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Research Programs

Our priority areas for research student applications are in line with our 6 research programs. Applicants should contact the research leader of a program to discuss potential research proposals and possible research supervisors.

1. Discourses and Cultural Practices

This program focuses on communication, culture and identity in the organisation of workplaces, educational contexts and communities. Research is undertaken in spoken and written communication in the workplace, with a particular current focus on health care contexts; and on new media and popular culture as sites for new social and cultural identifications.

Contact Hermine.Scheeres@uts.edu.au

2. Working, Learning and Professional Practice

This program focuses on the learning dimensions of work and the practices that promote learning within organisations. Research is undertaken into the changing ways in which skills, knowledge and competence are understood and enacted both within workplaces and in education and training organisations; into professional formation and development and into organisational and workplace learning.

Contact Paul.Hager@uts.edu.au

3. Changing Communities: education and social action

This program researches the social, cultural and political contexts in which communities interact. Research is undertaken in a range of different communities, including schools as communities; partnerships between schools, parents and community groups; university and community partnerships; communities within workplaces; and groups of community-based organisations.

Contact Nina.Burridge@uts.edu.au

4. Teacher learning & development

This program researches the learning and growth of teachers both in schools and in teacher education institutions. Teaching practice is highly dependent on teacher professional learning and there is a need to understand how teachers learn, the beliefs underlying their practices and how pedagogy can be enhanced in the context of changing times and changing requirements for education.

Contact Peter.Aubusson@uts.edu.au

5. Language, literacy and literature

This program researches the role and significance of language, literacy and literature in school, post-school and non-school settings. As learning occurs within social contexts and for specific purposes, it involves spoken and / or written communication. These practices are increasingly mediated through new media and communications technologies.

Contact Pauline.Gibbons@uts.edu.au

6. Learning and teaching in a digital age

This program seeks to understand the educational worth of diverse kinds of engagement with emerging digital cultures. It is concerned with understanding changes in learning through authentic use of technologies. The research is underpinned by, socio-cultural and generative learning theories. The program addresses the increasing dissonance between formal and informal learning environments with a view to making a significant contribution to enhancing the learning of students and teachers, individuals, schools and communities, locally and globally, in our era and beyond.

Contact Sandy.Schuck@uts.edu.au or Lyn.schaverien@uts.edu.au