Researchers from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences have been celebrated for their outstanding contributions to research this week, being recognised at both the UQ Research Awards and HASS Research Awards.
Tuesday night’s central awards were celebrated at Customs House, and presented by UQ Vice-Chancellor Professor Peter Høj, with guest speaker from the Leukaemia Foundation of Australia – CEO Bill Petch.
Congratulations to Dr Cameron Parsell from the Institute for Social Science Research who was awarded a UQ Foundation Research Excellence Award (UQ FREA), and Head of the School of Music Professor Margaret Barrett who took home an Award for Excellence in Research Higher Degree (RHD) Supervision.
Read more about their achievements and view their video testimonials.
The HASS Faculty Awards were held earlier this week, where Professor Barrett was recognised once again – this time with a Research Engagement Award – as a passionate advocate for music education who has dedicated her career to exploring the vital role music engagement and learning plays in the lives of children and young people.
“Through my work I strive to change community perceptions, public policy, and education and learning practices to ensure that every child, regardless of circumstances, has access to the benefits of music early learning and engagement,” Professor Barrett said.
Hosted by HASS Executive Dean Professor Tim Dunne and Associate Dean Research Professor Joanne Tompkins, the event was officially opened by Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Robyn Ward AM, and along with Professor Barrett, saw two other HASS researchers awarded for their exemplary efforts.
The Highly Commended Research Engagement Award went to Dr Gerhard Hoffstaedter from the School of Social Science, a political anthropologist focusing on identity politics and refugees in Southeast Asia.
Dr Hoffstaedter recently returned from a year of intensive fieldwork in Malaysia, where he was collaborating with Malaysian and Myanmar colleagues on research outputs such as co-authored reports and a collection of refugee life stories that are now in production.
He also coordinates his UQx Massive Open Online Course World101x: Anthropology of current world issues which has attracted over 32,000 enrolments to date and will be used as an outreach tool to high schools in Queensland next year.
The Early Career Researcher Award went to Dr Francisco Perales from the Institute for Social Science Research for understanding the factors that produce and reproduce social disadvantage in contemporary Australia.
“The overarching goal has been to help understand how individuals’ life-course trajectories are affected by the experience of adverse events and circumstances, and how policymakers can best intervene to reduce resulting socio-economic inequalities and create a fairer society,” Dr Perales said.
Professor Tompkins said all awards were well-deserved and the ceremony was a chance to acknowledge the impact that HASS researchers have on culture and society.
“While we have many strong researchers in the Faculty, these awards provide us with the opportunity to single out the achievements and impact of several exemplary colleagues whose work deserves special recognition.”
