John Solas

John Solas

Senior Lecturer

Department of Social Sciences , School Of Education And Communities

I have held senior academic posts at seven Australian and three UK higher education institutions. My areas of teaching and research interest are professional ethics, moral and political philosophy and organisational behaviour. Details and impact of my research and scholarship can be found on Research Gate.

John Solas

OVERVIEW

I have taught Values and Ethics, Organisational Theory and Practice, Power and Discrimination and Theory and Methods in Social Work. I am a Research Fellow at Keele University and  have written extensively on empowerment, equality and social justice. All of my research has been published in highly ranked professional journals. I have also conducted and supervised research on crisis communication, precarious employment, recovery coaching, guidance counselling and child protection. I was a founding member of the Counselling and Family Therapy Clinic at Queensland University of Technology.

While on staff at Charles Darwin University, I was a representative on the Northern Land Council, and his research and advocacy were instrumental in improving the delivery of primary health care services to Indigenous communities in the Central and Northern regions of Australia. I have been a National Director of the Australian Association of Social Workers and reviewer for Australian Social Work and the British Journal of Social Work.

PUBLICATIONS

All of my work publications have appeared and been cited in international peer-reviewed journals. My publications have examined aspects of practice that are fundamental to social work and cognate disciplines, i.e., empowerment, poverty, rights, ethics, and justice, from a variety of theoretical perspectives.

Books

  • Solas, J. (1994). The (de)construction of educational practice in social work. Aldershot, England: Avebury Press. Chapters
  • Solas, J. (2019). The test of a good conscience. In S. Marson and R. McKinney (Eds.), Handbook of Social Work Ethics and Values, Chapter 8, Routledge.
  • Solas, J. (2016). Going along to get along: Victimization Inc. In T. Colby (Ed.), Victims and victimization: Risk factors, intervention strategies and socioemotional outcomes, New Work: Nova Science Publishers.
  • Solas, J. (2015). Communication within the organisation. In M. Birks, Y. Chapman, and J. Davis (Eds.) Professional and therapeutic communication (pp. 135-156). Australia and New Zealand: Oxford University Press.
  • Solas, J. (Rev. Ed.), (in press). Communication within the organisation. In M. Birks, Y. Chapman, and J. Davis (Eds.) Professional and therapeutic communication. Australia and New Zealand: Oxford University Press.
  • Solas, J. (2015). Social and political elements of inclusive practice. In J. Davis, M. Birks and Y. Chapman (Eds.), Inclusive practice for health professionals (pp. 107-125). Australia and New Zealand: Oxford University Press.
  • Solas, J. (1995). Grammatology of social construing. In R. Neimeyer and G. Neimeyer (Eds.), Advances in personal construct psychology (pp. 61-76) New York: Praegar.
  • Desai, M., and Solas, J. (2012). Social justice, exclusion, and development. In L. Lyons, T. Hokenstad, M. Pawar, N. Huegler, and N. Hall (Eds.), Handbook of international social work (pp. 85-99). New York: Sage.

