News

10.9.09

Dr Rebecca Kippen and Dr Jalal Abassi gain Future Fellowships

Two ADSRI people, Jalal Abassi and Rebecca Kippen were sucessful in gaining Future Fellowships in national competition. These are four-year fully funded fellowships. There were 200 fellowships awarded across all universities and all disciplines so for ADSRI people to have won two is a great result. Jalal will take up his fellowship with ADSRI and there will be an association with the University of Adelaide. Rebecca will take up her fellowship at the University of Melbourne.

Summary of Jalal's award
As a signatory to the UN Refugee Convention, a major location for the resettlement of refugees and a major player in the internation system with a stated commitment to humanitarian issues, Australia is well placed to play a lead role in promoting more effective solutions to the plight of refugees. The study is designed to contribute to that ojective through research of one of the world's most important refugee groups, the Afghans. It will also provide a better understanding of the security issues involved in refugee migration.

Summary of Rebecca's award
This project will investigate areas of contemporary importance that can only be explored using historic-demographic data. National benefits include (1) gaining better understanding of how epidemics pread through families and communities, and posible mortality and case-fatality rates, to assist in preparation for future epidemics; (2) improved accuracy in projecting older-age mortality and population ageing in Australia and other countries; and (3) more precise estimates of women's capacity to naturally conceive and carry to term by characteristics such as her age, her partner's age, and her number of previous births. The project will also result in augmentation of a unique publicly available dataset.

2.8.09

Dr Charles Price Passes Away

CHARLES ARCHIBALD PRICE AM 20 July 1920 - 2 August 2009
Much loved and loving husband of Elizabeth for 64 years. Dearly loved and loving father and father-in-law of Deborah and John, Susanna and John, Henry and Teresa, Richard and Penny. Beloved and loving grandfather of Jessica and Donald, Jane, David, Frank and Anna, Nic, Ellie and Millie. New great grandfather to Bridie.

A service giving thanks and celebrating Charles' life will be held at St Luke's Anglican Church, Newdegate Street, Deakin on MONDAY, 10 August 2009 commencing at 10.30am. Private Cremation will follow. In lieu of flowers the family would appreciate a donation to the Charles Price Prize at ANU.

16.6.09

The Co-op Bookshop invites you to the launch of CYBERCHIEFS: AUTONOMY AND AUTHORITY IN ONLINE TRIBES By Mathieu O’Neil, Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute, The Australian National University & Université Grenoble 3 - Stendhal Published by Pluto Press / Palgrave Macmillan To be launched by: Professor Peter McDonald, Director, Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute, The Australian National University & Dr Catherine Summerhayes, School of Humanities and School of Art, The Australian National University. WHERE: The Co-op Bookshop, Union Court, ANU WHEN: Friday 26 June 2000, 5.30pm for 6.00pm Light refreshments will be served and a 15% discount will be offered on the night. RSVP: dkay@coop-bookshop.com.au

28.5.09

Darryl Miller to undertake UNESCAP internship

Master of Social Research student Darryl Miller will undertake an internship with the Statistics Division of UNESCAP (United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific). The position involves conducting research and analysis to track the progress towards the Millennium Development Goals (by countries in the region). The internship runs from July-November 2009 and is situated in Bangkok.

28.5.09

Success in Winning ARC Grant

Associate Professor Heather Booth and Dr Robert Ackland (with Dr Tim Windsor from the Centre for Mental Health Research) have been successful in winning an ARC Linkage Grant of $270,000 over three years for their project on The role of online social networks in successful ageing: benefitting from 'who you know' at older ages. The partner organisation for this project is National Seniors.

11.5.09

Yan Yu awarded Dorothy S. Thomas Award

Yan Yu, recently appointed as a Research Fellow in ADSRI has been awarded the Dorothy S. Thomas Award of the Population Association of America. The award is presented annually for the best graduate student paper on the interrelationships among social, economic and demographic variables.

In announcing the winner, Professor Patrick Heuveline, the Chair of the committee said:

The committee has selected for the 2009 Award a paper on the secular trend in body weight and its relationship to mortality. This study uses recalled weight at age 25 in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys (NHANES) to document how mortality differentials and levels changed over time in the US female population. The author documents in particular how the difference in life expectancy at age 25 between normal-weight women and overweight or obese women has widened between 1976 and 2004 to 57.1 years for the former category versus 50.4 years for the latter ones. During the same period, the author even estimates that life expectancy at age 25 has declined by 1.2 years for overweight or obese women. Committee members were unanimously impressed by the careful analyses underlying these results, and by their obvious significance.

6.5.09

Professor Bryan Rodgers to lead new Vietnam Veterans' Family Study

Professor Bryan Rodgers from ADSRI has been appointed the Independent Scientific Advisor to the Vietnam Veterans’ Family Study.

