The Australian & Oceanic Network

for Rural Social Research and Community Development

 

What is AON?

AON was established in 1996 to facilitate the membership of Australian and Oceanic researchers in the International Rural Sociology Association (IRSA). Because the Australia/Pacific/Oceania region has not had a rural sociology association, it was rather difficult for Australians and Oceanic researchers to be involved in IRSA. At the same time, it was also felt that there is no need for there to be another association. The solution was to establish AON as an entity which does nothing expect provide for our membership in IRSA.

AON is managed by the Centre for Rural Social Research (CRSR) at Charles Sturt University.

IRSA is an umbrella organisation comprising membership of regional rural sociological associations. The purpose of IRSA is to foster the development of the science of rural sociology; to further the application of results of sociological inquiry to the improvement of the quality of life of rural people and places; and to provide a mechanism whereby  rural sociologists can generate dialogue and useful exchange.

The main activity of IRSA is to hold a World Congress of Rural Sociology every 4 years.
The 2000 World Congress was held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The 2004 World Congress will be held in Trondheim, Norway, 25-30 July 2004.

There are substantial discounts to IRSA members (and therefore to AON members) for the registration fees for World Congresses. For more information, please see IRSA web site, www.irsa-world.org

AON membership

Membership in AON is open to any individual working in the areas of rural social research and/or (rural) community development and is based in or researching rural communities in Australia, New Zealand and/or the Pacific Islands. It is expected that AON members will subscribe to the journal, Rural Society, published by the Centre for Rural Social Research.

People join AON by subscribing to the AON listserv. Click here.

The listserv also provides a way of distributing information of interest to rural social researchers in the Australia, New Zealand and Oceania regions.
 

IRSA affiliation fees

In order to be affiliated with IRSA, IRSA charges a fee of US$2.00 per member per year to its member associations. Normally this would be built into the membership fee of those member associations. Because  is not proposed for AON to do anything other than to provide a basis for people from Australia/Pacific to be involved in IRSA, there is no need to have membership fees for AON.

Since it seems excessively troublesome to collect $2 membership fees to cover the IRSA charges, it has been decided that the Centre for Rural Social Research will pay this fee on behalf of AON members, and will recoup this outlay through subscriptions to the Rural Society journal.
 

AON representatives on IRSA Council

AON is entitled to three members on the Council of the International Rural Sociological Association. At appropriate times, a call for nominations will be made through the AON listserv, with the poll being conducted by the Centre Coordinator of the Centre for Rural Social Research.

AON's representatives selected in the manner described above for the period 2000 to 2004 are:

  • Heather Aslin (Bureau of Rural Sciences, Canberra, Australia) [web] [email]
  • Hugh Campbell (University of Otago, New Zealand)   [web] [email]
  • Stewart Lockie (Central Queensland University, Rockhampton, Australia)  [web] [email]

Related organisations (links)

International Rural Sociological Association

The Australian Sociological Association

Institute of Australian Geographers Rural Study Group

Agrifood Research Network
 


For further information, please contact
Prof Frank Vanclay
[AON Coordinator and  IRSA President]

Prof Frank Vanclay
Tasmanian Institute of Agricultural Research
University of Tasmania
Private Bag 98, Hobart Tasmania 7001 Australia
phone: +61-3-6226.2618
fax: +61-3-6226.7450
Frank.Vanclay@utas.edu.au
http://www.tiar.tas.edu.au/

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URL: http://www.csu.edu.au/research/crsr/aon/

 

 

Maintained by Kate Roberts
Email: ilws@csu.edu.au
Last update 30 January 2008
Copyright CRSR 2002