SOCIOLOGY OF SLEEP
Sleep research has conventionally been situated in the medical and psychological sciences. But what does a sociological perspective have to offer? A key strand of my research has sought to understand what it means to study sleep from a sociological angle. What advancements have been made in this rapidly growing field? How might the frontiers of the field be expanded to encompass other—or advance—new sociological debates, such as those concerning social acceleration and human/animal relations? And most recently, how might we theorize and understand the intersections between sleep and technology?
SOCIAL ACCELERATION
Another key plank of my research has been focused on the theme of social acceleration, which describes the speeding up of social life. My work has sought to question a number of widely-held assumptions about this phenomenon. For example, I have queried the limits of conceptualizing the slow food movement as being diametrically opposed to the logics of a high-speed society. I have also sought to develop a more varied and discontinuous understanding of the social acceleration process, which has links to individualism and structural and psychological facets.
DISASTERS AND SOCIAL THEORY
What constitutes a disaster? Should we expand how disasters are sociologically defined so that they not just regarded as temporally and spatially focused social breakdowns, as many conventional accounts of disasters have posited? What does it mean to study disasters in the new mobilities paradigm? Building on my previous studies of globalization, my recent research — funded by the European Commission through the Hawke EU Centre's 'Community Reactions to Disasters' (1.6) research node — has sought to address these very questions through a thematic interest in the social theory of global disasters.
ROBOTICS, AUTOMATION, AND SOCIETY
Technological developments in robotics and artificial intelligence stand to significantly transform many aspects of social life. I am part of an Australian team of researchers who are investigating these social transformations, such as the transformative potentials and impacts of driverless vehicles. The knowledge we are developing has informed an Australian Government Inquiry into 'Social issues relating to land-based automated vehicles in Australia', which was conducted by the Government's Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation Science and Resources. I am also part of an Australian/Japanese research team investigating how robotics are being developed in the context of aged care. This research attempts to understand how the development and implementation of robotic technologies can be embedded with and influenced by a multitude of social values.
Sleep research has conventionally been situated in the medical and psychological sciences. But what does a sociological perspective have to offer? A key strand of my research has sought to understand what it means to study sleep from a sociological angle. What advancements have been made in this rapidly growing field? How might the frontiers of the field be expanded to encompass other—or advance—new sociological debates, such as those concerning social acceleration and human/animal relations? And most recently, how might we theorize and understand the intersections between sleep and technology?
SOCIAL ACCELERATION
Another key plank of my research has been focused on the theme of social acceleration, which describes the speeding up of social life. My work has sought to question a number of widely-held assumptions about this phenomenon. For example, I have queried the limits of conceptualizing the slow food movement as being diametrically opposed to the logics of a high-speed society. I have also sought to develop a more varied and discontinuous understanding of the social acceleration process, which has links to individualism and structural and psychological facets.
DISASTERS AND SOCIAL THEORY
What constitutes a disaster? Should we expand how disasters are sociologically defined so that they not just regarded as temporally and spatially focused social breakdowns, as many conventional accounts of disasters have posited? What does it mean to study disasters in the new mobilities paradigm? Building on my previous studies of globalization, my recent research — funded by the European Commission through the Hawke EU Centre's 'Community Reactions to Disasters' (1.6) research node — has sought to address these very questions through a thematic interest in the social theory of global disasters.
ROBOTICS, AUTOMATION, AND SOCIETY
Technological developments in robotics and artificial intelligence stand to significantly transform many aspects of social life. I am part of an Australian team of researchers who are investigating these social transformations, such as the transformative potentials and impacts of driverless vehicles. The knowledge we are developing has informed an Australian Government Inquiry into 'Social issues relating to land-based automated vehicles in Australia', which was conducted by the Government's Standing Committee on Industry, Innovation Science and Resources. I am also part of an Australian/Japanese research team investigating how robotics are being developed in the context of aged care. This research attempts to understand how the development and implementation of robotic technologies can be embedded with and influenced by a multitude of social values.