Professor Rodgers is a leading researcher in inter-generational effects at ADSRI as well childhood adversity and adult mental health, long-term sequelae of parental divorce and relationships of alcohol consumption with anxiety, depression and cognitive function.

Professor Rodgers is to work with a Scientific Advisory Committee, a Consultative Forum and nine research firms to look at the long term effects of war service on families.

5.5.09

Liz Allen wins Borrie Prize

Congratulations to Liz Allen, ADSRI PhD candidate, who has been awarded the 2008 Postgraduate Borrie Prize for her paper ‘Ageing out? Socio-demographic determinants of retirement in Australia’. Highly commended were entries from Mandy Wales, Lisa Thompson and Fiona Hanrahan, all past or present postgraduate students with ADSRI.

24.10.08

ADSRI Gains Australian Research Council Grants

The Australian Research Council has recently announced the following grants to ADSRI staff members from its 2009 round of funding. Congratulations to all involved.

DISCOVERY PROJECTS

Dr Edith Gray
$580,000 for ADSRI’s on-going longitudinal panel survey, Negotiating the life course:  Longitudinal research into work and family trajectories.
With Professor Peter McDonald, Dr Janeen Baxter, Professor Deborah Mitchell, Dr Jennifer Baxter and Dr Julie McMillan.

Dr Edith Gray
Awarded an Australian Research Fellowship, 2009-2013.

Professor Bryan Rodgers
$240,000 for Consistency and continuity in childhood adversity:  the nature and history of multiple disadvantage in families with young children.
With Dr Lyndall Strazdins, Dr Tanya Caldwell, Dr Peter Butterworth and Dr Timothy Crosier.

LINKAGE PROJECTS

Dr Bruce Smyth – ADSRI
$746,000 for Changes in payments, family dynamics and wellbeing following major child support reform:  a longitudinal investigation of behavioural and attitudinal responses
With Professor Bryan Rodgers and Dr Jeromey Temple.
The partner organisations in this research are the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs and the Child Support Agency. The department and agency contribute a further cash grant to the project of $285,000.

The Director of ADSRI, Professor Peter McDonald, said that this level of success reflects the dedication and capacity of ADSRI staff and the importance that the Australian Government attaches to the multi-disciplinary social research that ADSRI conducts.

7.8.08

Social Science of the Internet - New Masters Degree Specialisation Approved

The Internet has transformed the way we work, collaborate, engage in commerce, participate in the political process and interact socially.  Researchers and analysts in both the academy and industry are increasingly using Internet data for empirical research into social, economic and political behaviour.  By undertaking the “Social Science of the Internet” specialisation in the Master of Social Research, students gain a thorough understanding of the relevant theory and methods for conducting social science Internet research. 

Students will:

(1) gain an understanding of the fundamental changes to society, politics and the economy that have resulted from the introduction of new information and communication technologies such as the Web;

(2) learn how core social science concepts and methodological approaches can facilitate an understanding of life in the Internet Age;

(3) learn about relevant online research methods that can be used for collecting and analysing data from the Internet.  

The new specialisation emphasises empirical social science research and thus complements the existing specialisations in the Master of Social Research.

More infomation about the Master of Social Research (Social Science of the Internet).

23.6.08

Social policy case studies in public lecture series

ADSRI has announced a series of public lectures in which experts will look at Australian social policies such as family payments, early childhood education and care, indigenous housing, Australian welfare reform, private health insurance, retirement incomes, child support and the Higher Education Contribution Scheme. Each lecture will trace the history of the policy, assess it against various social policy principles and discuss its current operation.

Details of the program.

9.6.08

ADSRI Director, Professor Peter McDonald, awarded an Order of Australia

The Governor General of Australia has approved the appointment of ADSRI Director, Peter McDonald, as a Member in the General Division of the Order of Australia. The citation for the award made on 9 June 2008 states "for service in the fields of demography and social research, particularly relating to population dynamics and future studies, through the exploration of related policy options and through education". Peter expresses his thanks to all of his ADSRI colleagues who have contributed significantly to this award. 'If awards were provided to institutes rather than to individuals, this award would have been made to ADSRI'.

6.6.08

$4 million for Australian Social Science Data Archive

The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research will provide substantial funding for the activities of the Australian Social Science Data Archive (ASSDA). The total funding is $4 million. In informing the University of its decision, the Department stated: 'ASSDA is a key data federating community, and is an exemplar of what the Australian National Data Service (ANDS) will ultimately be aiming to achieve'.

ASSDA is a national collaboration with nodes in the the University of Queensland, the University of Technology Sydney, the University of Melbourne and the University of Western Australia. ADSRI is its central node. The money will be applied across all nodes of ASSDA.

Congratulations are due to Deborah Mitchell (ASSDA Director and Deputy Director of ADSRI), Sophie Holloway (Manager of ASSDA) and Ben Evans (Head of the ANU Supercomputer Facility) and our associates at other Australian universities for their exceptionally hard work in obtaining this result.

