School of Humanities, Languages and Social Science, Griffith University

🎓 PhD Scholarship Opportunity

Dr Clarissa Carden and Associate Professor Drew Rae are seeking expressions of interest for an industry PhD scholarship exploring how organisations measure and report safety information.

Supported through a partnership with Global Safety Innovation, the scholarship provides $50,000 per year for three years. The project will explore the conditions under which innovation in safety measurement is possible, and it involves working between Griffith and industry and will include focused blocks of time embedded in industry.

The supervisory team brings together expertise in organisational safety, human factors, community-engaged research, and social justice, and includes Dr Clarissa Carden, Associate Professor Drew Rae, and industry human factors and safety specialist Zoë Nation.

Applications are particularly encouraged from candidates with a background in sociology or safety studies, with experience in heavy industry or applying safety in the workplace highly regarded.

📅 Expressions of interest close 11 September 2026.

Find out how to express your interest, or learn more here:

Improving the measurement and reporting of safety information within organisations There are multiple scholarships available within the Uni-Start Equity Scholarship - which are available ti students in financial hardship, and/or education disadvantage .

📚 Research Recognition

Congratulations to Associate Professor Heather Anderson, whose book

People Powered Radio: The History of Brisbane Community Radio Station 4ZZZ' has been shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards Lord Mayor’s People’s Choice Award.

Since their inception in 1999, the Queensland Literary Awards have recognised and celebrated the work of Queensland and Australian writers across a range of genres and disciplines.

Drawing on extensive research, 'People Powered Radio' traces the history of Brisbane's iconic community radio station 4ZZZ and its role in shaping alternative media, music, culture, and social change in Queensland.

The Lord Mayor’s People’s Choice Award is decided entirely by public vote.

🔗 For those with an interest in media, community radio, and Queensland, you can learn more about the book here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-032-05689-4

🗳️ Learn more about, and vote in the Lord Mayor’s People’s Choice Award here: https://bwf.org.au/queensland-literary-awards/peoples-choice-award-voting

🍓 As Queenslanders head to the Ekka this week, many will be making a beeline for one of its most iconic traditions: the strawberry sundae.

In a recent blog for the State Library of Queensland, Dr Kaya Barry and PhD Candidate Emily House explore the history behind this much-loved show treat and what it can tell us about farming, food production, and agricultural life in southeast Queensland.

Drawing on their research as Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) Fellows, Kaya and Emily trace the connections between the strawberry sundae, regional farming communities, and the search for the region's "Big Strawberry".

As they note, the show-staple combination of strawberry ice cream, whipped cream, a fresh strawberry, and a wafer cone tells a much richer story about Queensland's agricultural heritage.

🔗 Read 'From farm gate to Ekka strawberry sundae - a search of the Big Strawberry' on the State Library of Queensland website:

From the farm gate to the Ekka strawberry sundae – a search for the Big Strawberry For more than 70 years, Queenslanders have flocked to the Ekka to enjoy one of its best known icons – the strawberry sundae. The design is simple: a wafer cone filled with strawberry ice cream, a layer of whipped cream, and topped with a fresh strawberry. This show-staple tells a rich history of f...

🎤 TEDxBrisbane Talk Now Live

Earlier this year, Associate Professor Heather Anderson spoke at TEDxBrisbane on community radio, public debate, and the importance of maintaining spaces where diverse perspectives can be heard.

Her talk, informed by decades of involvement with community broadcasting and research on alternative media, is now available to watch online.

🔗 Watch the talk here:

Why minority ideas change the world | Heather Anderson | TEDxBrisbane Women's suffrage. The abolition of slavery. Marriage equality. Befo...

🌟 July HLSS Staff Feature – Dr Mingyan Amy Hu (SFHEA)

This month, we’re featuring Dr Mingyan Hu, an award‑winning language educator and researcher in HLSS.

Mingyan’s work explores the dynamic relationship between language, curriculum, policy, and technology, with a particular focus on how these forces shape, and are shaped by, the evolving landscape of higher education. Her current research examines the responsible use of AI in education, while her teaching focuses on translating research into practice, including the design of assessment approaches that support meaningful learning in an age of AI.

In this feature, Mingyan reflects on her research and teaching, as well as the Chinese Language Immersion Project, funded through the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan. Over two consecutive years, the project has supported 22 Griffith students to undertake immersive language and cultural learning experiences in China, with funding totalling $171,600.

Through her efforts, Mingyan’s research and teaching continue to explore how language, technology, and education intersect in an increasingly connected world.

