC Big Ideas and may be replayed nationally.

Dr Matteo Bonotti, event coordinator, is incredibly grateful to and would like to acknowledge everyone who contributed, both on the Zoom/in-person stage and those behind the scenes, as it really did take a considerable team effort to organize all the events.

First, thank you to the School of Social Sciences, and particularly to Jack Corbett, Brady Robards, and the SoSS Research Committee, for their constant support and advice over the past few months.

Thank you also to our Social Sciences Week 2023 Monash University Photo Essay Competition judges: Claire Tanner, Bill Flanik, and Georgina Gibson, and to Rob Cioffi and Georgina Gibson in the student recruitment team for their support with the prize and getting the word about the competition out.

Thanks to those who shared their research and expertise as speakers, chairs and organizers at our events:

Brady Robards, Claire Tanner and their research collaborators at the event 'Cancelled?: Taking a Closer Look at "Cancel Culture"' https://vimeo.com/863023611?share=copy

Frank Algra-Maschio, Zareh Ghazarian, Eleanor Gordon, Maria Rost Rublee, James Walter and Ben Wellings at the event on 'Addressing Australia’s 21st Century Global Challenges'; https://vimeo.com/863039596?share=copy

Susan Carland, Ika Idris, Jessica (Ika) Trijsburg and their research collaborators at the event on 'Disinformation in the City'; https://vimeo.com/863022180?share=copy

and Hyein (Ellen) Cho, Marie Segrave and their research and industry collaborators at the event on 'Victorian Local Councils and Gender Equality'.

And finally, many thanks to the fantastic team behind the scenes who made it all work: Sally Allard, Luke Atkinson, Kerry Bowmar, Sherin Fernando, Georgina Gibson, Melanie Kydd, Amy Lim, Kim Loudon, Steven Makris, Claire O'Grady, Tania Peck, Uma Rishi, Bianca Roggenbucke, Rebecca Wade, and Irasha White.

It is always challenging to muster the energy required to organize something like this, therefore sincere and hearty thanks to everyone who contributed. It was a fantastic example of Monash Arts and our School of Social Sciences in action.