Professor Barbara Pocock

Professor Barbara Pocock studies work in Australia. Her web site is www.barbarapocock.com.au. Barbara is Director of the Centre for Work + Life, part of the Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies, at the University of South Australia. The Centre was established in 2006. Barbara has been researching work, employment and industrial relations since 1981. She joined the University of South Australia in January 2006, after fourteen years at the University of Adelaide. Barbara has worked in many jobs - in shearing sheds, advising politicians, the public service, on farms, in unions, teaching and researching in universities, for governments and as a mother. Barbara was initially trained as an economist, completed her doctorate in gender studies, and has taught and researched labour studies and social science since the mid-1980s. Her research has included work, industrial relations, trade unionism, pay and pay equity, vocational education, inequality in the labour market and was awarded a Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship (2003-2007) to study the intersections between work, family and community.

In 2008 she published, with Helen Masterman-Smith, 'Living Low Paid: The Dark Side of Prosperous Australia' (Allen & Unwin). Her 2007 book was edited with Elizabeth Hill and Alison Elliot, titled 'Kids Count: Better early childhood education and care in Australia', was published by Sydney University Press. Barbara's 2006 book was titled 'The Labour Market Ate My Babies: Work, Children and a Sustainable Future'. Her 2003 book was 'The Work/Life Collision. What Work is Doing to Australians and What to Do About It'. Previous books include 'Strife: sex and politics in labour unions' (edited) and 'Demanding Skill: Women and Technical Education in Australia'.

Barbara has published many articles and book chapters, and given visiting lectures in the US, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, Switzerland, and China. She is actively involved in policy development and public commentary on work issues in Australia, and undertakes many public contributions on these issues each year.

She lives in Adelaide, South Australia, and is a mother of two.

Barbara supervises Phd students on issues related to work, workplace relations, gender and work, and trade unions.

Barbara's Home Page is http://www.barbarapocock.com.au/

In 2007, Barbara was declared the winner of the 'Society' category in The Bulletin's 'Smart 100 Australians'. (http://bulletin.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=273774)

Barbara co-convenes, with Dr Elizabeth Hill, the Work and Family Policy Roundtable (http://www.workfamilypolicyroundtable.com.au)

She is Deputy Chair of The Australia Institute, a member of the Strategic Council of The Climate Institute, a member of the Festival of Ideas Committee in Adelaide, and has been President, Vice-President and Conference Convenor of the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ).