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Department of Sociology

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A/Prof. Michael Fine

(Deputy Director, Centre for Research on Social Inclusion)

BA (Hons) Syd., PhD Syd.


Contact Details

Office: C3B 510

Phone No: (61 2) 9850 8037

Fax No: (61 2) 9850 9355

E-mail: Michael.Fine@mq.edu.au

Biography

My current research concerns the sociology of care. It addresses theories of care and international developments in care provision; the issue of migration, demography and care; links between formal and informal support; individualisation, social housing, isolation and social support; and on emergent patterns of service delivery, including issues of funding, planning and consumer engagement.

I am also responsible for the design and teaching of courses at both undergraduate and postgraduate level concerning Australian and Global Societies, Social Research Methods, Research Design, and the Sociology of Human Services. I have a strong interest in promoting sociology and social science as active disciplines, and is responsible for the development and introduction of the Internships in Social Research, a new undergraduate coursework unit introduced in 2003.

I am perhaps best known internationally for research in the field of social policy and human services, and have published a number of reports, monographs and journal articles in these fields. I am Vice-President of the Research Committee on the Sociology of Old Age (RC11) of the International Sociological Association, and a member of The Australian Sociological Association (TASA) and the Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG). I am also currently Chair of the Scientific Committee for the 2006 AAG Annual Conference and was President of the NSW Division of the AAG for a number of years. Prior to commencing at Macquarie University I was Senior Research Fellow at the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, responsible for a number of important research studies in the areas of aged care, disability and social policy.


Research Interests


Some Current and Recent Research and Related Activities

Reorganising Carework in an Ageing Society. Research on Care Scenarios, Care deficit and new approaches to the regulation of carework in residential facilities and community settings. (An international collaborative project with Prof. R Rønning, Norway)

Principal Investigator in research program Transnational Care: Immigrant workers in Australia's care sector, Project team: Dr. Michael Fine; Dr. Amanda Wise (CRSI); Dr. Fei Guo (Demography); Dr. Kathy Tannos (Economics); E/Prof. Gill Bottomley (Anthropology) (all Macquarie University); and A/Prof. Suzanne Franzway (University of South Australia). Awarded Macquarie University Research Grant, Dec 2005.

Social Support and Public Housing. Evaluation of an innovative neighbourhood support program in two urban social housing estates. Research undertaken with Dr Armen Gakavian and Joshua Mullan through CRSI for NSW Department of Housing and Department of Ageing, Disability and Home Care.

Chief Investigator, with Dr Amanda Wise, for Cultural Diversity, Community and Family Services. CRSI and Ryde City Council, awarded ARC Linkage Grant with Kevin Moloney (Ryde) for three year study (2006-2009).

Centre for Research on Social Inclusion and Ryde City Council. Growing Supportive Neighbourhoods: Developing an innovative, integrated approach to building community and supporting disadvantaged families with children in West Ryde; Chief Researchers: Dr Michael Fine & Dr Amanda Wise (CRSI), with project work carried out by senior research assistants Armen Gavakian and Gillian Vogl ($10,000: $5000 MQ funds, $5000 Ryde City Council through Macquarie University External Collaborations Scheme) February-May 2005.

Centre for Research on Social Inclusion and Alzheimer's Association NSW, Consultancy for Quality Support Groups Research Project. This project involves a series of studies examining the characteristics and effectiveness of Carers Support Groups, with Jo-Ann Brown, Lisa Ralphs (AANSW). ($11,500 2005; $6,000 April 2003).

Awarded Macquarie University Flagship Grant ($49,700 over two years) for the development, support and introduction of an innovative program of Internships in Social Research. (January, 2003).

Chief Investigator, with Professor Anna Yeatman (Sociology, Macquarie University), on the project Individualised Service Delivery, a three year study funded by the Australian Research Council. Funding: ARC Large Grant $180,000 (2001-2003).

