
Dr Julia Cook
Lecturer
School of Humanities and Social Science
- Email:julia.cook@newcastle.edu.au
- Phone:(02) 4055 3018
Loans, housing and young people
Dr Julia Cook is a youth sociologist whose research is revealing how housing and family finance impacts the lives of young people.
Dr Julia Cook is passionate about amplifying the voices of young people through her research. Her qualitative and mixed methods research allows her to convey young people’s experiences to the world, highlighting issues and areas where policy changes are needed, particularly in regard to housing, loans and family assistance.
Her work is producing impactful results with immediate implications for the creation of policies that are fit for purpose. She is the chief investigator on a project funded by the National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education which seeks to understand the housing experiences of undergraduate regional and remote students living away from the family home.
“Lately we are seeing reports recommending funding for purpose-built student accommodation on campus as a means of trying to increase university participation among regional and remote students,” Julia said. “However, there isn’t much evidence around the impact purpose-built on-campus housing has on this group compared to, for instance, living in the private rental sector. This project fills that gap in the literature.”
The project has surveyed 550 regional and remote university students who have relocated for their studies to see how their housing has impacted their experience of university.
“The aim of the project is to develop an evidence base that can feed into policy that is fit for purpose and recommendations that target the resources available for housing for regional and remote students into outcomes that are equitable and beneficial.”
“The project investigates the impact of different living arrangements on the student’s studies. Do those who are in purpose-built student accommodation fare better than those renting elsewhere? What challenges are presented in both those scenarios? Are any negative experiences caused or mediated by working part time? We want to understand some of the determinants of positive experiences at university and find evidence to see what students actually need and what will have a positive impact so we know where resources are best targeted,” Julia said.
Understanding intergenerational loans
In 2019 Julia was awarded a prestigious international research fellowship with the University of Birmingham’s Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management (CHASM), where she furthered her research into the impact of intergenerational financial transfers to enable entry into the property market.
“I have also researched this topic in Australia and had some data on the prevalence of intergenerational loans but wanted to know more about the mechanisms behind how this happens,” Julia said.
Parents lending their children money to buy a house seems a straight forward transaction, but Julia is interested in the micro-social factors that make that possible.
“I enjoy engaging with participants in interviews and going into homes and talking to them about how this happens. I’m interested in the social norms that underpin these larger financial gifts.”
“The aim of this project is to try and understand the mechanisms through which intergenerational advantage and disadvantage are produced. Passing on money to buy a house is a direct way that home ownership is reproduced. We know if your parents are home owners, you’re more likely to be a home owner – that is the reproduction of advantage. In order to understand the wider agenda of disadvantage it’s necessary to understand the mechanisms through which advantage is reproduced.”
Regional youth and work, wellbeing and debt
Julia is also part of a project called ‘Regional youth in precarious times – work wellbeing and debt’ that aims to understand the debt and employment nexus for young people in the Hunter region. The project will begin with a policy analysis around debt and young people. Secondly, the project team will interview young people in the Hunter region to hear about their lived experiences with unsecured debt. Then they will use creative research methods, such as body mapping in workshops, to endeavour to further clarify young people’s relationship between debt, employment and wellbeing. The final step of the project will be to create a digital map of the various financial lenders in the Hunter with categories of lenders and the types of loans they offer.
“We’ll overlay this information on the map meaning we’ll be able to see the income of specific suburb and youth unemployment while also seeing the type of lenders in the area,” Julia said.
“With this information we are aiming to put together an intervention to make the financial aspects of life better for young people in the Hunter. We are partnering with the Greater Bank Financial Literacy Laboratory who are running financial literacy programs in secondary schools. The findings from our project will feed into those financial literacy programs as well as inform evidence-based policies.”
Loans, housing and young people
Dr Julia Cook is a youth sociologist whose research is revealing how housing and family finance impacts the lives of young people.
Career Summary
Biography
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy, University of Melbourne
- Bachelor of Arts (Honours), University of Melbourne
Keywords
- futurity
- housing
- place
- residential mobility
- sociology of time
- young adulthood
- youth
Professional Experience
UON Appointment
Title | Organisation / Department |
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Lecturer | University of Newcastle School of Humanities and Social Science Australia |
Lecturer | University of Newcastle School of Humanities and Social Science Australia |
Publications
For publications that are currently unpublished or in-press, details are shown in italics.
