News 2013
New Book Published by Arizona
Matrons and Maids
Regulating Indian Domestic Service in Tucson, 1914–1934
By Victoria K. Haskins
About the Book
Regulating cross‐cultural interactions
From 1914 to 1934 the US government sent Native American girls to work as domestic servants in the homes of white families. Matrons and Maids tells this forgotten history through the eyes of the women who facilitated their placements. During those two decades, “outing matrons” oversaw and managed the employment of young Indian women. In Tucson, Arizona, the matrons acted as intermediaries between the Indian and white communities and between the local Tucson community and the national administration, the Office of Indian Affairs.
Based on federal archival records, Matrons and Maids offers an original and detailed account of government practices and efforts to regulate American Indian women. Haskins demonstrates that the outing system was clearly about regulating cross-cultural interactions, and she highlights the roles played by white women in this history. As she compellingly argues, we cannot fully engage with cross-cultural histories without examining the complex involvement of white women as active, if ambivalent, agents of colonization.
Including stories of the entwined experiences of Indigenous and non-Indigenous women that range from the heart-warming to the heart-breaking, Matrons and Maids presents a unique perspective on the history of Indian policy and the significance of “women’s work.”
News June 2012
The SAGE Handbook of Social Work 
By Mel Gray, James Midley & Stephen A. Webb
This Handbook is the world's first generic major reference work to provide an authoritative guide to the theory, method, and values of social work in one volume.
Drawn from an international field of excellence, the contributors each offer a critical analysis of their individual area of expertise. The result is this invaluable resource collection that not only reflects upon the condition of social work today but also looks to future developments.
Split into seven parts, the Handbook investigates:
- Policy dimensions
- Practice
- Perspectives
- Values and ethics
- The context of social work
- Research
- Future challenges
It is essential reading for all students, practitioners, researchers, and academics engaged in social work.
March 2012
New Book published by Common Ground Publishing
Working with Communities: Critical Perspectives
By Margot Rawsthorne and Amanda Howard
About the Book
This book responds to an urgent need to reinvigorate collective community action for just change in Australia. At a crucial point in its evolution this book gives a critical perspective to working with communities. It argues that working collectively with communities is vital in this time of rampant individualism and rapid social change.
This book explores many ongoing debates about work with communities:
How should we think about the concept ‘community’?
How should we relate to governments?
How do we know we make a difference?
How do we learn from our practice?
The book offers promising ideas for practice and growth in this field for the future. It provides critical questions for practice useful for those involved in community action including: community members, paid community workers and policy makers.
March 2012
'Teaching Enterprise to Minorities' Professor Dennis Foley
In January, Professor Foley delivered a research paper ‘Teaching Enterprise to Minorities' on Indigenous pedagogy delivered in the approaches to the classroom stream, at the USASBE annual conference (United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship), which is the world's leading forum for entrepreneurship research, teaching, and application. The Journal of Ethics and Entrepreneurship contracted the publication of the paper prior to the conference.
After the conference Professor Foley embarked on field research looking at Social Capital Development in Native American Tourism enterprises commencing in Sedona with the Yavapai Apache Nation Cultural Research Centre, community building and Casino; then the West Rim of the Grand Canyon - Hualapai Tourism within the Hualapai American Indian Reservation. This was followed by Albuquerque, the Indian Pueblo Cultural Centre, the Sandia Casino and Resort; then Sante Fe and Durango building on 1996 and 1999 field visits looking at the integration of the Southern Ute in Durango with their commercial operations and the maintenance of the Tesquese and Taos Pueblos. This included a review of Pueblo Casinos, their location and the operation of Gas stations, Trailer parks and ancillary commercial operations to gain an understanding of developments, including joint ventures within the reservations over the last twelve years.
Since returning, Professor Foley has been contacted by the Australian National University and awarded a three year Visiting Fellowship at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) commencing in 2012 which will no doubt have positive cross-institutional outcomes with future publications.
Associate Professor Victoria Haskins
Associate Professor Haskins has recently given a presentation at a colloquium in Paris as a part of her ARC Future Fellowship: ‘“They Shew No Signs of Resistance”: Indigenous domestic work in early colonial Australia, 1789-1920,’ Femmes et Genre en Contexte Colonial (XIXe-XXe siecles) [Women and Gender in the Colonial Context, 18th - 20th centuries], Centre d’historie de Sciences Po, Paris, 19 January 2012.
Associate Professor Pam Nilan
Associate Professor Nilan was a member of the 2012 Jakarta Selection Team (JST) to select candidates for the Australian Development Scholarships (ADS) and Australian Leadership Awards (ALA) from Indonesia. Successful scholarship awardees will take up PhD and masters coursework enrolment at Australian universities in 2012 and 2013. This was a remunerated consultancy undertaken in January 2012 for AusAID, the Australian International Aid organisation.