26.5.08
News has come of the death of Pat Caldwell (12 January 1922 – 24 May 2008).

Pat has been an important presence in ANU Demography for almost 50 years. She made a very substantial contribution in the field to the development and promotion of anthropological demoraphy. Our thoughts are with Jack, Bruce and family.

A celebration of her life will be held at the Norwood Park Crematorium in Canberra on Thursday 29 May 2008 at 1:30 pm.

The IUSSP have placed an obituary for Pat on their website and members are able to leave messages.

23.5.08
Julia Gillard to open the Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute

Julia Gillard, Deputy Prime Minister, will officially open the Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute at Parliament House, Canberra, on 19 June.

29.4.08
Thomas Schindlmayr passes away

11.4.08
Borrie Prize Winners - Brian Opeskin and Madeleine Rowland

The Borrie Prize is awarded by the Australian Population Association each year to students for the best paper on a population-related topic. For 2007 the prize in the undergraduate category was won by Madeleine Rowland and the postgraduate category was won by Brian Opeskin. Both wrote papers for courses taught by staff in ADSRI.

6.2.08
Higher Levels of Immigration are Inevitable: Report

Australia’s future requirements for labour will drive increases in demand for sustained and growing immigration. In an Occasional Paper, 'Population and Australia's Future Labour Force', released by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, two of Australia’s leading experts on immigration and labour supply argue that strong demand for labour will be driven by rising living standards, the growth of the healthy aged population, the resources boom, construction of new infrastructure and changes in the ways we live our lives because of environmental and technological demands.

Between 1980 and 2005, Australia’s labour force grew by an average of 1.9% per annum, current growth is 1.2% per annum and, given demographic trends, the rate of growth would fall to 0.7% by 2021 and 0.5% by 2051 even if annual net migration remained at its present high level. The paper’s authors, Peter McDonald of the Australian National University’s Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute (ADSRI) and Glenn Withers, Head of the Economic Planning Advisory Commission in the previous Labor Government argue that future labour demand cannot be met without increased immigration. They go on to say that Australia is not well prepared for this new direction.

They recommend that the Australian Government should establish an independent inquiry to determine the best planning and policy approaches to the role of immigration in meeting future labour force needs for both skilled and unskilled labour. This should be part of, and extend, the skill planning for education and training recommended above with domestic population needs and opportunities being met as a co-condition for immigration policy. Among other recommendations, McDonald and Withers call for a forward-looking population policy that incorporates both domestic population growth and migration, acknowledges their impact on Australia’s economic, social and environmental goals, and design population and complementary strategies accordingly. Complementary polices should include education and training, infrastructure and housing, and energy and the environment. Strict limits on general unskilled worker entry to Australia should be maintained, whether on a temporary or permanent entry basis, but a tightly administered and pro-development Pacific Compact for small island nations should be developed that facilitates movement into Australia along with essential complementary labour and business development policies.

Press Release

Paper - 'Population and Australia's Future Labour Force'

26.1.08
Australia Day Honour for Fadwa Al-Yaman

Fadwa Al-Yaman, a graduate of the Master of Population Studies Program, was awarded a Public Service Medal in the Australia Day honour list announced by the Governor-General. The award is for outstanding public service in improving the accuracy and reliability of the data on Indigenous Australians contained in information collections for health, housing and community services.

18.1.08
New ADSRI Working Paper Released

Mortality Modelling and Forecasting: A Review of Methods, ADSRI Working Paper No.3,
by Heather Booth and Leonie Tickle

With increasing life expectancy, mortality forecasting has become critically important. In this paper Heather Booth and Leonie Tickle review significant developments in mortality forecasting since 1980.

Download paper.

26.10.07
Deborah Mitchell and Robert Ackland to Speak at "eResearch" Forum

On 31 October the ANU Supercomputer Facility is hosting a full-day "eResearch" forum. The brave new world of advanced technologies, open access to specialised data repositories, powerful computing systems and networked research infrastructure augments and extends the traditional environment for University research projects. This new "e-Research" environment will allow researchers from all disciplines to access new and faster ways of undertaking research - while also highlighting both the new challenges and new opportunities.

Two of the twelve presentations will be made by ADSRI researchers. ADSRI was the only area of the ANU to secure two time slots in the forum.

Deborah Mitchell - From Numbers to Knowledge: eResearch and the Australian Social Science Data Archive

Robert Ackland - VOSON: Developing a web service for social science network research

Further information can be found on the forum website.

13.9.07
PhD Awarded
The degree of Doctor of Philosophy has been awarded by the University to Meimanat Hosseini-Chavoshi. Congratulations Dr Hosseini!

23.7.07
Dr Rebecca Kippen Awarded a 2007 Carrick Institute Award
The University has announced that Dr Rebecca Kippen from the Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute has been awarded a 2007 Carrick Institute Award for Learning and Teaching in Higher Education. Congratulations Rebecca.