Homecoming
Homecoming turned the classroom into a place of return, reflection, and unfinished conversations
In its final year, HISS returned to where it began—with familiar faces, new participants, and a renewed sense of purpose. Framed as a homecoming, this final iteration created space to revisit, reimagine, and reflect. Across two weeks, the classroom became a site of reunion and reinvention.
Participants engaged in both new workshops and foundational sessions from previous years, building on collective memory while leaving space for transformation. There was no singular endpoint, only a gathering—a return that looked forward.
Three moments that defined this year
Orientation in 2025 was more than a welcome. It was a re-orientation where returning alumni and first-time participants came together in a session designed to unsettle assumptions about what learning should look like.
Orientation
“I was nervous to join HISS, but this brilliant, kind, international group of scholars made everything feel possible.”
Through discussion, journaling, and collaborative exercises, participants mapped out not only the week ahead, but also their intentions, hesitations, and past experiences with education.
Rather than offering rules or expectations, the facilitators invited questions. What does it mean to arrive? What do we carry with us from past classrooms? How do we unlearn what no longer serves us?
This was a classroom without fixed roles. Faculty sat alongside participants, everyone learning together. Orientation set the tone for a program that was both familiar and completely new.
Critical Karaoke
Now a beloved tradition, Critical Karaoke returned in 2025 with the same challenge: present your research in perfect sync with a song of your choice. But in its final form, the session took on a more reflective tone.
“Critical Karaoke let me share things I hadn’t made sense of yet—and still feel held in the warmth, and applause of the room.”
Participants shared deeply personal presentations, some funny, others raw, all underscored by a soundtrack that added meaning or tension to the story being told. The room felt part seminar, part concert, part ritual.
The format demanded vulnerability and precision, but rewarded both with a rare intimacy. It was less about performance, more about presence—what it means to show up with your work, your sound, and your story.
Queer Birding
As the sun set over Sydney Park, a group of HISS participants gathered for Queer Birding. Led by Kelly Panchyshyn, the walk invited a slower mode of attention.
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Binoculars in hand, participants moved through open paths and shaded groves, listening for birdsong, tracing movement in the trees, and noticing shifts in the air.
The pace was calm but focused—part guided walk, part ambient classroom.Throughout the session, the conversation wove between ecology, queerness, and care. Kelly introduced each bird not just by name, but by habit and relation.
“Queer Birding helped me notice parts of myself I’d forgotten—quiet habits, old rhythms, and new ways of belonging in the world.”
Migration, territory, song, visibility—these became openings for thinking about queer life in less human-centered terms. No one was expected to name everything, or even to speak.
The act of moving and watching together became a way of learning on its own.By the end, the group had spotted lorikeets, magpies, currawongs, and a few species harder to name. But the lasting impression came from the space itself—from walking alongside others, guided by curiosity and quiet attention.
Reflections from HISS faculty members
“HISS is one remarkable and heartfelt queer-led scholarly program. It is exactly the kind of community I wish I had when starting out on my research journey.”
Xavier Ho
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“HISS is an incredible opportunity to build an LGBTQ+ intellectual community across disciplines and to explore the future of queer and trans pedagogies.”
Dr Teagan Bradway
See the happy faces of this year's cohort
Brooke Manning
Carlos Gutierrez Aza
Darryl Peers
Florence Smith Nicholls
Ha Sub Park
Jason Goopy
Jen Kaighin
Joe Jukes
Jonathan Graffam-O'Meara
Jose Jorge de Sousa
Kelso Becktol
Kim Snider
Leila Frijat
Leah Shackman
Mikeas Silva de Lima
Souksavanh Keovorabouth
Tate Morgan
Tori Shucheng Yang
Yang Zhao
Sam Stiegler
Cherine Fahd
Pamela Lannutti
Xavier Ho
Kush Patel
Indigo Willing
Karen Tongson
Susan Potter
Jessica (JJ) Wright
Rachel Yang
Adam Greteman
Nic Weststrate
Alice Motion
(Digital archive)
Each year of HISS has been carefully documented and curated into our digital archive. It is a living record of the creative, intellectual and collaborative work produced by our cohorts.
More than a collection of research papers and classroom materials, these archives capture the spirit of HISS as a queer-led classroom where learning is embodied, experimental and collective.
Inside, you will find academic reflections, workshop outcomes, creative projects and glimpses of the conversations and relationships that shaped each year.
By making this archive accessible, we invite future researchers, educators and community members to engage with the ideas, practices and pedagogies fostered at HISS. It is a space where queer knowledge is celebrated, shared and continuously reimagined.