About us
Established in 2005, the Australian Network of Student Anthropologists (ANSA) is an initiative of anthropology students and early career researchers. We aim to share knowledge, experience, and support amongst student and early career anthropologists by fostering a community of people who have shared interests.
We aim to:
Provide a voice for student interests and encourage student participation within the AAS (Australian Anthropological Society), with specific attention paid to the needs of postgraduate students enrolled at Australian Universities.
Provide resources and information for student and early career research anthropologists.
Foster a welcoming sense of community between students and researchers of shared interest.
ANSA Executive — 2026
Note: we’re looking for a third member to join the exec team as of Feb 2026. Flick us a message at ansa.exec@gmail.com if you’re interested — we’re flexible on the exact role and responsibilities but read our constitution for more info!
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CHAIRPERSON (she/her)
Hi, I’m Cindy and I’m a PhD candidate and I’m deeply interested in ritual creativity and the ways we adapt and tinker with rites, particularly the end-of-life gatherings known as living wakes (where the dying host their own funerals before their death). I’m from South Africa and have been living in Melbourne (on and off) for 13 years now. Throughout a career in travel, HR, brand development, as well as founding and running a small business – anthropology never stopped being a nurtured light in my life that I’m now able to fuel, fan and dedicate myself to. I am also a Graduate Research Academic Associate and work within the Critical Ethnography Lab, and Death Tech Research Team. I have found great support and inspiration in the ANSA community and look forward to being part of the exec again this year.
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SECRETARY (he/him)
I came to university after many years in music as an artist, producer and audio engineer. Currently I am at the University of Sydney writing an honours thesis about the ways musicians navigate the algorithms on platforms like Spotify or Instagram that dominate their professional lives, as well as the forms of resistance that emerge and the implications for our understandings of class and inequality in the new rent economy. I also maintain an active interest in theories of race, ideology and psychoanalysis.
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WEB & MEDIA OFFICER (she/her)
Hi, I’m Monica and I’m a design researcher and an anthropology student at the University of Sydney. My interests centre on temporality, creativity, and imagination, especially how speculative and anticipatory practices in design and anthropology open up alternatives to dominant sociotechnical systems.
I come to anthropology from a background in human-centred design, design futures, and human-computer interaction, where I’ve worked for around a decade. Most recently, I was the design research lead on Affinity by Canva, drawing on 18 months of fieldwork with creatives and image-makers around the world to launch a new creative app (www.affinity.studio).
I’m excited to be part of the ANSA exec this year as Web Officer to amplify all the amazing projects happening in the community!
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The ANSA Executive is responsible for overseeing ANSA’s activities and funding. We organise workshops and activities, including events at the annual AAS conference, and act as liaisons between local universities and the AAS.
The chairperson acts as a postgraduate representative in the AAS Executive committee (in a non-voting capacity) and reports on ANSA plans, vision, and activities during their quarterly meetings. They also oversee incoming emails and administer grants and scholarships. The chairperson is the main liaison with conference organisers as well.
The secretary liaises with the ANSA Committee, made up of the local university representatives, oversees membership administration, and organises monthly meetings, distributing agendas and taking minutes. The secretary also supports the chairperson with the administration of grants and general communication.
The Web Officer is responsible for everything related to ANSA advertising and social media. They manage the website, organise the visual anthropology competition, and send out our monthly newsletter.
We aim to distribute the workload evenly amongst the executive. We generally spend a few hours a week on our ANSA tasks, running our monthly (open) executive meetings where we discuss and plan events, and we make sure that no email in the ANSA mailbox remains unanswered.
In appreciation of our work, the AAS covers our AAS Membership for the year, and financially supports our conference attendance so we can run our conference events.
Each year a new executive is elected at the AGM. Interested in taking on a role on the Exec? Let us know!
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2026:
Previous Chairperson (Dec-Jan): Karuna Santosa
2025
Chairperson: Cindy Stocken
Secretary: María Paula Hernández Ruiz
Web Officer: Lara Skerratt2024
Chairperson: Susannah Ostojic
Secretary: Cindy Stocken
Web Officer: Pallavi Borkar2023
Chairperson: Jerrold Cuperus
Secretary: Fergus Boyd
Web Officer: Nikki Manolakis2022
Chairperson: Ivan Levant
Secretary: Ainslee Hooper
Web Officer: Elizabeth Fewster2021
Chairperson: Tyler Riordan
Secretary: Sarah Haggar
Web Officer: Catherine West2020
Chairperson: Hanne Worsoe
Secretary: Bronwyn Shepard
Web Officer: Leela Ford2019
Chairperson: Hanna Jagtenberg
Secretary: Alessandra Prunotto/Aqua Hastings
Web Officer: Alice Leggett/Jacob Malouf-Grice
Australian Anthropological Society
ANSA receives funding from the AAS, the Australian Anthropological Society. During the Annual AAS conference, ANSA organises several panels and social events. Our goal is to connect students and early-career researchers to established researchers and professionals in the field of anthropology. If you are both an AAS Affiliate, as well as a Member of ANSA, you are eligible to apply for the AAS/ANSA Post-graduate Travel Grant or the Robyn Wood Travel Grant or to enter in the Visual Ethnography competition or any other ANSA competitions that receive AAS funding.
