Dr. Maram Shaweesh's is a qualitative researcher. Her interdisciplinary research spans several humanities and spatial disciplines, including architecture, housing adequacy, migration, multiculturalism, everyday encounters in the Australian suburb, urban design, and young people's experiences in urban spaces.
Maram has conducted various research projects focused on housing. For instance, she investigated everyday life in suburban housing as experienced by the Australian Lebanese community. This research utilised social qualitative research methods to explore the relationship between housing design and policy, and the social and cultural context in Australia, such as changing family ideals, household composition, children's wellbeing, parenting values, and social marginalisation. Additionally, Maram has experience working with remote Indigenous communities, having contributed to the "Gunana Futures" research project investigating housing adequacy in Mornington Island.
Maram was also involved in the team working on the Growing Up in Logan project as part of Growing Up in Cities. Collaborating with Logan City Council (CityStudio) and Beenleigh State High School, the project aims to understand adolescents' perceptions of urban space to better comprehend how local environments impact their everyday lives.
As part of her role at the UQ Institute for Social Science Research, Maram worked across several externally and internally funded projects, including Foundation Partner for a National Centre for Place-Based Collaboration (Nexus Centre for place-based collaboration); Targeted Review of Student Equity in Higher Education Programs and System Level Policy Levers; Social Isolation and Loneliness - Research, Analysis and Best Practice.
Maram was selected by the Dean, UQ Graduate School as a recipient of the 2023 Dean's Award for Outstanding Higher Degree by Research Theses, as her thesis was considered to be to be a substantial contribution to the field of research.
Journal Article: “This is my kingdom”: inside the kitchen spaces of Lebanese Australian women
Shaweesh, Maram (2024). “This is my kingdom”: inside the kitchen spaces of Lebanese Australian women. Fabrications, 33 (2), 407-431. doi: 10.1080/10331867.2024.2325211
Journal Article: Sustaining a resilient housing system in southeast Queensland
Alidoust, Sara, Wyeth, Stephanie, Reddel, Tim, Cornish, Gillian, Lata, Lutfun Nahar, Johnson, Laurel and Shaweesh, Maram (2024). Sustaining a resilient housing system in southeast Queensland. Australian Planner, 1-16. doi: 10.1080/07293682.2024.2309352
Journal Article: Multigenerational living: the housing experience of Lebanese Australian families
Shaweesh, Maram (2024). Multigenerational living: the housing experience of Lebanese Australian families. Australian Geographer, 55 (1) ARTN 2276546, 137-156. doi: 10.1080/00049182.2023.2276546
South Moreton Bay Islands Community Initiative - Learning by Doing
(2024) Brisbane South Primary Health Network Ltd
Targeted Review of Student Equity in Higher Education Programs and System Level Policy Levers
(2023–2024) The National Priorities Pool Program
“This is my kingdom”: inside the kitchen spaces of Lebanese Australian women
Shaweesh, Maram (2024). “This is my kingdom”: inside the kitchen spaces of Lebanese Australian women. Fabrications, 33 (2), 407-431. doi: 10.1080/10331867.2024.2325211
Sustaining a resilient housing system in southeast Queensland
Alidoust, Sara, Wyeth, Stephanie, Reddel, Tim, Cornish, Gillian, Lata, Lutfun Nahar, Johnson, Laurel and Shaweesh, Maram (2024). Sustaining a resilient housing system in southeast Queensland. Australian Planner, 1-16. doi: 10.1080/07293682.2024.2309352
Multigenerational living: the housing experience of Lebanese Australian families
Shaweesh, Maram (2024). Multigenerational living: the housing experience of Lebanese Australian families. Australian Geographer, 55 (1) ARTN 2276546, 137-156. doi: 10.1080/00049182.2023.2276546
Aesthetic anxieties in the migrant house: the case of the Lebanese in Australia
Shaweesh, Maram and Greenop, Kelly (2020). Aesthetic anxieties in the migrant house: the case of the Lebanese in Australia. Fabrications, 30 (2), 217-240. doi: 10.1080/10331867.2020.1749219
Shaweesh, Maram (2021). The future of mainstream Australian housing: insights into multigenerational living of Australia’s Lebanese community. The Society of Architectural Historians Australia and New Zealand: 37, What If? What Next? Speculations on History’s Futures, Perth, Western Australia, 18-25 November 2020. Perth, WA, Australia: SAHANZ.
Experiencing house crowding in Australian dwellings: a multicultural perspective
Shaweesh, Maram and Greenop, Kelly (2019). Experiencing house crowding in Australian dwellings: a multicultural perspective. 9th State of Australian Cities National Conference (SOAC 2019), Perth, WA, Australia, 30 November - 5 December 2019. Perth, WA Australia: Analysis and Politics Observatory. doi: 10.25916/5ec72422282e0
Shaweesh, Maram (2019). The expression of parenting values in the domestic setting: the case of the Lebanese community in Sydney. Displacement and domesticity since 1945, Brussels, Belgium, 28– 29 March 2019. Brussels: KU Leuven Department of Architecture.
Shaweesh, Maram (2019). The expression of parenting values in the domestic setting: the case of the Lebanese community in Sydney. Displacement and Domesticity Since 1945: Refugees, Migrants and Expats Making Homes, Brussels, Belgium, 28 - 29 March 2019. Leuven, Belgium: KU Leuven.
Shaweesh, Maram (2017). Domestic space management as expression of culture: the Lebanese population experience in Australian dwellings. Aesthetic Anxiety or Performative Subjectivity: National Narratives Encountering migrant architecture in Australia , Geelong, VIC, Australia, 17 November 2017. Geelong, VIC, Australia: Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship of Globalisation.
Robinson, Mark, Curry, Matthew, McGraw, Jacquie, Shaweesh, Maram and Yates, Miriam (2023). Targeted review of student equity in higher education programs and system level policy levers appendix: work package 2a - program structure and implementation. Brisbane, QLD Australia: The University of Queensland.
Shaweesh, Maram (2023). Making Home in the Suburb: An Architectural Analysis of Everyday Life in the Australian Lebanese House. PhD Thesis, School of Architecture, The University of Queensland. doi: 10.14264/fbcd714
South Moreton Bay Islands Community Initiative - Learning by Doing
(2024) Brisbane South Primary Health Network Ltd
Targeted Review of Student Equity in Higher Education Programs and System Level Policy Levers
(2023–2024) The National Priorities Pool Program