Dr Indigo Willing – CV
Indigo was awarded a PhD in sociology from The University of Queensland and is a former Rockefeller Fellow, UMASS, Boston, recipient of a Yale University SEAS conference travel grant, an Australian Academy of the Humanities Traveling Fellow scholarship recipient to Sweden and was a Post-Doctoral Fellow for an Australian Research Council Discovery Project. She has also been awarded a number of grants to do research. As a lecturer, she teaches in the areas of sociology, criminology, creative industries and qualitative research methods. She is also an Adjunct Research Fellow at the Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research and an affiliate member of the Griffith Sport and Gender Equity Network (SAGE) and member of Gender Equality Research Network (GERN) at Griffith University.
Qualifications
- PhD, Sociology – UQ
- MA by Thesis – UTS
- Grad Diploma, Social Research – UQ
- BA, Communication (Film and Media Arts Major) – UTS
- Diploma in Journalism
- HSC, School of Performing Arts Graduate
Memberships
- International Advisory Board, Skateistan, 2023 – Current
- Editorial Advisory Board, Asian Australian Studies Series, Australian National University Press, 2023 – current
- Working Group Member, Pushing Against Racism, The Goodpush Alliance, 2021 – current (took leave in 2022)
- Affiliate Member, Sport and Gender Equity Network (SAGE) at Griffith University, 2019 – current
- Research Member, Gender and Research Network (GERN) at Griffith University, 2019 – current
- Member, The Sociological Association of Australia, 2005 – Current
- Adjunct Research Fellow at The Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research (GCSCR), Griffith University, 2016 – Current
Representative Fellowships, Grants and Awards
- Best Non-Profit or Social Project Award, Skate Like a Girl Awards, equal first place for the team project Consent is Rad (tied with Nations Skate Youth) – 6 April 2023. Nominees here. Ceremony on Youtube
- Finalist/Nominated for Inspirational Person of the Year Award category, Skate Like a Girl Awards’ – 6 April 2023. Nominees here. Ceremony on Youtube
- Adoptee Rolling Out Skateboarding Program, Community Grant Award, Sponsored by Relationships Australia, October 2022 – June 2023. Project leader: Dr Indigo Willing. https://icafss.org.au/funding-update-may-2022-round/
- Pushing Against Racism Community Grant Award, 3rd Place, The Goodpush Alliance and Skateistan, June to December 2022 https://www.goodpush.org/blog/announcing-pushing-against-racism-fund-grantees
- Research consultancy as part of a Sports Australia Women Leadership in Sport (WILS) organization grant awarded to Ariane de Rooy. Skateboarding Australia. ‘Rolling Free: Exploring Leadership, Inclusion and Diversity in Skating’. Chief Investigator: Dr Indigo Willing. Co-Investigators: Dr Adele Pavlidis and Professor Simon Fullagar. March 2022 to December 2022 https://prodsurvey.rcs.griffith.edu.au/prodls200/index.php/295557?lang=en
- Griffith Gender and Equity Network (GERN) Seed Grant, Griffith University. Chief Investigator: Dr Indigo Willing, Co-Investigators: Associate Professor Molly Dragiewicz, Dr Adele Pavlidis and Dr Justine Hottem. Grant awarded for the project ‘Red Flags, Banter and Blurred Lines: Exploring Consent in Sport’, Awarded for January 2022 to December 2022 https://www.griffith.edu.au/research/gender-equality-research-network/research-empowerment
- 2nd Place for ‘Consent is Rad’, Skate Rising Award for Skateboarding Community Projects, Exposure Skate, November 2021 https://www.exposureskate.org/exposure-x-full-results/
- Research Fellow, Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project at The Griffith Centre for Social and Cultural Research (GCSCR), Griffith University, 2013 – 2015 https://researchdata.edu.au/cosmopolitan-encounters-contemporary-australia/535448
- Traveling Fellowship Grant from The Australian Academy of the Humanities to do research in Sweden https://humanities.org.au/grants-and-awards/humanities-travelling-fellowships/
- GCSCR travel grant to do research with the Finnish Youth Research Network, Helskinki, Finland, 2015