Principal Investigator and team leader for the Evaluation of the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme (NYARS), a major national consultancy undertaken on behalf of DETYA and the NYARS Steering Committee. The evaluation, with Dr Ken Johnston and Heather Middleton (Sociology, Macquarie University) through Macquarie Research Ltd, was awarded as the result of a national competitive consultancy. Contract: $40,000. (January-June, 2001).

Principal Researcher, Local Evaluation, Northern Sydney Coordinated Care Trial (Linked Care. Hornsby Kuringai). Convenor of the University of New South Wales Evaluation Consortium (a collaboration between the Social Policy Research Centre, the Centre for General Practice Integration Studies and the School of Community Medicine). (with Karen Fisher, Gawaine Powell-Davies, Prof Mark Harris and Prof. Peter Saunders). Project auspice: Northern Sydney Area Health Board (through Department of Health and Family Services). Contract: $360,000 over three years (1997-2000)

Director, Researching Coordinated and Integrated Human Service Delivery Models (with Kuru Pancharatnam and, later, Cathy Thomson) Project Auspice: New South Wales Cabinet Office and Premier's Department. Contract: $14,000 (July-December, 1999)

Co-researcher, Aged Care Boundaries Service Delivery Models Stocktake. (With Dr Anna Howe and Lynn Sitsky, SPRC) Project auspice: Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care. Contract: $40,000 (May-October 1999)

Research Director, Evaluation of the New South Wales Demonstration Projects in Integrated Community Care. (With Cathy Thomson, Sara Graham and others) Project auspice: NSW Ageing and Disability Department. Contract: $453,000 over three years (February 1995-October 1998)


Major Awards and Distinctions

  • Fellow of the Australian Association of Gerontology, November 2004; Distinguished Service Recognition Award, August 2000.
  • Vice President, International Sociological Association (ISA) Research Committee on the Sociology of Ageing (RC11) 2002-2006; Executive Committee Member 1998 - 2002.
  • Appointed as Technical Expert and member of Expert Technical Advisory Group, Commonwealth Review of Pricing Arrangements in Residential Aged Care, 2002-03.
  • Invited International Scholar (with Keynote Lecture to conference). Kobe City College of Nursing, Kobe, Japan, November 1999.
  • Travelling Fellowship awarded by the Australian Academy of Social Sciences and the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, June-July 1993.
  • Awarded travelling scholarship and honour as Visiting Scientist by the Japan Foundation of Ageing and Health, November and December, 1992.

    • Current Editorial Responsibilities

  • International Advisory Board, Sociology (journal of the British Sociological Association)
  • Member, Editorial Board, International Journal of Ageing and Later Life (Sweden)
  • Member, Editorial Board, Australian Journal of Case Management



    • Recent Publications (1995- present)

    Books and Major Research Monographs

    Fine, M. (2006) A Caring Society? Care and the Dilemmas of Human Services in the 21st Century, Palgrave/MacMillan, Houndmills

    K. Turvey and M. Fine (1996) Community Care. The Effects of Low Levels of Service Use, Reports and Proceedings No. 130, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney.

    C. Thomson, K. Turvey and M. Fine (1996), Successful Caring Arrangements for Employed Caregivers, Reports and Proceedings No. 131, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney.

    Fine, M., and C. Thomson (1995) Three Years At Home. Final Report of the Longitudinal Study of Community Support Services and Their Users. Reports and Proceedings No. 121, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney

    Fine, M., S. Graham and G. Matheson (1995) The Institutional Population of Australia: 1976 - 1991, SPRC Reports and Proceedings No. 119, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney


    Articles in Refereed Journals

    Fine, M (2005) 'Dependency Work. A critical exploration of Kittay's perspective on care as a relationship of power', Health Sociology Review 14(2): 146-160

    Fine, M. (2005) 'Individualisation, Risk and the Body. Sociology and Care', Journal of Sociology 41 (3): 249-268

    Brodaty, H., C. Thomson, C. Thompson and M. Fine (2005) 'Why caregivers of people with dementia and memory loss don't use services' International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 20 (6): 537-46.