April 2011
RISIW PhD scholarship available in 'Cross-cultural history'
APPLY NOW
The Research Institute for Social Inclusion and Wellbeing (RISIW) invites applications for a 3-year, full-time PhD scholarship to work with Associate Professor Victoria Haskins, who is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow based at RISIW. We are seeking a high-calibre postgraduate candidate to carry out research under Dr Haskins’ supervision in the broad area of cross-cultural histories and gender in the late modern period. For more information click here
March 2011
RISIW would like to Congratulate
Social Work team for their remarkable achievement in receiving an ERA 4 rating
Excellence in Research Australia (ERA) is an independent assessment coordinated by the Australian Research Council, designed to assess research quality in Australia’s higher education institutions over the period 2003-2008. The University of Newcastle’s field of Social Work received an ERA rating of 4 which is the highest rating for Social Work in Australia. For more information on The University of Newcastle ERA outcome visit Research Division Newsletter
RISIW will be holding a celebration evening on Wednesday 20th April 7pm download invitation here
December 2010
RISIW Early-Career Research Fellowship Scheme
Congratulations to Dr. Claire Lowrie, who has been awarded the RISIW Early-Career Research Fellowship. Claire will commence her fellowship in Semester 2 2011.
Click here to visit Claire’s Profile page & Claire’s RMP page.
August 2010
The CRC for Social Inclusion bid has been invited to the
second stage of assessment process in the 13th selection round
of the Cooperative Research Centres (CRC) Program
Congratulations to Dr Andrew Johnson (Interim CEO), Professor Stephen Webb (Research Leader), Professor Mel Gray (Designate Program Leader), A/Professor James Ladwig (Designate Program Leader), Kim Edmunds (Research Assistant) and all staff involved that helped make this possible.
We wish them the best of luck!
For information about the CRC, please visit their website, Cooperative Research Centres
July 2010
FEDUA Research Institutes Mid-Career Fellowship Scheme
Apply Now for 2011 funding
The Research Institute for Social Inclusion and Wellbeing (RISIW), Humanities Research Institute and the Educational Research Institute Newcastle (ERIN) (the Faculty Institutes) are pleased to announce, that each institute will host a mid-career Research Fellow for one semester in 2011.
Mid-Career Research Fellowship Scheme Guidelines
Mid-Career Research Fellowship Application Form
July 2010
ERIN, RISIW, ELFSC Research Collaboration Workshop
Wednesday 21st July
9am - 5pm
Treehouse, Shortland Union Building
The Educational Research Institute Newcastle (ERIN), the Research Institute for Social Inclusion and Wellbeing (RISIW), and the English Language and Foundation Studies Centre (ELFSC) have joined together to conduct a research workshop that will begin an inter-Faculty research collaboration investigating the educational pathways and experiences of low socioeconomic status background students at the University of Newcastle. Read More
June 2010
CONGRATULATIONS Professor Stephen Webb for receiving a
NSW Clean Coal Council and Clean Coal Fund Grant
'Managing Clean Coal Technology (CCT) Project Risk: The role of Public Awareness'
NSW Clean Coal Council and Clean Coal Fund
Funded for $618,930 over 2 years (2010-2012)
Received by: CI Prof Stephen A Webb
Special thanks to all involved; Dr Andrew Johnson,
Emeritus Professor Terry Wall and Ms Kim Edmunds
Technology alone cannot change energy behaviour unless it is accepted by society. It is often the case that innovations are technologically rich, but socially poor. This research will identify pitfalls in technological developments and the relationship to the public perception of the development of these technologies in the area of Clean Coal Technology (CCT). It will examine strategies of risk management as part of the network formations associated with clean coal projects. Read More
April 2010
FEDUA Resarch Programmes Feedback and Information Session
Tuesday 8th June 2010
2:30-4:40pm
W301A, Behavioural Sciences Building
Information and feedback will be given to those who had submitted a
FEDUA Research Programme earlier in the year.
April 2010
CONGRATULATIONS To A/Prof Victoria Haskins for
receiving an ARC Future Fellowship
ARC Future Fellowship 2010-2014
'In Her Place: State intervention and Indigenous domestic service in
Australia and the United States, 1880-1945'
Received by: Associate Professor Victoria Haskins
From the late nineteenth century to the Second World War governments around Australia enacted and carried out policies involving the forcible placement and control of Indigenous girls and women in domestic service. Such state interventions had a major impact on race and gender relations but their significance for the shaping of the twentieth century nation are little understood. Read More
April 2010
New Book published by ASHGATE
Indigenous Social Work around the World
Towards Culturally Relevant Education and Practice
By Mel Gray, John Coates & Michael Yellow Bird
About the Book
How can mainstream Western social work learn from and in turn help advance indigenous practice?