Journal Articles

  • Solas, J. (2019). Guest editorial, Social Work and Social Sciences Review, 20, 1, 2-5.
  • Solas, J. (2019). Conscientious objections to corporate wrongdoing. Business and Society Review, 124(1), 43-62.
  • Solas J. (2018). Is it just enough? Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, 45, 2, 141-156.
  • Solas, J. (2018). Challenging discrimination between the deserving and undeserving in social work. Journal of Social Work Ethics and Values, 15, 2, 62-70.
  • Solas, J. (2016). The banality of bad leadership and followership. Society and Business Review, 11, 1, 12-23.
  • Solas, J. (2015). Pathological work victimisation in public sector organisations. Public Organisation Review, 2, 2, 255-265.
  • Solas, J. (2008). Is equity enough: A response to those who think it is. Australian Social Work, 61, 2, 146-49.
  • Solas, J. (2008). Social Work and social justice: What are we fighting for? Australian Social Work, 61, 2, 137-40.
  • Solas, J. (2002). Once were Marxists: Reclaiming the radical imperative in human service practice. Journal of Social Work, 2, 2, 233-46.
  • Solas, J. (2002). The war on poverty in Australia. Just Policy, 27, August, 56-67.
  • Solas, J. (2002). The poverty of postmodern human services. Australian Social Work, 55, 2, 128-135.
  • Solas, J. (2001). Building an advocacy agenda on issues of economic justice. Analysis of Social Issues and Public Policy, 1, 1, 147-158.
  • Solas, J. (2001). Making a veritable difference. Transformations, 3, 1, 1-15.
  • Solas, J (2001). Communitarianism, social authoritarianism and social work. Journal of Social Work, 1, 1, 7-19.
  • Solas, J. (2001). What rights do Marxists have? Radical Philosophy Review, 4, 1, 65-77. Solas, J. (2000). The tyranny of therapeutic dialogue. Social Semiotics, 10, 3, 347-353.
  • Solas, J. (2000). A poor state of affairs. AQ (formerly Australian Quarterly), 72, 2, 25-30. Solas, J. (2000). Can a radical social worker believe in human rights? Australian Social Work, 53, 1, 57-70.
  • Solas, J. (1999). A Gay construction of A.I.D.S. Health, 3, 4, 421-449.
  • Solas, J. (1999). Taking human rights seriously: A quandary for social workers in search of a radical profession. Canadian Social Work Review, 16, 2, 191-200.
  • Solas, J. (1997). Constructing and construing personal models of social work supervision using repertory grid technology. Research on Social Work Practice, 7, 4, 251-261.
  • Solas, J, (1997). Exchanging and changing constructions of clinical supervision. The Clinical Supervisor, 15, 1, 167-173.
  • McMahon, M., and Solas, J. (1996). Perceptions of guidance officers and senior guidance officers about clinical supervision: A preliminary study. Australian Journal of Guidance Counselling, 6, 9-20.
  • Solas, J. (1996). Why choose psychology as a career? Australian Psychologist, 31, 144-146.
  • Solas, J. (1996). The limits of empowerment in human service work. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 31, 147-156.
  • Solas, J. (1995). Recovering and reconstructing the client's story in social work. Australian Social Work, 48, 33-36. Solas, J. (1995). Deconstruction and clinical social work. Clinical Social Work Journal, 23, 2, 151-158.
  • Solas, J. (1995). Irreverent thoughts about dialogue in family therapy. Family Process, 33, 3, 357.
  • Solas, J. (1994). Why on Earth do they want do it: Recruits' ulterior motives for entering social work. Issues in Social Work Education, 14, 2, 51-63.
  • Solas, J. (1994). A Pilot Study in the application of repertory grid technology for constructing and construing personal models of social work supervision. Australian Social Work, 47, 3, 27-35.
  • Solas, J. (1993). Construing George A. Kelly. Constructivist Criticism, 2, 2, 119-130.
  • Solas, J. (1993-4). Learning to learn social welfare education. Welfare in Australia, 10-18. Solas, J. (1992-3). Research paradigms in social welfare education. Welfare in Australia, 40-44.
  • Solas, J. (1992). The ideological dimension implicit in Kelly's theory of personal constructs. International Journal of Personal Construct Psychology, 5, 4, 377-391.
  • Solas, J. (1992). Investigating teacher and student thinking about the process of teaching and learning using autobiography and repertory grid. Review of Educational Research, 62, 2, 205-225.
  • Solas, J. (1991). Educators and students: A neglected species in social work education. Australian Social Work, 44, 2, 19-27.
  • Solas, J. (1991). A constructive alternative to family assessment. Journal of Family Therapy, 13, 2, 149-169.
  • Solas, J. (1990). Effective teaching as construed by social work students, Journal of Social Work Education, 26, 2, 145-154.

RESEARCH

To date, I have, either alone or in collaboration with others, completed projects that have attracted a total of £933,606 in competitive research and teaching (Erasmus+) grants:

  • Building Bridges between Europe and China to Strengthen the Social Work Profession / BUIBRI (Project reference 585758-EPP-1-2017-1-FI-EPPKA2-CBHE-JP Finland), £722,294.
  • Action Learning to enhance Strengths Based Practice, North East London Teaching Partnership, Department of Education, £50,000.
  • Racial equity and career progression, North East London Teaching Partnership, Department of Education, £27,000.
  • An investigation into the impact of industrial change and workplace restructuring on employment in the LaTrobe Valley, Monash University intramural grant £72,684.
  • A preliminary study into the influence of cultural attributes and learning styles on educational success and satisfaction in alternative learning environments, Central Queensland University intramural grant scheme, £24,225.
  • A survey of supervisory practices in fieldwork education for human service students, Central £12,116.
  • A repertory grid study of violent men’s personal constructions of love, Queensland University of Technology intramural grant scheme, £3,029.
  • Universal Basic Income Project Research Group, Keele University intramural grant scheme, £2449.
  • An analysis of teacher and student thinking about the process of teaching and learning, Queensland University of Technology intramural grant scheme, £1,060.
  • Case studies of the nature of, and responses to, problems among undergraduate referrals to student counselling at Monash Gippsland, Monash University intramural grant scheme £1,000.
  • The Role of Desert in Distributive Justice, Keele University intramural grant scheme, £950.
  • A meta-analysis of social constructions of serial murder, Queensland University of Technology intramural grant scheme, $799.