    Fine, M and C. Glendinning (2005) 'Dependence, independence or inter-dependence? Revisiting the concepts of 'care' and 'dependency'', Ageing and Society, 25 (4): 601-621

    Fine, M (2004) 'Care: Renewing the Social Vision', Australian Journal of Social Issues 39 (3): 217-232

    Fisher, K and M. Fine (2002) 'Care Coordination, Case Management Theory and the Coordinated Care Trials. Reconsidering the Fundamentals' The Australian Coordinated Care Trials: Reflections on the Evaluation (Vol 2 of series), Department of Health and Family Services, Canberra: 23-38

    Fine, M. (2001) 'Aged care, ethics and public policy', Contemporary Nurse Journal, 11(2-3): 109-115

    Fine, M. and J. Chalmers (2000) 'User Pays and Other Approaches to the Funding of Long-Term Care for Older People in Australia' Ageing and Society, 20, (2000): 5-32.

    Fine, M. (1999) 'Coordinating Health, Extended Care and Community Support Services. Reforming Aged Care in Australia'. Journal of Aging and Social Policy, 11 (1), (1999): 67-90

    P. Saunders and M. Fine (1997) 'Evaluation and Research in Social Policy', Australian Journal of Social Research, 3 (1) 75-94.

    Fine, M. (1995) 'Community-based services and the fragmentation of provision: a case study of Home and Community Care services in a suburban community' in Australian Journal of Social Issues, volume 30 (2): 143-161

    Thomson, C and M. Fine (1995) 'Charity, goodwill and community spirit: day care provisions for older adults in a suburban community' in Australian Journal on Ageing, volume 14 (2): 63-67


    Refereed Book Chapters

    Fine, M (forthcoming) 'Uncertain Prospects: Aged Care for a Long-Lived Society', in A. Borowski, S. Encel and E. Ozanne (Ed.) Long Lived Society. Ageing and Social Policy In Australia, Sydney, University of New South Wales Press.

    Fine, M. (2001) 'Coordination Through Collaboration. The New South Wales Demonstration Projects in Integrated Community Care' in M. Mandell (ed) Getting Results Through Collaboration: Networks and Network Structures for Public Policy and Management, Greenwood, New York: 207-219

    Fine, M. (1999) 'Ageing and the balance of responsibilities between various providers of child and aged care. Shaping policies for the future' in Productivity Commission and Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research (1999), Policy Implications of the Ageing of Australia's Population, Conference Proceedings, Ausinfo, Canberra: 263-291 (An edited and revised version of this paper was also published as SPRC Discussion paper No. 105).

    Fine, M. (1998) 'Acute and Continuing Care for Older People in Australia: Contesting New Balances of Care' in C. Glendinning (ed) Rights and Realities. Comparing New Developments in Long-Term Care for Older People, The Policy Press, London: 105-126

    Fine, M. and J. Stevens (1998) 'From inmates to consumers: developments in Australian aged care since white settlement' in C. Bevan and B. Jeawoddy (eds) Successful Aging. Perspectives on Health and Social Construction, Mosby, Sydney, Baltimore: 39-92

    Fine, M. and C. Thomson (1996) 'Beyond caring: Informal care and the use of community support services by Home and Community Care Clients' in V. Minichiello, N. Chappell, H. Kendig and A. Walker (ed) Sociology of Aging: International Perspectives, International Sociological Association, London and Melbourne, 1996: 207-225


    Discussion Papers and Other Refereed Publications

    Fine, M., D. Perkins and A. Owen (eds) (2001) Coordinated Care on Trial. Background to the Emergence of the National Coordination Agenda in Health Care, Australian Series on Health Administration (ASHA) No. 90, University of New South Wales, Sydney.

    Fine, M (2001) 'The Australian Coordinated care Trials: A review of the diagnosis, prescription, and treatment regimes' in M. Fine, D. Perkins and A. Owen (ed) Coordinated Care on Trial. Background to the Emergence of the National Coordination Agenda in Health Care, Australian Series on Health Administration (ASHA) No. 90, University of New South Wales, Sydney: 1-16.

