Research Projects

The impact of ‘critical open-mindedness’ on subjective ‘well-living' in the Post-Truth Era

This project is an original quantitative exploration of how individuals’ ‘critical open-mindedness’ can affect their subjective ‘well-living’. The project uses secondary data downloaded from one of the most internationally renowned, high-quality open data sources, World Values Survey’s (7^th Wave) (Australian national context of 2017-2020), as well as the 2021 Australians’ Perceptions of Quality-of-Life Survey executed by New Economy Network Australia (NENA), the CHSF’s community partner.

The project will thus draw on the novel theoretical and methodological advancements (made recently by Hosseini and Saha (2018)) to (1) answer the question of the relationship between (critical) open-mindedness and (subjective) well-living using cross-sectional analyses; (2) to further examine the theory of ‘critical open-mindedness’ using the new data from WVS; (3) translate the subjective of “social well-living” to a measurable social indicator; and (4) help CHSF’s community partner, NENA, make sense and use of their collected data through the data analyses and co-authorship.

Reimagining Quality of Life Post-COVID19 ($15,000) (2021)

Lead CI, S A Hamed Hosseini.  Team members, A/Prof. Penny Buykx, A/Prof. Daniela Heil, Dr Chris Krogh

This project reimagines ‘quality of life’ in the post-COVID19 context by challenging its conventional concepts. Conducted in partnership with New Economy Network Australia (NENA), the project will survey and map innovative approaches to defining ‘quality of life’, as pursued by NENA’s affiliated organizations working to transform Australia’s economic system to achieve ecological well-being and social justice. Drawing on the results of the survey, followed by in-depth and focus group interviews of a sample of such transformative forces, we will develop an alternative socio-cultural construct, as a new ‘conceptual platform’ to strategically engage with broader communities and policymakers to plan and proceed toward just and sustainable futures. The interdisciplinary approach of the project will lead to conceptual advances essential for the construction of a new indicator framework.

Read more about the project here: Click Here

Deliberating Alternatives to Capital: Mapping and Projecting Post-neoliberal Futures (2018-2021)

Lead CI, S A Hamed Hosseini

Goal: The project investigates progressive alternatives to capital in the 21st century which have been developed in the form of theory, model, practice, policy, and project. It investigates the capacities of these alternatives for cross-ideological interactions and integration. It particularly focuses on four major democratic modes of livelihood and sociality which have influenced transformative social movements in the global field of post-capitalist transitions. For more information Click Here

Global Newcastle: Regional Identity and Digital History

Lead CI, Associate Professor Nancy Cushing

Climate Change and Environmental Security in the Pacific: The Role of Regional Organisations

Lead CI, Professor Duncan McDuie-Ra

Alternative Futures and Regional Prospects Research Network: Working across Differences, Beyond Carbon, Capital and Commodity ($15,000) (2018)