This volume brings together prominent international scholars involved in both Western and indigenous social work across the globe – including James Midgley, Linda Briskman, Alean Al-Krenawi and John R. Graham – to discuss some of the most significant global trends and issues relating to indigenous and cross-cultural social work. The contributors identify ways in which indigenization is shaping professional social work practice and education, and examine how social work can better address diversity in international exchanges and cross-cultural issues within and between countries.
Key theoretical, methodological and service issues and challenges in the indigenization of social work are reviewed, including the way in which adaptation can lead to more effective practices within indigenous communities and emerging economies, and how adaptation can provide greater insight into cross-cultural understanding and practice. Click here to download Publisher Ashgate additional information.
Available from Ashgate or Amazon
January 2010
New Major Four Volume Reference published by Sage
INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL WORK - Four Volume Major Reference Work
By Mel Gray and Stephen A. Webb
About the Book
These four volumes of International Social Work are partly occasioned by the significant increase of world-wide interest in social work. From India to China, from Latvia to Lithuania, social work is experiencing an international boom in pure research and research-for-practice. Once regarded as a rather marginal preoccupation of applied policy and practice interventions, the field of social work has now moved into the centre of social sciences research. As part of this shift the study of social work has changed enormously over the last forty years or so, with both the values and language of social work evolving.
Indeed, part of our motivation for producing these volumes is a growing awareness that there have been important changes taking place in social work in recent years. At a most obvious level social work functions within constantly changing frameworks of policies and legislation and as a profession is required to respond to new frameworks, expanding knowledge and increasing societal expectations. The result of these changes has been the proliferation of perspectives and approaches in social work. While this emerging diversity of approaches to social work appears quite striking, there continues to be something of a ‘mainstream’ even though it is navigated by fewer than before.
Internationally, social work has grown in stature and influence as well as making important contributions to the social sciences. Social work holds special research promise because it explicitly attempts to cut across diverse social, cultural, economic, and political dimensions. Within the contemporary situation, social work also addresses many of the pressing problems facing people across the globe.
Available from Amazon and Sage
December 2009
The Ian Potter Foundation Grant Success
"Learning for Inclusion: A Partnership with the Newcastle Muslim Community to Promote Cultural Awareness and Social Inclusion"
Research Investigators: Professor Stephen Webb and Kim Edmunds
The social inclusion of Muslims in Australia is a particularly complex and challenging issue. Many Muslims, regardless of their origins, are socially and economically marginalised in Australian society. While Newcastle has a less culturally diverse population than other large centres across Australia, it has a growing Muslim population derived largely from the recent influx of students from Middle Eastern countries enrolled at the University of Newcastle. Newcastle has a unique environment with its own set of challenges; Muslims tend to be more noticeable in a less culturally diverse environment, contributing further to perception of them as outsiders. This collaborative research will engage members of the Newcastle Muslim community in the development and delivery of activities in local primary schools designed to address social exclusion and contribute to the social wellbeing of the Muslim population.
October 2009
RESEARCH PROGRAMME FUNDING
The Research Institute for Social Inclusion and Wellbeing (RISIW), the Newcastle Institute for Research in Education (NIRE); and the Humanities Research Institute (HRI), are pleased to announce that the Programme Application and Guidelines for the Faculty of Education and Arts Institute Research Grants are now available at the following links:
Research Programmes Funding Guidelines
Programme Application
Programme FAQ's
September 2009
New Book published by Palgrave
ETHICS AND VALUE PERSPECTIVES IN SOCIAL WORK
By Mel Gray & Stephen A. Webb
About the Book
This new book explores the relationship between social work ethics and social inclusion. It argues social work is a valuable activity and that is has intrinsic worth, which is confirmed in the fact that the human good consists in certain activities, (as opposed to others) with social work being one of these activities. These social work activities themselves involve valuing (strong evaluations) and the appreciation of value. We claim that a person’s life is enriched by doing social work, made better for her, through the active engagement with and appreciation of values whose worth transcends self-interest and their capacity to benefit. The benefit comes through the appreciation of value, or what Nietzsche called ‘the value of value’. Appreciating these values through shared valuable activity makes possible distinctive forms of valuable relationships, through which the good of valuable activity is both confirmed and ramified. This is what we call the work of ‘the virtuous social worker’ in a socially inclusive society.
Available from Amazon; and Palgrave
June 2009
RISIW, in partnership with CofFEE, is awarded a Research Grant by Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) to study 'Job Readiness of Muslim Jobseekers and the Relative Effectiveness of Employment Support Services in Australia'.