📍 July has been a busy month for conferences and research engagement across HLSS.

Recently, Associate Professor Heather Anderson delivered a special plenary lecture at the KISMIF Conference in Porto, Portugal, a transglobal forum that brings together researchers, academics, activists, and artists to explore alternative cultures, grassroots resistance, and social innovation.

Heather's lecture, 'Airwaves of Resistance: DIY Media and the Struggle for Alternative Futures', examined community radio as an infrastructure of care, drawing on 4ZZZ as a case study. The presentation aligned closely with this year's conference theme, "DIY Cultures, Crisis and Critical Imagination".

Hosted by Paula Guerra (Universidade do Porto) and Professor Andy Bennett (HLSS), the conference brought together international perspectives on culture, media, and social change.

📚 Journal Article Alert!

Senior Lecturer Kaya Barry has published a new article, ‘Geographies of the seasons’, in Dialogues in Human Geography.

In the article, Kaya explores how seasonal concerns, from going through the 'seasons of life' or experiencing the 'winter blues', to celebrating the harvest or lunar new year, to preparing for 'storm season', are evident in all kinds of social and political practices. The article also describes how these seasonal concerns cannot be decoupled from settler-colonial powers and capitalist logics. Within, she asks: How might geographies of the seasons help resist increasingly 'unseasonable' or 'aseasonal' futures?

🔗 Read the article here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/20438206261469573

Congratulations to the HLSS team of Professor Susan Forde, Dr Bridget Backhaus, Dr Samid Suliman, Associate Professor Heather Anderson and Dr Kasun Ubayasiri on receiving a Centre for Australia-India Relations Maitri Grant.

The project, Diasporas and Dialogues, will bring together community media practitioners and researchers in Australia and India, strengthening cultural connections, supporting skills development, and amplifying diaspora voices through community-based media.

"The grant will build partnerships between community-radio practitioners and researchers in the Malayali and Gujarati communities in India and diaspora in Australia," Dr Backhaus said

"The exchanges will deepen cross-cultural understanding and skills-development for community - based media practitioners and enhance transnational literacy, amplify diaspora voices, and develop collaborative media initiatives about culture, policy and common economic issues."

There was a strong HLSS and Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research presence at the 2026 International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) Conference in Galway, Ireland this month!

Representing Griffith University were:

⭐ Professor Susan Forde
⭐ Dr Bridget Backhaus
⭐ Associate Professor Heather Anderson
⭐ Dr Kasun Ubayasiri
⭐ Dr Monique Lewis
⭐ Dr Nat Kassel
⭐ PhD candidate Hannah Ravell

This year's conference theme, 'Peripheries and Connections: Media, Communication, and Transformation', invited scholars to reflect on how media and communication shape responses to some of the most significant social, cultural and political challenges of our time.

International conferences such as IAMCR provide important opportunities to share new research, build collaborations, support emerging scholars, and engage in conversations that extend beyond national and disciplinary boundaries. They are spaces where ideas are tested, challenged and refined through dialogue with colleagues from around the world.

Having seven researchers and scholars contributing to these discussions highlights both the breadth of research being undertaken across HLSS and GCSCR and the strength of Griffith's engagement with contemporary debates in media, communication, journalism, culture, health and social justice.

🎤 Heritage Talks: 150 Years of the Ekka

Dr Kaya Barry, Senior Lecturer in HLSS, and Emily House, PhD candidate in HLSS, will join fellow Ekka Research Fellow Bronwyn Bridgewater later this month for an upcoming panel hosted by the State Library of Queensland.

Part of the library’s Heritage Talks series, the discussion will explore the history and significance of the Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) as it marks 150 years. The panel will consider the Ekka’s place in Queensland’s social and agricultural history, reflecting on how the event has evolved from an agricultural exhibition into one of the state's most enduring cultural traditions.

Kaya and Emily are among the 2025 and 2026 Royal Queensland Show (Ekka) Fellows, contributing research that examines how the Ekka has evolved and why it matters.

The conversation will be facilitated by journalist and author David Fagan. The event will be hosted on Wednesday 29 Jul · 10:30–11:30am, and is free to attend but registration is required!

🔗 Register here:

Heritage talks: 150 years of the Ekka Our second Heritage Talk of the year celebrates 150 years of the Royal Queensland Show, or Ekka, a much-loved Queensland tradition since 1876. What began as an agricultural exhibition has grown into a major annual event, bringing together regional and urban communities and reflecting the changing li...