Engage with us

  1. Macquarie University
  2. Faculty of Arts
  3. Schools
  4. School of International Studies
  5. Engage with us
25 Wally's Walk
Macquarie University NSW 2109
We like to keep in touch with our graduates

Partnering with community, industry and government

We maintain extensive national and international partnerships with schools, industry, community organisations and government bodies.

Our partnership and engagement activities include:

  • working with government and industry to provide practical research solutions to social, criminal and national security challenges
  • contributing to community-based social cohesion and countering violent extremism programs
  • collaborating with partners across society to address violent misogyny and gender-based violence
  • facilitating community language teaching and exam provisions
  • offering engagement programs, guest lectures and campus excursions to high schools.

The school fosters collaborative relationships with government, community organisations, and the private sector to produce impactful research and exciting career pathways for our graduates.

We work with stakeholders to:

  • contribute to government policymaking
  • understand and engage with our local and global environment
  • build knowledge-sharing partnerships that respond to urgent social problems.
  • Our projects range from multi-year Linkage grants to short-term consultancies.

Our students develop their skill and knowledge through industry placements that provide practical assistance to industry bodies such as Australian federal and state government departments, business councils and trade bodies, and community cultural organisations.

Examples of industry/student partnership projects include:

  • Noetic IT Services: Students explored how artificial intelligence technologies can be utilised to improve the security of smart city infrastructure (including public utilities, traffic management systems and IoT devices). They analysed how AI systems can be exploited or manipulated by malicious actors, prioritising public safety, individual privacy, and the ethical considerations.
  • Cyber Security: Students explored the cybersecurity implications of advanced cybernetic technologies, identifying vulnerabilities and potential threats and assessed the ethical dimensions of cybernetics, considering issues like autonomy, consent and the digital divide for Kinetic IT Services.
  • NSW POLAIR: Students completed 360-degree scoping exercise for NSW Police on applications of next generation drones, fixed wing and rotary aircraft for the NSW Aviation Command/NSW Police.
  • Statecraft Strategies: This project focused on the intensifying strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific, with an exploration of ways to best avert crisis or conflict. The project was set to challenge perspectives, identify tools, build a common understanding of key concepts, and consider strategies in times of competition, crisis, and conflict.
  • Collaboration in International Security: A short-term and long-term educational training for international delegations that included a combination of theoretical, conceptual, and historical teachings, together with practical skills and knowledge.
  • Intelligence Training Program: A project designed for Intelligence government departments focused on crafting and communicating intelligence assessments, communicating intelligence assumptions, challenge assessments in order to improve intelligence performance, and navigating how elements of intelligence professionalism can help to build successful team cultures.

We partner with cultural institutes such as the Goethe Institute, and work with two language study centres:

Academic staff in the school frequently provide expert commentary in national and international media on contemporary challenges and world events.

Expertise in the department includes:

  • Asian popular culture
  • Australian politics
  • Australia’s strategic and defence policy
  • Chinese foreign policy
  • climate politics
  • community languages
  • corporate crime
  • cross-cultural communication and media
  • diasporic literatures, film and cultures
  • gender and sexual identities and representation
  • gender, crime, and media
  • Indo-Pacific security
  • intelligence
  • language teaching and technology
  • police and crime in Australia
  • religion and politics
  • second language acquisition
  • terrorism and extremism.

High school engagement

In an era defined by global transformation, geopolitical shifts, technological disruption and evolving cultures, global awareness is more important than ever. Macquarie University’s School of International Studies invites high schools to participate in a customised academic experience designed to extend classroom learning and foster intellectual curiosity.

An academic giving a presentation at a school.Expert lectures and seminars can be arranged on-campus, or staff can come to deliver a 40–50-minute presentation and Q&A in your classroom.

Our program introduces students to university-level thinking across key disciplines:

  • criminology
  • global cultures and languages
  • international security studies
  • politics and international relations.

Through interactive lectures, hands-on workshops and cultural engagement, students will explore contemporary issues shaping our world, while gaining insight into the dynamic academic environment of Macquarie University.

Students will explore timely and challenging topics such as:

  • does the internet create terrorists?
  • what can James Bond tell us about intelligence?
  • must Australia choose between the USA and China?
  • is China running the world?
  • what is crime?
  • true crime and the media: who tells the story, and why it matters
  • the geopolitics of technological innovation
  • why governments can lead the clean energy revolution
  • how is technology impacting language?

These in-class lectures from our excursion program can also be delivered at your school year-round with at least one month’s notice.

Engage in interactive tutorials or lectures in:

  • Chinese
  • French
  • German
  • Japanese
  • Spanish.

These sessions offer a taste of global cultures and communication in action and can include:

  • interactive language tasters
  • presentations on culture and media
  • discussions of the importance of language and culture study in Australia.

Bring learning to life with immersive activities such as:

  • mock crime scene investigation
  • crime mapping workshop.

Explore our vibrant campus with guided tours:

  • short tour (20–30 minutes)
  • extended tour (45–60 minutes).

Plan your visit

For the best availability of staff and facilities, we recommend scheduling your excursion in February, June, July or November.

Start organising your visit two to four months in advance to secure your preferred dates and customise your experience.

Book your excursion

Contact us with your preferred dates, group size and activity interests. We’ll help you build a memorable and meaningful visit.

To book, or for more information, contact: