Biennial Conference 2003 - Sydney

Information on the 2003 AQR conference

16-19 July 2003, Venue Crowne Plaza Hotel, Coogee Beach, Sydney

Conference Theme:

Qualitative Research:

Creating Spaces for Understanding

This conference aimed to bring together people from different disciplines, professions & cultures to create spaces for greater understanding through qualitative research. The conference and workshops provided a rich opportunity for qualitative researchers to share their journeys and talents.

Sub themes were:

Creating Spaces for Understanding: This theme laid the foundation for the Conference by promoting discussion on ways of understanding the frames researchers work within. This included: epistemological dilemmas; reflexivity; ethics; methodological issues; theory and practice. In this theme we received contributions dealing with ways that qualitative research can be used to create spaces to promote new understandings through the research strategies & products.

Blurring Boundaries of Lands and People: In this theme we sought to explore the ways rigid boundaries between lands, people, cultures and disciplines can inhibit understanding and actions. We invited participants to look at the effects of illuminating or blurring these boundaries through qualitative research and how these actions can promote understanding of people and their lives.

Creating Healthy People Spaces: This theme dealt with the way spaces that people occupy can promote or inhibit health and healthy relationships. This included: examinations of therapeutic and medicalised spaces; intersubjectivity - the spaces in between; embodiment; subjectivity and mind-spaces; social, psychological and physical health. Qualitative research content and methods provide creative means for exploring these issues.

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Helen Armstrong, PhD

Professor of Landscape Architecture, Queensland University of Technology

Helen Armstrong is Professor of Landscape Architecture, and Director, Cultural Landscape Research Unit, School of Design and Built Environment, Queensland University of Technology. She has a particular interest in qualitative research. Her recent research has involved the study of migrant place-making and the contribution of cultural pluralism to Australian cultural heritage. This work has involved working with a number of different cultural groups.

Stuart Hill, PhD

Professor of Social Ecology, University of Western Sydney

Professor Stuart B. Hill (Foundation Chair of Social Ecology) came to The University of Western Sydney in 1996 from McGill University where he established Ecological Agriculture Projects, Canada's leading resource centre for sustainable agriculture. He has published over 300 papers and reports. His latest book (with Martin Mulligan) is �Ecological Pioneers: A Social History of Australian Ecological Thought and Action�, 2001.

Gwynnyth Llewellyn, PhD

Sesquicentenary Professor and Foundation Chair, School of Occupation and Leisure Sciences, The University of Sydney

Gwynnyth Llewellyn�s work focuses on family and disability issues. She is currently heading up a three-year faculty initiative, the Disability Studies Program that aims to engage people with disabilities as co-participants in the research process. The question being addressed in this research is how do different research methods enhance or inhibit the full participation of people with disabilities and their families, carers or advocates in research studies.

Lyn Richards

Director of Research Services at QSR, Adjunct Research Professor of Qualitative Methodology, University of Western Sydney, Macarthur Adjunct Professor at the International Institute of Qualitative Methodology.

Previously Associate Professor in Sociology at La Trobe University, Lyn Richards taught family, women's studies and qualitative research methods. Her first two books convinced her qualitative research required better ways of handling data. The NUD*IST software was created by Tom Richards to support the project for her third book and her fourth came from a complex team project linking qualitative and quantitative data, impossible without the software. Her publications now are about software, most recently, with Pat Bazeley, �The NVivo Qualitative Project Book� and about methods. Her eighth book, with Janice Morse, is �Read Me First for a User's Guide to Qualitative Methods�.

David Smith, PhD

Educational Consultant

David Smith has spent nearly forty years involved in teaching and teacher education. Most recently he has been co-director of the Master of Teaching and Coordinator of the Master of Teaching Honours program in the Education Faculty at The University of Sydney. He was formerly Chair of the Faculty's Research Division. His research interests include twenty years of researching reflective practice, teacher education curriculum change and school reform. His many publications include 'Curriculum: Action on Reflection Revisited' with Terry Lovat.

Annette Street, PhD

Professor of Cancer and Palliative Care Studies, Director, LTU/A & RMC Nursing Clinical School, La Trobe University

Professor Annette Street is a sociologist with an international reputation in health care and nursing research. She has a track record of bringing research projects to a timely conclusion and to publication. Annette has spent the last 18 years conducting research and publishing with clinical nurses. Her research interests are primarily focused on exploring the roles and practice of health care providers and the effects on health care consumers, specifically around end of life care, psycho-oncology and symptom distress in cancer care. Her research books "Inside Nursing" and "Nursing Replay", along with other published monographs, are used in graduate programs in nursing and education. Professor Street is a highly successful supervisor of doctoral students and is widely involved thesis examination and the review of manuscripts for publications.

Angie Titchen, PhD

Senior Research & Practice Development Fellow, Royal College of Nursing Institute, UK

Angie Titchen�s research and publications focus on the facilitation and theoretical conceptualisation of person-centred health care, transformational learning cultures, experiential learning, and the use of creative arts in research, practice development and education. She loves to walk, dance, practise Tai Chi and paint by a beautiful lake near her home.

INVITED SPEAKERS

Hilary Byrne-Armstrong, PhD

Senior Lecturer, School of Psychology, University of Western Sydney

Hilary Byrne-Armstrong is Regional Head of Psychology, UWS Penrith and a member of the Critical Psychology Research Centre. Her recent research includes a year-long action research project with the NSW Police on ethical subjectivity, and a qualitative evaluation of the Two Women Dreaming Project, an action research project aimed at creating a dialogue between Western medicine and Aboriginal healing. Her most recent book is "Critical Moments in Qualitative Research" (with Joy Higgs and Debbie Horsfall).

Robyn Ewing, PhD

Associate Professor, Faculty of Education & Social Work, The University of Sydney

Robyn Ewing teaches in Curriculum, English and Drama and works with both undergraduate and postgraduate students. An experienced primary teacher and teacher educator, Robyn has a particular interest in the use of arts informed inquiry in educational research.

Susan Thompson, PhD

Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of the Built Environment, UNSW, Sydney.

Susan Thompson came to academia after many years of experience in public sector planning. She teaches in the areas of social and cultural planning, and has developed the use of qualitative methods for built environment researchers. Her research interests lie in the areas of multiculturalism and its impact on the city; local governance and multicultural citizenship; people/place relationships (particularly focussing on meanings of home).

Joy Higgs, PhD

Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences, The University of Sydney

Joy Higgs works with research colleagues and postgraduate research students in the area of multidisciplinary health sciences education and development. research interests include clinical reasoning, knowledge generation, professional craft knowledge and knowledge in practice, qualitative research methods and applications, professional education and clinical education.