Dr Heidi Hetz

I am a lecturer in the enabling pathway programs at UniSA College where I have been teaching sociology, academic writing, and literacy since 2015. I have also taught Sociology at undergraduate level, and I have taught through Open University Australia.  Recent courses I have taught include Critical Thinking: Media and Academia (LANG 1002) and Tertiary Learning Strategies (SSK10). Previous courses include Migration, Diversity and Belonging (HUMS 2038), Introduction to Global Issues and Identities (HUMS 1048), Individual and Society in Contemporary Australia (HUMS 1052), and Understanding Globalisation (SOCU 2017). I am an experienced course developer, with courses developed for UniSA College and UniSA Online across a range of academic writing and literacy subjects. 

My commitment to social justice, equity, and inclusion informs my research with refugee-background communities. I have completed a PhD in Sociology at UniSA, conferred in June 2020, with a thesis exploring refugee narratives in the context of Australia’s asylum seeker debates. Recent research with refugee-background communities has explored pedagogical approaches for refugeee-background students, refugee settlement-integration and contributions, and educational aspirations in refugee-background families. Together with my colleague Dr Snjezana Bilic, I was the recipient of the 2022 UniSA Education Research Academy fellowship for a joint project entitled Developing best practice approaches for teaching and supporting students from refugee backgrounds in higher education.

I have authored and co-authored journal articles that were published in Sociologica Ruralis, Journal of Sociology, The Australian Educational Researcher, Australian Geographer, Social Identities, Journal of Refugee Studies, and International Journal of Inclusive Education. Co-authered book chapters were published in Tutorial Ideas for Educators on the Run (Springer Nature Link, 2025), Migratory Men: Place, Transnationalism and Masculinities (Routledge, 2023), and Anti-Racist Social Work: An International Perspective (Red Globe Press, 2020). I have also co-authored three reports: Refugees Rejuvenating and Connecting Communities: An analysis of the social, cultural and economic contributions of Hazara humanitarian migrants in the Port Adelaide-Enfield area of Adelaide, South Australia (2021), Intergenerational refugee aspirations and academic success: from uncertain pasts to promising futures (2021), and: Learning from Leeton: A case study of refugee settlement in rural Australia (2022).  

In 2025, I was the recipient of the Early Career Researcher Award from UniSA Education Futures. 

I am currently a co-facilitator of the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Special Interest Group at the National Association of Enabling Educators Australia (NAEEA). I am a member of the Centre for Research in Educational and Social Inclusion (CRESI) at UniSA, and an associate member of the Higher Education Research Network (HERN) at UniSA. From 2021-2022, I was the Equity and Inclusion Portfolio leader for The Australian Sociological Association (TASA).

Prior to 2015, I worked and volunteered with newly arrived refugees for several years.

My personal pronouns are she / her.

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy University of South Australia

• Graduate Diploma in Integrated Human Studies University of Western Australia

• Bachelor of Arts Flinders University