• Osbaldiston, N (2012), The Great Urban Escape: Seeking Authenticity in Place, Culture and Self, Palgrave MacMillan, New York
• Osbaldiston, N (ed.) (forthcoming), The Culture of the Slow: Social Deceleration in an Accelerated World, Palgrave UK, Basingstoke
• Benson, M. & Osbaldiston, N (eds.) (forthcoming), Understanding Lifestyle Migration: Theoretical Approaches to Migration and the Quest for a Better Life, Palgrave UK, Basingstoke.
• O’Brien, P, Osbaldiston, N & Kendall, G (forthcoming), ‘ePortfolios and eGovernment: from technology to the entrepreneurial self’, Educational Philosophy and Theory, TBA.
• Osbaldiston, N & Picken, F (forthcoming), ‘The Urban Push for Environmental Amenity: Symptoms, Experiences, Resistances and Side Effects’, in A.Ragusa (ed) Contemporary Rural and Regional Communities: Lessons from Australian Communities for a Global Audience, Melbourne: Springer.
• Osbaldiston, N & Petray, T 2011, ‘The Role of Horror and Dread in the Sacred Experience’, Tourist Studies, vol.11, no.2, pp.175-190
• Osbaldiston, N & Gagnon, JP (eds.) 2011, ‘Challenging Contemporary Democracy – Themed Issue of Social Alternatives’, Social Alternatives, vol.30, no.3
• Osbaldiston, N 2010, ‘The Authentic Place in Amenity Migration Discourse’, Space and Culture, vol.14, no.2, pp.214-226.
• Osbaldiston, N 2010, ‘The Elementary Forms of Place in Seachange’, Journal of Sociology, vol.46, no.3, pp.239-256.
• Osbaldiston, N 2010, ‘Chasing the Idyll Lifestyle: The Seachange Problem’, Social Alternatives, vol.29, no.1, pp.54-57
• Cook, P & Osbaldiston, N 2010, ‘Pig Hearts and Human Bodies: A Cultural Approach to Xenotransplantation’, Media and Culture, vol.13, no.5.
• O’Brien, P & Osbaldiston, N 2010, ‘ePortfolios and Preservice Teachers’, in A.Ragusa (ed.) Interaction in Communication Technologies & Virtual Learning Environments: Human Factors, IGI Global, Pennsylvania

Refereed conference papers

• Osbaldiston, N 2011, ‘Weber and Simmel in a Strong Cultural Sociology?’, in Proceedings of the Annual Australian Sociological Association Conference 2011, Newcastle University, Newcastle
• Kendall, G. & Osbaldiston, N  2010, ‘You’re Not Fit to Wear That Shirt: Towards a Cultural Sociology of the Football Shirt’, in Proceedings of the Annual Australian Sociological Association Conference 2010, Macquarie University, Sydney
• Osbaldiston, N. & Petray, T 2009, ‘Dread, Horror, Awe and Disgust: Revisiting Durkheim and Place’, in S.Lockie, D.Bissell, A.Greig, M.Hynes, D.Marsh, L.Saha, J.Sikora & D.Woodman (eds.), Proceedings of the Annual Australian Sociological Association Conference 2009, Australian National University, Canberra 

Media Commentary 

Nick is available for media commentary on the following; 

• Lifestyle Migration or Seachange
• Climate Change Adaptation
• Society, media and culture
• Slow lifestyle movements
• Consumer lifestyles

 Examples of Nick’s engagement with the media are below;

Adventures in dumbocracy: where are the experts on Q and A (with Jean-Paul Gagnon)  - link here

• Sociology of Deviance (ATS2734 / ATS3734)
• Making Sense of the Social World (ATS2855  / ATS3855)
• Rural and Regional Communities (ATS2731 / ATS3731) (not offered until 2013)
• Theory and Practice in Sociology (ATS 4761)
• Selected Topics in Theory (ATS 4807)

Teaching Contribution to:

• Sociological Reflections of Everyday Life (ATS 1367)
• Understanding Globalisation and Social Change (ATS 1898)

Topics for Supervision (Honours and Postgraduate):

• Cultural Sociology
• People and Place
• Climate Change Adaptation and Discourse
• Social Theory
• Technology and Society
• Community and Local Governance

Nick is predominantly a cultural sociologist working across a variety of areas. He has worked mostly in the area of spatial inquiry with a specific interest into the phenomenon known as Amenity Migration, Lifestyle Migration or Seachange. Nick has also published and worked in the area of climate change adaptation especially with coastal communities in Gippsland. Along with this, he has broad interests in other facets of social and cultural life which are demonstrated in the publications. Nick’s research interests can be slotted into three categories:

(1)  Space, Place, Culture and Identity
Nick’s research into Seachange examines the role that place has in the lifestyle choices of individuals. In particular, the impact of environmental and cultural amenity on the identity of people is a specific interest. How people interact with their communities and also the non-human natural world is important here. In reference to Seachange, the interplay between city and country is something Nick is very interested in.

