Research
The Institute for Culture and Society researches transformations in culture and society in the context of contemporary global change. It champions collaborative engaged research in the humanities and social sciences for a globalising digital age.
The Institute is the largest dedicated research concentration of its kind in Australia.
The Institute's engaged research is committed to making a positive difference in the world. It is engaged ethically and reciprocally with others. Our aim is to carry out innovative interdisciplinary research into continuities and transformations in culture and society in a way that contributes to understanding and shaping contemporary local and global life. This approach involves being reflexively engaged both with the world and in understanding the conditions and limits of its own knowledge practices.
The world today is undergoing change at an unprecedented scale and speed. Major global trends include global civilizational tensions, technological transformations, environmental crises, economic instability, geopolitical shifts, unprecedented transnational mobilities, and rampant urbanization. These trends pose massive challenges for culture and society. They affect our ways of life and require far-reaching cultural adaptation at local, national and global levels.
The Institute's research program speaks to these multidimensional problems and challenges. A key concern for the Institute is to address the increasingly problematic and uncertain status of knowledge in the contemporary world as a consequence of the increasing complexity of culture and society, including the rise of digital technologies.
The Institute for Culture and Society has four research programs responding to key challenges facing contemporary culture and society:
- Automated Worlds
- Borders and Diversity
- Cultural Infrastructure
- Environment and Technology
- Urban Futures
Each program engages with dynamic areas of research and policy, including cultural diversity, transnationalism, citizenship and institutions, cultural industries and economies, heritage, city cultures, economic and cultural globalisation, digital transformation, and environmental and urban change. The programs act as a focus for joint research projects, workshops, conferences and public engagement initiatives.