    Fine, M. and C. Thomson (1995) Factors Affecting the Outcomes of Community Care Service Interventions. A Literature Review, Aged and Community Care Service Development and Evaluation Reports No. 20, Commonwealth Department of Human Services and Health), AGPS, Canberra

    Fine, M., K. Fisher, G. Powell-Davies and M. Harris (1998) 'Linking Care in Sydney's Northern Suburbs: The Evaluation of the Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Trial' in The Australian Coordinated Care Trials: Methodological issues in trial design and evaluation, Department of Health and Family Services, Canberra.

    Fine, M. (1997), Coordinating Health, Extended Care and Community Support Services: Issues for Policy Makers and Service Providers in Australia, Discussion Paper No. 80, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney.

    Saunders, P. and M. Fine (1995) Evaluation and research in social policy: the big questions and fine details, Discussion Paper No. 62, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney. (Earlier version also published in Evaluation! Are You Being Served? Conference Proceedings Vol 1, Australasian Evaluation Society International Conference, 1996)

    Shaver, S., and M. Fine (1995) 'Social policy and personal life: changes in state, family and community in the support of informal care' in Towards a National Agenda for Carers, Aged and Community Care Service Development and Evaluation Reports, No. 22, Department of Human Services and Health, AGPS, Canberra: 19-36. (Revised version of paper also published as SPRC Discussion Paper No. 65, December 1995)

    Fine, M. (1995) 'Innovation and change in long term care: Challenges of new models of support' in P. Saunders (ed) Social Policy and Northern Australia, Proceedings of a One Day Conference, Reports and Proceedings No. 120, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney.

    Fine, M. (1995) The Changing Mix of Welfare in Health Care and Community Support, Discussion Paper No. 61, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney.


    Evaluations and Other Research Reports

    Fine, Michael., K. Pancharatnam and C. Thomson (2005) Coordinated and Integrated Human Service Delivery Models SPRC Report 1/05, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney (Report prepared for the NSW Cabinet Office and Premier's Department. Submitted February 2000 and published unchanged in 2005 in response to reader demand)

    Fine, M., K. Johnson and H. Middleton (2001) Evaluation of the National Youth Affairs Research Scheme, Report produced for Commonwealth Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs (DETYA), and the NYARS Steering Committee. Macquarie Research Limited (MRL) Sydney.

    Fine, M., K. Fisher, S. Strezzari, G. Powell-Davies, M. Harris, J. Doyle, J. McNab and T. O'Brien. (2000) Linked Care Final Evaluation. Final report of the Local Evaluation, Hornsby Kuringai Coordinated Care Trial Report produced by Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW for Northern Sydney Area Health Board and Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services (a series of interim reports on the same evaluation were also produced from 1997-1999)

    Fine, M., J. Doyle and J. McNab (2000) Incentives and Costs of Care in the Community Versus Formal Residential Care, Report of a Study for The Department of Family and Community Services, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney. (Confidential report, not released by Commonwealth government)

    Fine, M. and J. Chalmers (1998) 'The application of user pays principles to government programs for older Australians: the case of aged care', in Who Pays? The Impact of User Pays and Economic Policy on Older People, NSW Committee on Ageing, Sydney: 13-52

    Fine, M., C. Thomson and S. Graham (1998) Evaluation of the New South Wales Demonstration Projects in Integrated Community Care. Report for NSW Ageing and Disability Department, Social Policy Research Centre, University of New South Wales, Sydney

    Fine, M., K. Turvey and J. Doyle (1997) The Provision of Post-Hospitalisation Services, Final Report for the Department of Health and Family Services, Social Policy Research Centre, University of NSW, Sydney.

    Fine, M., C. Thomson and N. Turnbull (1997) Interim Evaluation of the New South Wales Integrated Community Care Demonstration Projects, 1996-97, Report to the NSW Ageing and Disability Department, Sydney (Published by ADD, April 1998)

    Fine, M and K. Turvey (1997) The Shared Care of Older People Project (SCOPP), Twelve Month Evaluation Report, prepared for the Eastern Sydney Area Division of General Practice, Sydney, December.