The Chief Investigator is Professor Terry Lovat. The research aims to:-
- Assess the level of ‘job readiness’ of representative samples of Australian Muslim jobseekers and identify the potential employment factors/barriers that contribute to the high unemployment rates for Australian Muslims. This analysis will include the range of individual, cultural, social, economic, and organisational issues, including prevailing labour market conditions at the macro and local levels;
Identify strategies, employment and other services that are effective in assisting Muslims to successfully obtain and retain employment, as well as those aspects of employment services that are ineffective in terms of labour market intermediation;
Use the findings from the literature review, qualitative research and econometric modelling to provide a general framework for examining the efficacy of Australian Employment Services through developing a ‘Best-Practice Model’ and identifying actual examples of good practice. It will particularly focus on a sample of four Intensive Employment Support projects under the NAP and three other Intensive Employment Support projects. The development of model will also include comparisons between Mainstream and Non-Mainstream Service Providers, as well as short-term and long-term End-Services in terms of their methods for addressing jobseekers’ needs;
Identify the most relevant and culturally sensitive physical resources and in-person supports which can improve the quality and effectiveness of services and consultations provided by Employment Facilitators and program organisers. These could include training manuals, fact-sheets and multi-media resources. In addition specific training needs for staff working with Australian Muslims may be identified by the research.
May 2009
New Book published by Routledge Taylor & Francis Group
EVIDENCE-BASED SOCIAL WORK: A CRITICAL STANCE
By Mel Gray, Debbie Plath & Stephen A. Webb
About the Book
Evidence-based practice is now a core element of many governments’ approaches to policy making and social intervention. It has become a powerful movement that promises to change the content and structure of social work and its allied professions. Its emergence has generated much debate and raised challenging questions, however, particularly at the interface of research, policy, and practice.
This book provides a critical analysis of evidence-based practice in social work. It introduces readers to the fast changing research, policy, legislative, and practice context. It discusses what constitutes knowledge in social work, the values and beliefs that lie behind EBP and problems of implementation, formalization and resource management. Reflecting on the challenges of transferring evidence-based practice to frontline social work practice, Gray, Plath and Webb argue that social work practice is not easily measured and systematized into best practice guidelines that disseminate proven diagnostic and effective intervention knowledge.
Using Actor Network Theory for the first time in the social work literature, Evidence-based Social Work illuminates how adopting the methodology and language of evidence-based practice fundamentally alters the conditions under which social work takes place. This book is vital reading for academics, practitioners, and students with an interest in contemporary social work practice and research.
Available from Amazon and Routledge
December 2008
New Book Published by Sage Publishers
SOCIAL WORK THEORIES AND METHODS
By Mel Gray & Stephen A. Webb
About the Book
'Social Work Theories and Methods' edited by Mel Gray and Stephen A. Webb is expected to become a major reference source for social work, social policy and health related disciplines. Click the cover above for more information.
`An excellent book that provides a good deal of valuable material to stimulate debate and to alert readers of the need to engage more critically with the wider world in which social work is located' - Professor Keith Popple, Professor of Social Work London South Bank University
This exciting book draws together the key contemporary theories, theorists and perspectives used in social work and explains how they are applied in practice and critiqued by social workers.
It provides:
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An outline of the contribution made by a key theorist, theory or perspective to social work
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A selective bibliography of each thinker or approach
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A glossary defining key traditions, with cross links to key theorists and perspectives
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A timeline of key publications
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Study questions at the end of each chapter.
The book will be valuable for undergraduate, graduate students, post qualifying students and researchers in social work.
Available from Amazon and Sage
October 2008
RISIW RECEIVED 2 SUCCESSFUL ARC DISCOVERY PROJECT GRANTS
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Changing modes: A study of the Knowledge Economy of Human Service Research in Australia
By Prof Mel Gray; Prof Stephen Webb; Dr Nadine Kavanagh
Project Summary
Significant national benefits will accrue through this study of the human services knowledge economy. The creation of human services employing knowledge‑based interventions will address the real needs of Australians in the current socio‑political environment. In investigating how current systems of knowledge production contribute to the creation of relevant and effective human services, the research will identify the restraints to innovation in human services and the structures in which knowledge production is articulated. In modelling an 'ideal‑type' of knowledge transfer conducive to the development of socially accountable research, it will inform changes needed for effective human service delivery.
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Implementing Evidence-Based Practice: Factors that Influence the Use of Research Evidence by Human Service Professionals
By Prof Stephen Webb; Prof Mel Gray; Dr Debbie Plath
Project Summary
Implementing research evidence in human services is vitally important in providing more effective and accountable provision. It promotes an innovation culture by maximizing technological capability by understanding factors conducive to change. Nationally, it is significant in three key respects: (1) it is the first Australian research project to examine the implementation of research evidence in the human services; (2) it is the first project to conduct a systematic review in this field; (3) it develops a national policy framework for guiding implementation and identify attainment outcomes in human services. A multifaceted strategy for policy formation based on audit and feedback will be proposed.
More information is available at:The Australian Council of Heads of Schools of Social Work - http://www.achssw.org.au/
