Murdoch University School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences

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Murdoch University School of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences Solve real-world problems with a humanities, arts and social sciences degree.

Please join us in congratulating Associate Professor Anne Schwenkenbecher (Associate Dean of Research) on her chapter in...
20/10/2026

Please join us in congratulating Associate Professor Anne Schwenkenbecher (Associate Dean of Research) on her chapter in this timely and important volume.

Responsibility for Extreme Beliefs and Behaviors, is the fourth volume in the series.

Associate Professor Scwenkenbecher’s chapter is titled "Are Terrorists Collectively Responsible for Their Extreme Beliefs?"

The work explores legal, moral, and epistemic responsibility for radicalized beliefs, and behaviours and hopes to push a paradigm in which the agency of extreme actors is taken seriously—more seriously than it often is.

Available through Oxford University Press.

Pictured: Co-editor Professor Rick Peels.

Join the Indo-Pacific Research Centre, Murdoch University (IPRC) for the 2026 Indo-Pacific Address, exploring Japan’s ev...
20/10/2026

Join the Indo-Pacific Research Centre, Murdoch University (IPRC) for the 2026 Indo-Pacific Address, exploring Japan’s evolving role in global affairs and the challenges shaping its future.

The event will welcome Professor Purnendra Jain , Emeritus Professor in Asian Studies at Adelaide University and Honorary Research Fellow at Murdoch’s IPRC, to deliver this year’s address:

“Japan: A Global Influencer Amid a Rapidly Transforming World and Domestic Challenges”

From Japan’s postwar economic transformation to its emergence as a major strategic player in the Indo-Pacific, Professor Jain will examine the changing political, economic and security landscape, including Japan’s relationships with the United States and Australia.

A distinguished scholar and Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, Professor Jain brings decades of expertise in Japanese politics and international relations.

The address will feature a response from Dr Jacqui Baker, Principal Fellow of the IPRC and Senior Lecturer in Southeast Asian Politics at Murdoch University.

We look forward to welcoming colleagues, students and the wider community to this important conversation. With thanks to IPRC Director Professor Jacqueline Lo and our colleagues at the Indo-Pacific Research Centre.

Tuesday 27 October 2026
6.00–7.15 pm (refreshments from 5.30 pm)
Boola Katitjin 360.4.031

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/2026-indo-pacific-address-japan-a-global-influencer-tickets-1987654321

In Week 13, Murdoch University students in COD302 Creative Ways to Work with Community explored mapping people and place...
19/10/2026

In Week 13, Murdoch University students in COD302 Creative Ways to Work with Community explored mapping people and places with Unit Coordinator and award-winning photographic artist Chloe Bartram.

Their inspiration was “A Map is a Poem”, a recent exhibition at AH Bracks Library + Creative Space in Melville, which revealed the inner and outer worlds of Melville Art Club participants.

Using cyanotypes, a photographic process that produces distinctive blue prints, the students mapped the cold spots of beautiful Bush Court, bringing a creative perspective to a familiar campus space.

What an imaginative way to connect art, community and place, and to consider how we experience the environments we share!

Join Murdoch University Indo-Pacific Research Centre, Murdoch University (IPRC) for the 2026 Indo-Pacific Address, explo...
19/10/2026

Join Murdoch University Indo-Pacific Research Centre, Murdoch University (IPRC) for the 2026 Indo-Pacific Address, exploring Japan’s evolving role in global affairs and the challenges shaping its future.

The event will welcome Professor Purnendra Jain , Emeritus Professor in Asian Studies at Adelaide University and Honorary Research Fellow at Murdoch’s IPRC, to deliver this year’s address:

“Japan: A Global Influencer Amid a Rapidly Transforming World and Domestic Challenges”

From Japan’s postwar economic transformation to its emergence as a major strategic player in the Indo-Pacific, Professor Jain will examine the changing political, economic and security landscape, including Japan’s relationships with the United States and Australia.

A distinguished scholar and Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, Professor Jain brings decades of expertise in Japanese politics and international relations.

The address will feature a response from Dr Jacqui Baker, Principal Fellow of the IPRC and Senior Lecturer in Southeast Asian Politics at Murdoch University.

We look forward to welcoming colleagues, students and the wider community to this important conversation. With thanks to IPRC Director Professor Jacqueline Lo and our colleagues at the Indo-Pacific Research Centre.

Tuesday 27 October 2026
6.00–7.15 pm (refreshments from 5.30 pm)
VENUE TBC

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/2026-indo-pacific-address-japan-a-global-influencer-tickets-1987654321

How can universities tackle racism consistently while protecting academic freedom and freedom of expression?In a new art...
16/10/2026

How can universities tackle racism consistently while protecting academic freedom and freedom of expression?

In a new article published in Overland, Murdoch University HASS academics Dr Victoria Mason and gwenaël velge join four co-authors in examining this important question, proposing a more consistent, rights-based approach to addressing racism in Australian universities.

The article, “Could a ‘dehumanisation’ standard offer a fairer way for universities to tackle racism?”, responds to recent regulatory proposals from the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA).

The authors examine the implications of adopting different definitions for different forms of racism, including potential consequences for academic freedom, procedural fairness and equitable protection.

As they ask:

“Why should different forms of racism be governed through different definitional frameworks?”

Drawing on a submission supported by 380 scholars from 34 Australian universities, the article explores an alternative framework developed by the Australian Muslim Advocacy Network: a common, conduct-based standard focused on dehumanisation.

The authors argue that such an approach could provide consistent protections against racism while safeguarding legitimate political and academic debate.

“Universal values and consistency should be the backbone of any legal or disciplinary standard”.

