Academy of Social Sciences in Australia

InASA Review of Australian Studies in Japan

Submission by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia

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19 May 2009

The Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia [ASSA] welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Review of Australian Studies in Japan being conducted by the International Australian Studies Association [InASA]. In both its undertakings and aspirations ASSA supports efforts which encourage and facilitate scholarly collaboration and exchange between Australia and Japan.

ASSA is cognizant of the long relationship between our two countries, and the benefits which this relationship has yielded and will continue to yield for both sides. ASSA welcomes any opportunities to assist in endeavours which seek to increase the mutual level of understanding between our two countries, and in particular we strongly support any opportunity which increases the exchange of, and collaboration between Australian and Japanese social scientists and social sciences research.

ASSA welcomes the broad manner in which Australian Studies has been defined by the Review1. Collaborative and comparative social sciences research, especially in those areas where Australian and Japan encounter similar social, economic and environmental problems, has the potential if increased and improved to benefit both countries substantially more than is currently the case, especially in terms of the development of sound public policy. Areas of particular interest to social scientists in Australian and Japan currently include: public health, and especially those public health and other public policy issues which relate to an ageing populations; migration, and the nature of borders and their integrity; and, skills training and development, and the maintenance of high levels of employment in a time of demographic change.

  1. Document existing teaching programs, research interests and partnerships, and other activities between Japanese and Australian institutions and organisations involved in Australian Studies in Japan, including information about any existing relationships your association has with Japanese institutions.

    • While ASSA does not itself have a formal relationship with the Science Council of Japan [SCJ], it has very good informal relations with that body by virtue of both organisations' membership of the Association of Asian Social Science Research Councils [AASSREC], a body for which ASSA is the permanent Secretariat and for which the ASSA Executive Director is Secretary General.

      As holder of the rotating presidency of AASSREC, the SCJ hosted the 17th Biennial Conference of the Association, at which ASSA was well represented. Dr John Beaton, the ASSA Executive Director, is in regular contact with representatives of the SCJ, particularly Professors Michiatsu Kaino and Hiroyuki Kotani, and it is the ambition of ASSA to formalise a stronger and lasting relationship between our two organisations, one which will facilitate the ongoing exchange of social scientists between our two countries.

    • In 2008 the Academy was approached by the Australia-Japan Foundation and invited to submit an application to the AJF's 1H 2008 funding round. The Academy's application was comprised of two components (as per below), and received the full funding requested.

      • Professor Sue Richardson's collaborative project sought to establish the potential for vocational education to improve the productivity of older workers, with the ultimate aim of developing a large-scale research grant proposal. The project outcomes arose from a two-day workshop involving Australian and Japanese researchers, examining what is already known, to compare the strategies and responses of the two countries with a view to developing a more substantial collaborative research agenda. Professor Richardson's initial collaborator was Shuichi Hirata from the Japan Institute for Labour Policy and Training.

      • Professor Ann Harding's proposal incorporated a scoping exercise and workshop with a view to establishing an ongoing collaboration in microsimulation modelling, including exchanging technical expertise and skills in this research area. Professor Harding's project extended to governmental liaison with a view to establishing the policy implications for both Australia and Japan which arise from the collaboration. The initial collaboration was between Professor Harding and Dr Aya Abe of the National Institute of Population and Social Security Research in Tokyo, and Professor Koichi Hiraoka of Ochanomizu University.

    • In 2007, the Executive Director of ASSA met with Australian Education International [AEI] Counsellor Patrick Cremen in Tokyo and engaged in productive discussions about the areas in which near-future collaborations between Australian and Japanese social scientists might best work. Unfortunately, this Academy had a (then) small capacity for its international programs. Since then, although Patrick has moved on, ASSA's funding situation has improved and our relationship with the SCJ has continued to evolve. Over the course of 2009 ASSA will be looking to form its strategic international priorities for the next three years. As part of that we will be investigating how social scientists in Australia and Japan can, with the assistance of ASSA, the AEI, SCJ and also the AJF, can enhance their joint goals through bilateral and multilateral cooperation.

  2. To identify opportunities and challenges for enhancing research links in the humanities and social sciences between individual academics and between research centres / institutions in Australia and Japan.

    ASSA is aware of the many challenges which confront social scientists and their organisations who seek to exchange knowledge or engage in collaborative research. ASSA is of the view however, that there are opportunities to encourage collaboration and the exchange of knowledge between social scientists in both countries:

    • ASSA is aware of the value of returning early career researchers [ECRs] in creating an initial and lasting link between research centres and institutes. An individual returning from a postgraduate research studentship or post-doctoral fellowship to a position in the other country is often a conduit by which a relationship between two research centres or institutes is initiated. Such relationships can yield manifold benefits, including ongoing informal contact and knowledge exchange.

      It is our view that assistance to increase the number and quality of positions provided by Australian and Japanese research centres and institutes to ECRs from the alternate country would provide lasting benefits to both countries in terms of the exchange of individuals and their knowledge.

    • ASSA understands that those components of Australian Studies which aim in a qualitative manner to shed light on Australian cultural practices and artefacts are of crucial importance in enhancing understanding of Australian and Australians in Japan. It is the position of ASSA however, that greater emphasis could and should be placed on the extent to which Australian social sciences researchers operating in fields of endeavour which are of benefit to Japan and the Japanese public good be given greater opportunities to a) demonstrate the value of their research to Japanese colleagues, and b) access the Japanese research and understand the Japanese circumstances which could in turn inform and enhance their own work.

      Pursuant to this, it is our view that emphasis should therefore be placed on enhancing the mechanisms by which Australian and Japanese social scientists are made aware of each other's research and its implications. One means by which this might be easily addressed is the provision of resources to cover the cost of attendance of Japanese or Australian social scientists at conferences and symposia above a certain size, in the alternate country, with view to allowing visiting observers to diffuse the current state of social sciences research in a particular field to colleagues upon their return to their home country.


19 May 2009

Footnotes

  1. The terms of the Review define Australian Studies as including "teaching about Australia in designated 'Australian' subjects but also through the teaching of Australian materials and case studies in comparative and conceptual subjects".