(2)  Social Theory and Cultural Sociology
As co-convener of the Cultural Sociology Thematic Group, Nick has a particular interest in the growing sub-discipline of cultural sociology. This includes questions of methodology and research approaches under the paradigm of the ‘Strong Program’ of cultural sociology developed by the Yale Cultural Sociology School. In more specific cases, Nick is interested in the interplay between culture and society and other institutions including media, sport, politics and nature. Alongside this, Nick has a continuing interest in social theory, its application and the continuing debates surrounding it.

(3)  Australian rural and urban societies
Nick has a strong commitment to understanding regional societies and communities and their needs and equity concerns. In relation to climate change adaptation, he has a strong commitment to exploring how we might approach future impacts of climate change equitably across both the city and country. Nick aims to continue working with the regional communities especially in Gippsland in not only climate change issues but other important rural/regional issues. 

Current research projects

Breaking the Walls of Words – University of Melbourne Seed Funded Project (Awarded

This project aims to understand the barriers for finding assistance for depression for Vietnamese and Timorese people living in inner city Melbourne. The aim of the project is to use ‘photo elicitation’ methods in order to overcome the barrier of language which often inhibits the ability for migrants to understand the illness firstly and find adequate assistance for it secondly. The researchers will in 2012 use this novel approach along with assisted interviews to understand the complex issue of cultural identity with place, institutions and community. The research team aims to develop this further into an ARC Linkage Grant proposal in 2012 extending it to include regional communities.

Climate Change and the Australian Beach: Re-Localizing Coastal Leisure and Tourism for a Low-Carbon Australian Society – ARC Discovery Grant Application (in process)

As climate change continues to impact upon the planning and policy directions of local councils and state governments, there is an underlying question of how the beach will play as a site for leisure in the future. This project aims to elicit a full understanding of how the beach is used currently including how beach tourism has changed since the 1900s. The project also seeks to provide information on the potentials of different beach locations to be places of settlement in a post-carbon future as well as delivering strategies for dealing with increased domestic tourism in anticipation of other increasingly important issues such as rising sea-levels.

Project team

Lifestyle Migration ‘Towns in Transition’ – SAMSS Internal Research Grant.

As lifestyle migration continues to build momentum around the country a growing concern has developed around notions of equity in relation to housing costs, community welfare needs and the inevitable issues related to aesthetic and environmental degradation. This project which began in 2012 and will seek to continue over the next few years will seek to understand the relationship of the migratory phenomenon on local conditions and needs. Further as second home ownership has also impacted greatly on mostly coastal locations, this project will seek to understand it’s impact on local economies, societies and cultures. In particular, as people continue to travel between city and the coastal location, what impact does that have on locals who permanently reside on location? Further, what prevents people from remaining in their ‘holiday homes’ permanently? These questions will be addressed throughout this project.

Lecturer in Sociology

Nick Osbaldiston is a sociologist working in the School of Applied Media and Social Sciences. Nick joined Monash in 2012 moving from the University of Melbourne where he was a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Resource Management and Geography. He is currently on the editorial board with the journal Social Alternatives and is also a member of the Executive Committee of The Australian Sociological Association. Nick is currently the co-editor of the associations professional newsletter Nexus and has been since 2009. He has also been a co-convener and principle convener of the Australian Cultural Sociology Thematic Group and is a member of the Rural Societies thematic group also. Nick is also co-convener of the Australian Sociological Association 2013 annual conference to be held at Monash Caulfield.

Nick has predominantly researched and published in the field of Lifestyle Migration research including a 2012 monograph through Palgrave Macmillan entitled Seeking Authenticity in Place, Culture and Self. His work has concentrated on the cultural narratives of this broad movement analysed mostly through the ‘strong’ cultural sociology program developed by the Yale Center for Cultural Sociology. However, Nick has also published on areas such as technology and education, tourism and the politics and culture of slow movements.

Nick is more recently concerned with the development of housing issues as a results of lifestyle migration and second home ownership in Australia and is currently working on a small centrally funded project to interrogate this further. He is also developing with others larger scale projects which aim to interrogate townships in regional and coastal areas that have been impacted on by lifestyle migration and their future concerns. This not only includes housing affordability but also equity in resource management, population density and environmental and aesthetic sensitivities.