S A Hamed Hosseini

Biography

S. A. Hamed Hosseini, Ph.D. in "Sociology and Global Studies" from the Australian National University (ANU), is a Senior Lecturer and Faculty Associated Researcher at The University of Newcastle, Australia. He has conducted mixed-method (quantitative-qualitative) interdisciplinary research on Collective Cognition and Social Closed/Open-mindedness, Global Justice Movements, Post-capitalist meta-ideologies, and the Political Identity of young Muslims and Muslims' Joblessness in Australia.

As an expert in advanced quantitative social research and large data analyses, he has developed and measured new Composite Indicators in sociology such as "Critical Open-mindedness" and "Social Well-living" (as an alternative to the Eurocentric notions of "well-being").

Dr. Hosseini is the founder and principal investigator of UON Alternative Futures Research Network (AFRN), Co-founder of a Community Project (NENA Newcastle/Hunter Hub), Co-founder and chief editor of Common Alternatives initiative, a leading international team/website engaged in studying post-neoliberal, post-capital, post-carbon, progressive alternatives. A growing number of post-graduate and undergraduate students cooperate with him by contributing to the initiative to promote public awareness of post-capitalist ideas.

He has taught at the Australian National University, University of Technology Sydney, University of New South Wales, and the University of Newcastle since 2005.

As a political and economic sociologist, Hosseini's main field of research is shaped around the social impacts of capitalist globalization (on health, education, environment, democracy, and social inequalities) as well as the recent progressive responses to global crises (i.e. the post-capitalist alternative praxes). Hosseini's studies particularly focus on the relationships between ideas, identities, social practices, and their changing socioeconomic structures including the new technological advancements.

He has successfully established an international, cross-disciplinary network consisting of several internationally distinguished scholars from Australia, Europe, and North America, and cooperatively led a series of research applications since 2016. He has introduced new concepts, theories, and methodological approaches to the international literature in this field. Among these are: (1) the construction of new notions such as, “accommodative consciousness” (2006), “con-structuralism” (2006), “dissident knowledge” (2009), “accommodative justice” (2010), “transversal cosmopolitanism” (2013 and 2015), “meta-ideologies” (2013, 2015), "social well-living" (2018), "eco-commonism", and “critical open-mindedness” (2015); and (2) the development of new analytical models and approaches such as “Sociology of Dissident/Activist Knowledge” (2010, 2011), “cognitive discourse analysis” (2011), and an integrative framework for studying rival alternatives to capitalism. His published interdisciplinary works speak widely to policy analysts (specialized in ethnic relations, migration and employment inequalities, global crisis management, and youth de/politicization), political activists, and social theorists (2013, 2015).

He has won research grants including the 2010 Bilateral Grant from the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia, and was Chief Investigator in a project fully funded by the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship: "Job Readiness of Muslim Job-seekers in the Relative Effectiveness of Employment Support Services in Australia," in partnership with UON's Centre of Full Employment and Equity.

Dr. Hosseini's research experience, his integrative theoretical approach, and his Middle Eastern background play a significant role in research projects concerned with ethnicity, social disparities, and marginalization. He is familiar with many Islamic cultural terms and ideas (Hosseini 1998, 2000a, 2000b). While his cultural-experiential background enhances cultural sensitivity, his sociological background is important in the current context of rising racist/populist right-wing politics, bigotry, and Islamophobia. Some of his works speak to policy analysts, politicians, activists, and social researchers.

Education

PhD in sociology and global studies, Australian National Uni
Mphil in Social Research Methods (social inquiry)
Bachelor with Honors in Electronics Engineering

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Dr. Hosseini is a polymath. His top three Research Highlights are as follows:

Studying Post-C5 Alternative Futures beyond dependency on Carbon /  Capital/ Consumerism/ Compulsive Growth / Corruptive Politics; using  Eco-Commonism(watch YouTube) and Transversalism as meta-theoretical and meta-ideological frameworks. (Post Capitalist Futures Studies, Transformative Global(ization) Studies, Critical Development Studies. Social Movement Studies)

Liberation Methodology: Applied Social and Community Informatics to promote post-capitalist futures, including the application of (Big) Social Data Analytics (SoDA), Q Methodology, Discourse Network Analysis (DNA) and Social Network Analyses (SNA) for empowering post-capital/carbon coalitions, enterprises and communities through co-creating "Open Data" Commons, Knowledge Commons, and Commonist Information Ecologies. (Critical Computational Social Sciences - CSS; Social Informatics; Social Statistics)

Studying social and communal “Well-Living” as a post-Eurocentric, decolonial alternative way of understanding Quality of Life (QoL) and Well-being. (Quality of Life Studies; Postcolonialist Studies Post-development studies)

Personal Interests

Alternative Futures beyond Carbon / Capital/ Consumerism/ Constant Growth (post-capitalist policy development); Eco-Commonism and Transversalism;

Community Wellbeing and Alternative Modes of Quality of Life; Measuring and Exploring Social Determinants of (Mental/Subjective/Social) Well-being and Well-living in Marginalized Social Groups (structural equation modeling and multilevel analyses);

Social Movements, (Cyber) Activism, Protests, and Revolutions in 21st Century; with stress on the role of new communication technologies, social media, and the youth;

Big Data Social Science and Analytics: Political Sociology and Political Economy of  Techno-scientific Capitalism (focus on Big Data and AI ), and the Applications of Big Data Analytics in Social Sciences;

Social and Community Informatics including Data Mining and Big Data Activism for coalition extension, empowering digital de-colonization, counter climate change, and networking post-capitalist enterprises and communities;

Developing Alternative Social Indices to Measure Complex (Multidimensional and Multilevel) Social Phenomena (Well-Living, Quality of Life and Happiness;

Inclusive Social Development, Surveying Open/Closed-Mindedness, Authoritarian Personalities, Populism, and Cultural In/tolerance);

Sociological Contribution to Sociogenomics projects (social / social-psychological genomics)
Sociological and Social Psychological Understanding of Right-Wing / Authoritarian Populism in the 21st century;

Corporatization, Commercialization and Technocratic Automation of Higher Education: Impacts on academic labor and well-being, students learning and well-being, and quality of education;

Cooperative Educational Systems and Transformative Pedagogies as Post-Corporate Alternatives;
Youth Political Identity (particularly youth disengagement with politics and/or radicalization);

Recommended Ph.D. research project on “Progressive Voices in Islamic Theology in the (Post-)Secular /post-Colonial Society of 21stCentury”– under the Jointly Awarded Research Degree (JADD): a jointly awarded Ph.D. degree by the University of Newcastle (UON) and University Putra Malaysia (UPM). If you are eligible to apply for the JADD program and interested in this topic, please contact Dr. S A Hamed Hosseini to discuss your project proposal/ideas and supervision. Please read more about this research topic here.

Books