Research Presentation by Visiting Speaker Dr Jenna Condie: “Where is Psychology in the Posthuman City?”

The School of Psychology’s Social and Organisational Psychology Research Group invites you to a research presentation by visiting speaker Dr Jenna Condie titled: “Where is Psychology in the Posthuman City?”

When: 12.00pm – 1.00pm on Tuesday 30th May

Where: The Keats Reading Room, Psychology/Aviation Building (AVLG17), with video link to the Science Offices at Ourimbah.

Abstract
Psychology contributes much to our understandings of city life, from urban stress and restorative spaces, to identities of place and sense of belonging. As my research explores the intersections of people, digital technologies, and cities, I am engaging with posthumanist and new materialist philosophies to replace dominant binary constructs—the human/non-human, body/machine, online/offline, self/other, people/places, digital/material—that rei
nforce boundaries between people, cities and technology. To consider the potentials of a ‘posthumanist psychology’, I draw from my research on humans as ‘sensors’ for ‘smart’ cities, connective resistance to urban redevelopment, and the social encounters reworked by location-aware smartphone apps. What are we ‘becoming’ (Barad, 2003) in the posthuman city and what is the place of psychology?

Biography
Dr Jenna Condie is a Lecturer in Digital Research and Online Social Analysis in the School of Social Sciences and Psychology at Western Sydney University. Her research focuses on the relationships between people and place in the digital world. Jenna champions the use of social media and digital technologies to encourage voice, participation, and dialogue within academic and community contexts.

All are welcome. We look forward to seeing you there.

Community engagement and healthy living with psychosis

Health and Clinical Research Group Seminars

Community engagement in providing services to people with psychotic illness, with reference to SHIP – the Survey of High Impact Psychosis, and CM Engage

and

Healthy living intervention in people with psychosis.

Dr Mary-Claire Hanlon and Ms Doreen Mucheru

10th May, 12 noon
Keats Reading Room (AVLG17 Psychology Building)

Abstract: 
 The Survey of High Impact Psychosis (SHIP) was conducted nationally in Australia, and the Lower Hunter New England (HNE) region participated. We’ll revisit SHIP – how it was conducted, what were some of the pertinent outcomes, and the opportunities for further research that SHIP now provides. One of those opportunities is in deepening our understanding of the community management now being provided for people with psychotic illnesses, and how we can assist community managers to understand and implement research evidence in their practice. Through CM Engage, we are paving the way for deep engagement between researchers, the Mental Health services and the community management organisations. One way of doing this will be to provide a healthy living program – thereby providing the evidence base for translation of research through action research projects at the community management level.

Bios:
Dr Mary-Claire Hanlon completed her Bachelor of Science as a mature-age student at Newcastle, followed by Honours in Psychology and a PhD in Psychiatry into social cognition in schizophrenia. Together with Dr Linda Campbell, Mary-Claire was one of two HNE Site Coordinators on SHIP. Mary-Claire now facilitates clinician-researcher education , development and support at the Calvary Mater Hospital whilst also being the SHIP Key contact for HNE and Orange sites. Mary-Claire continues to analyse and report on SHIP outcomes, while developing CM Engage with community managers. Miss Doreen Mucheru completed her Bachelor of Nutrition and Dietetics, with Honours, at Newcastle; and has recently converted her Masters of Philosophy into a PhD, preparing for the healthy living program in CM Engage. Doreen has already had her first paper published (from her Honours thesis) and had another recently accepted for publication.

University of Newcastle PhD students present at the Annual Conference of the Society of Australasian Social Psychologists – Melbourne

Social psychology PhD students Matylda Mackiewicz, Monica Gendi, Olivia Evans, Romany McGuffog, and Stephanie Hardacre and 3^rd year Psychology student Timothy Lang (along with Dr Emina Subasic, Associate Professor Mark Rubin, and Dr Stefania Paolini) recently attended the Annual Society of Australasian Social Psychologists (SASP) conference in Melbourne, Australia. SASP is the most popular avenue for the dissemination of current social psychological research within Australasia, and attracts between 130-180 pre-eminent national and international researchers. The 3-day conference provided a chance for us to communicate our research in a targeted fashion to a broader academic audience, and to build collaborative networks with key Australian (and international) social psychology academics. 

Monica, Olivia, and Romany participated in a session titled “Mental Health and Wellbeing”. Monica discussed her findings on the relations between need for closure, mental health, and regret. Olivia delivered a presentation on the relationships between social class, mental health and social integration in first year university students. Romany presented findings on the relationships between social class, sleep, and mental and physical health. Stephanie participated in a symposium on “Prototypicality and Leadership Effectiveness”, delivering a talk on the effects of leader gender and equality message framing on mobilising men and women for gender equality. Tim presented a snapshot of his research on self-expansion motivations. The five PhD students also had the opportunity to watch their respective supervisors each take to the podium and present their research in an early morning symposium on "Conflict, Contact and Cohesion".

Because SASP comprises a strong postgraduate student representation, it provided a distinctive atmosphere compared to usual academic conferences, in that we were able to network with both students and established academics. The postgraduate workshops in particular were extremely valuable – outlining the benefits of adopting open science practices, and describing career opportunities outside of academe. SASP also has a substantial social program, which this year included a trip to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, a cocktail reception, and a screening of the Milgram documentary Shock Room. We look forward to attending next year’s conference in New Zealand.