Sessional academic staff form most of the teaching staff cohort in Australian universities. The available literature supports that this important staff cohort often experience precarious and insecure work, restricted access to training, support and development, and limited opportunities for career progression (compared to their colleagues in…

Despite their geographical distance, the UK and Australia share proximity with their hostile immigration policies and managed migration practices, characterised by inhumanity under the guise of deterrence. People Seeking Asylum (PSA) who seek sanctuary typically endure protracted temporariness, which denies them access to state resources and…

In this article, we explore the concept of belonging and its utility as a means for understanding academics' experiences of working in the academy. Transformative changes have reorientated academic work in recent years and continue to do so as we grapple with what it means to work and live in a post-digital, post-covid, world. We engage a…

Despite extensive impact studies over the past two decades documenting the insipid and debilitating health, social, and emotional impacts of racism on Indigenous peoples in Australia, racism remains a key factor impacting negatively on the lives of Indigenous Australians at all levels of education. Racism experienced by Indigenous early career…

Numbers of online postgraduate coursework students are increasing within higher education and this raises questions of identity - what being a student means to this more mature cohort. This in-depth qualitative investigation explores postgraduate student identities within online learning. We conducted interviews (14) and collected completed…

In recent years, the number of autistic people entering university has increased in Australia and worldwide. While an encouraging trend, autistic students' completion rates remain much lower than non-autistic students in Australia. Perhaps unsurprisingly, numerous studies investigating autistic people's experiences at universities have identified…

Australia's much-vaunted reputation as a successful egalitarian, multicultural country has substantial merit, but it also has a chequered history, and the official narrative of egalitarianism and multiculturalism is experienced differentially by vulnerable, marginalised people and communities who bear the brunt of residual and new forms of racism…

Purpose: In light of a largely negative discourse, this study aims to identify the various ways in which PhD mums have been supported in a range of contexts to develop a comprehensive typology of positive support, as well as to identify patterns that transcend institutional, national and disciplinary borders. Design/methodology/approach: The study…

Recently, an increasing number of students from refugee and asylum-seeking backgrounds (SRABs) entering universities in settlement countries such as Australia and Germany have necessitated the establishment of a variety of supports, both as formal programs and informal ad-hoc networks. However, to date, little attention has been paid to the…

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students continue to experience racism in Australian university classrooms. The "Reconciliation Australia Barometer" report (2022, p. 5) recently noted that experiences of racial prejudice have increased for Indigenous people with 60% of Indigenous people who responded to the survey experiencing at…

Academics' experiences of transitioning assessments to emergency remote teaching (ERT) during COVID-19 were investigated in a Block Model (BM) higher education context. Students studied one subject at a time in small classes over four weeks. Evaluation cycles were short. An institution-wide qualitative survey highlighted three themes impacting on…

The study investigated first-year preservice teachers' affective, conative, cognitive, social, and physical wellbeing in a mathematics education subject at a regional university in Far North Queensland. Data collected included pre and post surveys with forty-nine preservice teachers, and interviews with preservice teachers and teacher educators.…

While fostering a sense of belonging among university students is an objective of many universities, the landscape of belonging is complex and multifaceted. It is worthy of deeper interrogation, particularly for "non-traditional" students. This article draws on data from a national mixed-methods study that explored proactive ways of…

In this article, Richard Hill addresses the topic of China supposedly undermining Australia's national security and way of life, and causing ructions on university campuses. He writes that Chinese infiltration, or so it seems, is everywhere, from excessive housing investments and land buy-ups to dodgy dinner dates with ALP officials; and from…

As University communities are increasingly affected by the global pandemic, University engagement will and should 'look different' in 2020. There is a risk that academic engagement may be pushed to the sidelines during the time of global pandemic. This report offers eight recommendations of small actions that a University community could take to…