Book (1 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link |
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2018 | Cook J, Imagined Futures Hope, Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, Cham, Switzerland, 141 (2018) |
Chapter (6 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
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2020 |
Cook J, Woodman D, 'Digital Modes of Data Collection in Mixed-Methods Longitudinal Youth Research', Complexities of Researching with Young People, Routledge, Abingdon, UK 74-86 (2020) [B1]
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2020 |
Cook J, Woodman D, 'Conceptualising Youth and Future Holistically', Youth and the New Adulthood. Generations of Change, Springer Nature, Singapore 115-129 (2020) [B1]
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2020 |
Chesters J, Cuervo H, Cook J, Wyn J, 'Generations, Issues and Priorities', Youth and the New Adulthood. Generations of Change, Springer Nature, Singapore 131-149 (2020) [B1]
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2020 |
Cook J, Romei K, 'Belonging, Place and Entrepreneurial Selfhood', Youth and the New Adulthood. Generations of Change, Springer Nature, Singapore 83-97 (2020) [B1]
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2020 |
Cuervo H, Cook J, 'Understanding Young Lives Through Longitudinal Research Design', Youth and the New Adulthood. Generations of Change, Springer Nature, Singapore 13-30 (2020) [B1]
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Show 3 more chapters |
Journal article (19 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | |||||
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2020 |
Cahill H, Cook J, 'From Life-course Expectations to Societal Concerns: Seeking Young Adults Perspectives on Generational Narratives', YOUNG, 28 105-102 (2020) [C1]
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2020 |
Cook J, 'Smoothing Rough Transitions: the Extensive Role of Family Assistance in Pathways into Homeownership', Journal of Applied Youth Studies, 3 79-93 (2020)
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2020 |
Cook J, Woodman D, 'Belonging and the Self as Enterprise: Place, Relationships and the Formation of Occupation-Based Identities', Sociologia Ruralis, 60 375-393 (2020) [C1]
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2020 |
Cook J, 'Understanding Home Renovation as a Material Future-Making Practice', Sociology, (2020)
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2020 |
Fu J, Cook J, 'Browsing for Cunzaigan on WeChat: Young People s Social Media Presence in Accelerated Urban China', Young, 28 404-421 (2020) [C1] © 2019 Sage Publications and YOUNG Editorial Group. This article examines how young Chinese adults living in urban areas experience cunzaigan (a Chinese word that translates to ¿s... [more] © 2019 Sage Publications and YOUNG Editorial Group. This article examines how young Chinese adults living in urban areas experience cunzaigan (a Chinese word that translates to ¿sense of existence¿) through sharing mundane life moments on the social media platform¿WeChat. We draw on the theories of social acceleration and social presence to interpret this practice and, in so doing, find that for our participants, cunzaigan signifies a subjective experience, testifying that they are here, providing a counterpoint to their mobile and fast-paced urban lives. Drawing on their experience of temporal social presence on WeChat, we contend that technological developments, which have been identified as a key motor of social acceleration, can also be harnessed as a resource to serve ontological and social purposes in an accelerated social context. In so doing, we address the role that everyday engagements with social media play in shaping the temporal nature of young people¿s lives.
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2020 |
Cook J, 'Keeping it in the family: understanding the negotiation of intergenerational transfers for entry into homeownership', HOUSING STUDIES, (2020)
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2020 |
Fu J, Cook J, 'Everyday social media use of young Australian adults', JOURNAL OF YOUTH STUDIES, (2020)
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2019 |
Cook J, Cuervo H, 'Agency, futurity and representation: Conceptualising hope in recent sociological work', The Sociological Review, 67 1102-1117 (2019) [C1]
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2019 |
Woodman D, Cook J, 'The new gendered labour of synchronisation: Temporal labour in the new world of work', Journal of Sociology, 55 762-777 (2019) [C1] © The Author(s) 2019. Research considering how time is organised has shown that women tend to carry a disproportionate burden of coordinating the schedules of their households. Ho... [more] © The Author(s) 2019. Research considering how time is organised has shown that women tend to carry a disproportionate burden of coordinating the schedules of their households. However, little research has considered how these gendered inequalities may manifest in the context of the shift away from ¿standard¿ work patterns and towards variable and non-standard hours. We address this question by using interview and digital data to consider how a selection of ¿ordinary¿ Australian young adults in heterosexual partnerships manage and coordinate their time. We contend that even for middle-class young adults with relatively high employment security, increasingly complex working arrangements are shifting existing inequalities in gendered divisions of temporal labour in ways that heighten feelings of temporal insecurity. We conceptualise our findings as part of an intensification of the existing need to schedule and manage lives that is widely felt in the so-called ¿gig economy era¿, even by those removed from gig work proper.