Congratulations to Victoria and gwenaël, alongside co-authors Linda Briskman, Rita Jabri-Markwell, Mary Anne Kenny and Sanam Mustafa, on this timely contribution to national discussions about racism, human rights and academic freedom.

Read the full article in Overland:

https://overland.org.au/2026/10/could-a-dehumanisation-standard-offer-a-fairer-way-for-universities-to-tackle-racism/

12/10/2026

How can the experience of religious conversion, displacement and alienation help us understand modern identity?

Join us for the next Murdoch University Philosophy Research Seminar, featuring Chloe Anastasia (Wollaston), presenting:

“Marranism and Modernity, Supersession and Secularism”

The Marranos, descendants of Jewish communities forcibly converted to Christianity in Iberia, developed a thriving, cosmopolitan culture during the 16th and 17th centuries. Their experiences of religious identity, alienation and exclusion have become an important reference point for philosophers examining the emergence of modern subjectivity.

In this seminar, Chloe Anastasia explores how Marranism illuminates the development of modernity, particularly through the historical processes of racialisation, religious difference and secularisation. Challenging universal accounts of modern subjectivity, the talk considers Marranism as a historically situated set of strategies for negotiating identity and belonging.

Event details:
Wednesday 14 October 2026
4:00 pm
Education and Humanities Building, Room 450.4.078
Murdoch University, Perth

All are welcome to attend and participate in the discussion.

Drinks to follow at rh Murdoch Guild Tavern 🍻

The Whims of Magic … Student Theatre at Murdoch University! Get ready for a magical adventure this December as By My Tro...
09/10/2026

The Whims of Magic … Student Theatre at Murdoch University!

Get ready for a magical adventure this December as By My Troth Theatre Company presents The Whims of Magic at Murdoch University’s Nexus Theatre.

This family-friendly, Dungeons & Dragons-inspired fantasy brings pantomime-style fun to the stage, following a group of unlikely adventurers on a quest to stop an evil wizard from stealing all the world’s snow and save Christmas!

Written by Ibrahim Qleibo and directed by Jasmine Decke, this student theatre production promises an entertaining celebration of adventure and theatrical creativity.

Performance details

📅 17–19 December 2026
📍 Nexus Theatre, Murdoch University
90 South Street, Murdoch

Showtimes:

* Thursday 17 December | 7:30 pm
* Friday 18 December | 7:30 pm
* Saturday 19 December | 2:30 pm and 7:30 pm

🎟️ Tickets available now via TryBooking — see the link in the company’s bio.

Come along and support our talented student theatre-makers as they bring this fantastical Christmas adventure to life!

Where could an Asia-focused career take you?Murdoch University is hosting Engaging Our Neighbours: Where an Asia-Focused...
06/10/2026

Where could an Asia-focused career take you?

Murdoch University is hosting Engaging Our Neighbours: Where an Asia-Focused Career Can Take You — a free panel and networking event for New Colombo Plan alumni, current students and young professionals interested in careers in, with or connected to Asia.

This is a great opportunity to connect with industry representatives and government officials from across the public, private and university sectors, and explore the pathways an Asia-focused career can open.

Thursday 15 October 2026
6:00–8:00pm
The Loft, Murdoch University
Level 3, Building 425 (Room 425.3.001)
Free and catered

The event is supported by the Australian Government’s New Colombo Plan.

Register via the QR code on the event flyer.

🍟 Hot Chips, Cold Takes is back!Join us at the Murdoch Guild Tavern for the next instalment of this popular public discu...
06/10/2026

🍟 Hot Chips, Cold Takes is back!

Join us at the Murdoch Guild Tavern for the next instalment of this popular public discussion series, tackling some of today’s most pressing political and social questions.

How will AI change the future of work?

Presented in collaboration with Murdoch University’s newly launched Labor, Technology, and Public Policy Lab, the The University of Western Australia and the Global Security and Politics Collective, this panel brings together:

• Dr Lutfun Nahar Lata — Murdoch University
• Dr Daniel Nicholson — The University of Western Australia
• Dr Gwenaël Velge — Murdoch University
• Ayla Kaan — our first student chair for Hot Chips, Cold Takes

Details:
Murdoch Guild Tavern, Murdoch Uni
October 22
Arrive from 5:30pm for a 5:45pm panel start
The first 50 students registered will receive a free drink on arrival.

Come for the hot chips… stay for the cold takes and a lively conversation about work, technology and what comes next!

Register here: https://events.humanitix.com/hot-chips-cold-takes-4-how-will-ai-change-the-future-of-work

05/10/2026

How do borders extend beyond territorial boundaries, and what can Port Hedland reveal about the relationship between migration control, logistics and extractive infrastructure?

This Wednesday, the Murdoch Philosophy Research Seminar welcomes Ari Jerrems from The University of Western Australia for:

“The Afterlives of the Frontier: Intersections of Border-Making and Extended Urbanisation in Port Hedland”

Drawing on research into the remnants of the former Port Hedland detention centre in Western Australia’s Pilbara region, Jerrems examines how border-making is entangled with processes of extended urbanisation.

Port Hedland occupies a distinctive position in this history. It was the site of one of Australia’s first immigration detention centres following the introduction of mandatory detention in the 1990s, while also operating as a major node in the global iron-ore trade.

The paper situates the former detention centre, which was first constructed as mining accommodation and now repurposed by a logistics company, within the infrastructures that connect Pilbara mines, the port and FIFO workforces.

In doing so, it asks us to reconsider borders not simply as territorial boundaries, but as processes sustained through logistics, extraction, infrastructure and mobility.

Please join us on:
Wednesday 7 October
4.00pm
Education and Humanities Building, Room 450.4.078
Murdoch University

All are welcome!

Address

90 South Street Murdoch
Perth, WA
6150

Telephone

+61893606000

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