We are delighted to introduce you to a new research program at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS).
Established and led by ARC Future Fellow and practising lawyer Associate Professor Kate Seear, the Gender, Law and Drugs (GLaD) Program draws on social scientific and legal research methods to develop new critical, socio-legal understanding of gender, sexuality, health and drugs.
‘Ideas about sex, gender and sexuality have long been important in how we understand and regulate drugs’, Kate says. ‘And Australia has long been a leader in critical alcohol and other drug scholarship.’ As Kate explains:
‘Ideas from feminism and queer theory have often been used to critique about legal approaches to drugs. However, there is room for more interdisciplinary work on these issues, including work that more explicitly incorporates analyses of legal cases, statutes, practices and processes, human rights processes and legal education.’
GLaD is also concerned with how the law understands and creates links between alcohol and other drugs, gender, sex and sexuality, and major social problems such as family violence, sexual assault and health problems. In this way, the program aims not only to build research capacity in Australia around these issues, but to develop work that can directly inform the design of policy and best-practice health and community services.
Drawing on research methods in law, sociology, cultural studies, anthropology and related fields, the interdisciplinary approaches of the GLaD program complement existing areas of expertise within ARCSHS. The program is focused on building collaborations and capacity.
GLaD will host major research projects on drugs, law, health and the body, convene seminars, and will support visits from eminent experts on social, legal and human rights aspects of sex, gender, health and drug use. We also welcome doctoral and postdoctoral students as well as research fellows. You can contact us directly to find out more about these opportunities.
The GLaD program is funded through an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship grant, and supported by La Trobe University. It is based at the Bundoora Campus of La Trobe University in Melbourne.
For further information on the GLaD program, see our ‘About‘ page. Details on projects appear under our ‘Projects’ tab. To contact the team, find our details on the ‘Contact‘ page.