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2017 |
Kosovac A, Davidson B, Malano H, Cook J, 'The varied nature of risk and considerations for the water industry: A review of the literature', Environment and Natural Resources Research, 7 80-86 (2017)
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2017 |
Cook J, ' How much do I want the apocalypse to happen and just wipe this all clean? : The use of apocalyptic narratives by non-religious youth', Journal for the Academic Study of Religion, 30 52-72 (2017)
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2016 |
Cook J, 'Young people's strategies for coping with parallel imaginings of the future', TIME & SOCIETY, 25 700-717 (2016)
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2016 |
Cook J, 'Young adults' hopes for the long-term future: from re-enchantment with technology to faith in humanity', JOURNAL OF YOUTH STUDIES, 19 517-532 (2016)
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2014 |
Cook J, Hasmath R, 'The discursive construction and performance of gendered identity on social media', CURRENT SOCIOLOGY, 62 975-993 (2014)
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Show 16 more journal articles |
Report (1 outputs)
Year | Citation | Altmetrics | Link | ||
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2020 |
Threadgold S, Coffey J, Cook J, Farrugia D, Sharp M, Whitton F, Burke P, 'Young Hospitality Workers and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Work, Family Support and Wellbeing', FEDUA, University of Newcastle, 43 (2020)
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Grants and Funding
Summary
Number of grants | 6 |
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Total funding | $123,409 |
Click on a grant title below to expand the full details for that specific grant.
20205 grants / $88,289
Regional youth in precarious times: Work, wellbeing and debt$70,000
Funding body: Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle
Funding body | Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle |
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Project Team | Dr David Farrugia (Lead); Dr Julia Cook; A/Prof Kate Senior; Dr Steven Threadgold; Dr Julia Coffey; Dr Kate Davies; Dr David Savage; Prof Helen Cahill (University of Melbourne). |
Scheme | Research Programs Pilot Scheme |
Role | Investigator |
Funding Start | 2020 |
Funding Finish | 2021 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
Newcastle Youth Studies Network$12,353
Funding body: Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle
Funding body | Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle |
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Project Team | Dr David Farrugia (Lead), Prof Penny Burke, Dr Julia Cook, Dr Steven Threadgold and Prof Pam Nilan |
Scheme | Strategic Network and Pilot Project Grants Scheme |
Role | Investigator |
Funding Start | 2020 |
Funding Finish | 2020 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
2020 Faculty of Education and Arts Strategic Application Support Scheme$2,500
Funding body: Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle
Funding body | Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle |
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Project Team | Dr Julia Cook |
Scheme | 2020 FEDUA Strategic Application Support Scheme |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2020 |
Funding Finish | 2020 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
2020 FEDUA 'Finish that Output' scheme funding$2,176
Funding body: Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle
Funding body | Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle |
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Project Team | Dr J Cook (Lead); Dr D Farrugia (UoN); Dr S Threadgold (UoN). |
Scheme | FEDUA 'Finish that Output' scheme |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2020 |
Funding Finish | 2020 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
2020 Faculty of Education and Arts Strategic Early Advice and Feedback Scheme$1,260
Funding body: Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle
Funding body | Faculty of Education and Arts, University of Newcastle |
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Project Team | Dr Julia Cook |
Scheme | 2020 FEDUA Strategic Early Advice and Feedback Scheme |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2020 |
Funding Finish | 2020 |
GNo | |
Type Of Funding | Internal |
Category | INTE |
UON | N |
20191 grants / $35,120
Housing matters: understanding the housing experiences of undergraduate regional and remote students living outside the family home$35,120
Funding body: National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE)
Funding body | National Centre for Student Equity in Higher Education (NCSEHE) |
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Project Team | Doctor Julia Cook, Doctor Matthew Bunn, Professor Penny Jane Burke |
Scheme | Research Grants Program |
Role | Lead |
Funding Start | 2019 |
Funding Finish | 2019 |
GNo | G1901066 |
Type Of Funding | C2120 - Aust Commonwealth - Other |
Category | 2120 |
UON | Y |
Research Supervision
Number of supervisions
Current Supervision
Commenced | Level of Study | Research Title | Program | Supervisor Type |
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2019 | PhD | Sport and Social Change: A Class Analysis of Gentrification, Displacement and Activism in Newcastle, Australia | PhD (Sociology & Anthropology), College of Human and Social Futures, The University of Newcastle | Principal Supervisor |
News
New research reveals unequal impact of the pandemic on young people
August 20, 2020
CHASM Research Fellowship Awarded to Dr Julia Cook
February 8, 2019
Dr Julia Cook
Position
Lecturer
School of Humanities and Social Science
College of Human and Social Futures
Contact Details
julia.cook@newcastle.edu.au | |
Phone | (02) 4055 3018 |
Office
Room | W314 |
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Building | Behavioural Sciences |
Location | Callaghan University Drive Callaghan, NSW 2308 Australia |