John Western Memorial Lecture

The John Western Memorial Lecture is a biennial public lecture jointly sponsored by the Institute for Social Science Research and the School of Social Science at The University of Queensland to commemorate John Western’s contribution to the social sciences.

The late Emeritus Professor John Western became the first professor of sociology at UQ and Head of the Department of Anthropology and Sociology in 1970. Some 26 years later, John retired but continued to be an active researcher, writer and doctoral supervisor. He was made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia in 1984, and was elected to the Swiss Academy of Development in 1989. In 2009, John’s dedication to tertiary education and more specifically the development of sociology nationally and internationally was recognised when he became a member (AM) in the General Division of the Order of Australia. John Western passed away on 6 January 2011.