Dr Sharon Aris | UNSW Research

My Expertise

Parental school choice

Careers in the social sciences

Universities, students and AI

Keywords

Fields of Research (FoR)

Sociological methodology and research methods, Sociology of education, Curriculum and pedagogy, Higher education, Public policy, Social policy, Sociology of family and relationships

Biography

As Nexus Fellow for the School of Social Sciences I work across the School supporting the student experience through innovating, amplifying and elevating learning and teaching in the School, including through the scholarship of learning and teaching.

My discipline home is sociology, and I have experience in social research, educational development and instructional design. My interests are in sociology of education and sociology of knowledge, specifically, who succeeds in education, how and why - and how we can change educational environments so all students can flourish. In my research I explore how different knowledges are produced and transmitted in secondary and tertiary education and through families. I have researched how parents choose a high school for their children (and how policy makers think they do). I focus on powerful knowledges, particularly how different disciplinary knowledges are constructed and how this can be made more explicit to students.

I am currently focussed on how AI is being used in social science practice and in social science and policy professions and what this means for students. This is part of a wider project on social sciences, the professions and career destinations of alumni. I am also involved in research on young people and trustworth digital societies.

My Grants

UNSW School of Social Sciences Seed Funding for Social Science Alumni Project (Stage 2): understanding alumni career progression and evolving skills needs for social science graduates

My Qualifications

Doctor of Philosophy, University of Sydney, School of Sociology and Social Policy, 2020

Masters, Policy and Applied Social Research, Macquarie University

Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Macquarie University

I am also a Senior Fellow with AdvanceHE (formerly, Higher Education Academy)

My Awards

UNSW Innovation Incubator Award 2024 & Peoples Choice Award for Riley, your AI Feedback Coach, Co-presented with Mark Ian Jones.

My Research Supervision

Supervision keywords

sociology

pedagogy

social science research

social sciences

public policy

social policy

Currently supervising

Yunru Liu, Becoming, Being and Growing as Teachers in Chinese Higher Vocational Institutes

My Engagement

Recent Conference Presentations include:

Backmapping industry capability to curriculum design: what AI capabilities do public policy graduates need?' Public Policy Network Conference, January 2025, with Assoc. Prof. Diana Perche (UNSW)

'Teaching Social Research - how I learned to stop worrying and trust the data', UNSW EduFest November, 2024

'Is anyone out there? Teaching research methods in undergraduate social science programs', July HERDSA Conference 2024, with Dr Haidee Hicks, (RMIT)

'Mapping a postgraduate transition pedagogy using Autonomy', 5th International Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) Conference, Johannesburg January 2024

'Insiders and Outsiders: how different adult learners are named and framed in Australian tertiary education, The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) Conference, December 2022

'Seeing Inequality in the School Field, Imagining New Possibilities', The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) Conference, December 2021

Focus and Basis: Using parliamentary speech to reveal social principles, Australian Consortium for Social and Political Research Inc (ASCPRI) Biannual Conference · Nov 30, 2020

Recent Coordinated Events:

'Levelling the Field? How do diverse students negotiate education systems between constraints and opportunities?' The Australian Sociology Association (TASA) Education Special Interest Group Event, Social Sciences Week Sept 2024

'Towards a more convivial academia', TASA panel, TASA conference 2023, with Sally Baker and Zhaoxi Zheng.