Lois Bryson

Lois Joyce Bryson (5 October 1937 – 7 January 2024) was an Australian sociologist. She was one of the founders of academic sociology in Australia.^[1]

Lois Bryson
Born	(1937-10-05)5 October 1937
Died	7 January 2024(2024-01-07) (aged 86)
Alma mater	University of Melbourne Monash University
Known for	Sociologist

Education

Bryson completed her Bachelor of Arts (BA) in 1959 followed by a Diploma of Education in 1964, both at the University of Melbourne, before achieving her PhD in sociology at Monash University.^[2] She was an early second-wave feminist in Australia.^[3]

Career

In 1972, Bryson wrote An Australian Newtown (1972), Australia's first sociological study of a suburb with Faith Thompson and, with Ian Winter, Social Change, Suburban Lives (1999), a re-study of the same suburb thirty years on.^[1]

Bryson also authored studies regarding women in sport,^[4] women's health^[5] and the welfare state.^[6][7] She worked as a professor at the University of Adelaide.^[8]

Her career in research was recognised by her election as a fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia in 1998,^[9] membership of the Australian Research Council's research training and careers committee, and the award of a Federation medal (2003).^[10]

In retirement she was an emeritus professor at the University of Newcastle and an adjunct professor at Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology.^[11]

Death

Bryson died in January 2024.^[12] She is survived by her two children and two grandchildren.^[13]