Research Strengths of the School of Political and Social Inquiry
James Garza
James gained a bachelor and masters degree in the USA. While studying for his masters, James was impressed by the depth of research in anthropology at Monash University. “It seemed that ‘things were happening’ at Monash and that the university had quite a world-renowned reputation for research in Indonesia”. He made it a personal goal to become connected with the Monash name and to work in Indonesia as a researcher.
James moved from the USA to study at Clayton and describes his experience as "enjoyable, rewarding and challenging". He says access to a dedicated postgraduate centre, a supportive supervisor, “genuine interest and concern that members of the Monash community has for its students” and exceptional assistance from the library staff were key contributors to his success.
Political and Social Inquiry is a multidisciplinary School with a range of supervision expertise. There is a large postgraduate student community with over 77 candidates enrolled in the doctoral program. Academic staff have a healthy publications record and many are prominent public commentators.
The School offers supervision in anthropology, behavioural studies, criminology, politics, sociology, women’s studies and gender studies.
Interdisciplinary study options in international relations, counter-terrorism studies, Islamic studies, population and urban research and applied social research are also offered.
The School houses a number of growing research centres including:
- Centre for Islam and the Modern World
- Centre for Population and Urban Research
- Global Terrorism Research Unit
- Centre for Women’s Studies and Gender Research
Examples of competitively-funded research projects include:
Counter-terrorism Policing and Culturally Diverse Communities
This project aims to evaluate existing approaches to terrorism and counter terrorism measures from the police, community, media and legislative perspectives.
Democratising the Middle East
This project seeks to find how effective regime change has been to promote democracy and stable government in the Middle East.
More information about the research focus and strengths in the School of Political and Social Inquiry.