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Professor

Simon Tormey

Executive Dean Arts and Education

Faculty of Arts and Education/Office of the Executive Dean Arts and Education

Orcid identifier0000-0001-5148-1025
  • Executive Dean Arts and Education
    Faculty of Arts and Education/Office of the Executive Dean Arts and Education
  • +61 3 924 68564 (Work)
  • Melbourne Burwood Campus, 221 Burwood Highway, Burwood, Victoria 3125

BIO

Simon Tormey is Professor of Politics and Executive Dean of Arts and Education at Deakin. His previous frontline management roles include serving as Dean of Social Sciences and Law at the University of Bristol (2019-23). Whilst at Bristol he led the creation of the new Business School and the development of a thriving research group in socio-digital studies. Previously, he served as the first Head of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Sydney (2009-17), creating one of the premier social science communities globally. Before Sydney he served as Deputy Head and then Head of the School of Politics and IR at the University of Nottingham (2000-18). Whilst at Nottingham Simon also set up and directed the influential Centre for the Study of Social and Global Justice (CSSGJ). 

 

A political theorist by training, Simon has made significant contributions to political sociology, organisational studies, social theory and the history of
ideas. He has written or co-written 7 books and over 60 articles which have been translated into 9 languages. Simon has transdisciplinary interests in questions around ontology and epistemology, and in turn the legacy of key Western thinkers notably Marx, Nietzsche, Wittgenstein, Freud and Lacan. He has interdisciplinary interests in social and political theory, and in particular questions around the nature and trajectory of Modernity, the constitution of the contemporary subject, the crisis of democracy and its manifestations in terms of participation, mobilisation and governance. As a scholar in the discipline of politics he has engaged closely with issues around ideology, extremism, violence and politics, and more recently on the impact of technology in terms of how we enact and think about politics.  Most recently he has written extensively about populism, European and UK politics, social movements and citizen mobilisations in countries such as Spain and France. 

 

Simon is a frequent media commentator on contemporary political and economic developments in the UK, Europe and EU, Australia and the Asia-Pacific region, appearing regularly on the ABC, BBC and Sky News. 

DEAKIN UNIVERSITY CURRENT APPOINTMENT

  • Executive Dean Arts and Education
    Deakin University, Office of the Executive Dean Arts and Education

ACADEMIC POSITIONS

  • Dean
    University of Bristol, Social Sciences and Law, Bristol, United Kingdom1 Sep 2019 - 1 Jul 2023
  • Head of School
    University of Sydney, Social and Political Sciences, Sydney, Australia14 Jan 2009 - 1 Dec 2017
  • Head of School
    University of Nottingham, Politics and IR, Nottingham, United Kingdom1 Jul 2007 - 1 Sep 2009

LANGUAGES

  • French
    Can read, write, speak, understand and peer review

AREA/FACULTY

  • Faculty of Arts and Education

DEPARTMENT/SCHOOL/INSTITUTE

  • Office of the Executive Dean Arts and Education