Dan Woodman

Dan Woodman is the TR Ashworth Professor of Sociology and Sociology Discipline Chair in the School of Social and Political Sciences, Faculty of Arts, at the University of Melbourne, a position he has held since 2011. He earned his PhD in 2010 and Bachelor of Arts in 2003 from the University of Melbourne. Earlier in his career, he served as a Research Fellow in the Research School of Social Sciences at the Australian National University from 2009 to 2011 and as a researcher at the University of Melbourne's Youth Research Centre from 2005 to 2009. Prior to academia, Woodman worked as an intellectual disability support worker and in the Victorian Public Service. His research focuses on the sociology of youth, young adulthood, generations, and youth studies, extending to the sociology of work, time use, precarious employment, digital media, and generational change in social structures and transitions to adulthood.

Professor Woodman's scholarship has significantly influenced youth studies and sociology, with over 4,600 citations on Google Scholar. Key publications include the co-edited volume Youth Cultures, Transitions, and Generations (Palgrave Macmillan, 2015) with Andy Bennett; the article Researching 'ordinary' young people in a changing world: The sociology of generations and the 'missing middle' in youth research (Sociological Research Online, 2012); Changing Times, Changing Perspectives: Young People and the Future (Journal of Sociology, 2011), which won the Award for Best Paper in the Journal of Sociology for 2011-2012; and Generations, Transitions, and Culture as Practice: A Temporal Approach to Youth Studies (2015). He has received major honors including election as a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA) in 2024, induction into the Australian Research Council's College of Experts in 2025, the Award for Doctoral Research 2011 for the best PhD thesis in education or higher education, and leadership roles such as President of the Australian Sociological Association and the Council for the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Woodman contributes to editorial boards, public lectures, and research councils, advancing interdisciplinary understanding of contemporary generational dynamics.

Professional Email: dan.woodman@unimelb.edu.au