- Elizabeth Usher Memorial Grant from the University of Queensland Alumni to present research in Pittsburg, USA, 2007 https://alumni.uq.edu.au/endowed-uq-awards-established-conjunction-alumni-friends
- Diversity Week Grant awarded by the University of Queensland (UQ) Equity Office to produce the Asian Australian Occasion Film Festival in partnership with the UQ Humanities and Social Sciences Library, 2007
- Medal in the Order of Australia (OAM) for volunteer work with the Vietnamese community in 2006. Returned in March 2021 as a stance of support for LGBTQ+ communities and First Nations
- Australian Post-Graduate Scholarship Award, Australian Federal Government, grant to conduct 3 years PhD research, 2005 – 2010
- Rockefeller Research Fellow in the Humanities at The William Joiner Center for the Study of War and Social Consequences, UMASS, Boston, USA, 2002/3
- Selected participant, Harvard Project for Asia and International Relations (HPAIR), 2001
- International Travel Grant from Yale University to co-present research with Linh Song at the inaugural SEAS Conference, New Haven, USA. 2000
Research Interests
Representative studies cover three main areas:-
- Youth Studies, Sports, Subcultures and Social Inclusion – focusing on youth cultures, lifestyle sports, skateboarding and the participation of minority populations. She also studies gender and themes of violence and consent.
- Migration, Multiculturalism and Transnationalism – including research on Vietnamese, Asian Australian, Asian American and other Asian diasporas, theories of transnationalism and cosmopolitanism, transnational adoption from various nations, ‘celebrity’ adoptions, adoptive parents and sociological frameworks for the study of forced migrations, typically to ‘Western’ countries with recognition many are on unceded First Nations Land.
- The Vietnam War – including war orphans, Vietnamese adoption, and in upcoming research, how music, films and documentaries associated with conflicts like the Vietnam War has an impact on people’s attitudes and emotional responses towards ‘sending troops overseas’ in both past and contemporary times. Note that fieldwork to see musicals like Rolling Thunder and The Sapphires and other live theatre productions related to the Vietnam War have been postponed due to the pandemic.
For my publications, talks, community work and more in each of the above areas of interest see the menu.
Teaching
Recent teaching includes:
Lecturer and Convener: Qualitative Social Research Methods (Honours Research Degree level students) in T1 at Griffith University. Since 2016 – current.
Lecturer: Graduate Research 1 and 2, Concept Design and Pre-Production Proposal Planning, Master of Creative Industries Course, JMC Academy. March 2020 – March 2021.
Academic Advisor: Community Internship Program, Griffith College and Community Partnerships, Griffith University. Winter T2. 2020.
Lecturer: Introduction to Social Problems (First year course) at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (CCJ). Griffith University. 2018 – 2019.
Tutor and Instructor: The Sociology of Youth (Second year course) at the School of Languages, Humanities and Social Science (LHS). Griffith University. On campus in T2 and online in T1 and T3. Since 2018 – Current.
Prior roles include various lecturing positions (First year to Post-Graduate courses) in Sociology and tutoring in The Sociology of Sport at The University of Queensland during my PhD and Post-Doctoral Fellowship years.
Community Engagement
Co-founder and admin team – We Skate QLD (formerly Girls Skate Brisbane 2016 to current)
Co-founder and project leader – Consent is Rad International Campaign (2019 – current)
Co-founder and admin – Asian Australian Films, Forum and Network (2011 – current)
Founder and admin – Adopted Vietnamese International (2000 – current)
*I returned my OAM in 2021 as a stance of support for LGBTIQ+ community regarding protests against Margaret Court AC receiving the nation’s highest honour, and in relation to the date of the awards conflicting with Invasion Day on 26 January, an Indigenous day of mourning. I join others taking this stance. Read my letter and other statements by scholars and relevant individuals from the community here
Dr Indigo Willing 