Professor Barbara Pocock

[Website: www.barbarapocock.com.au]

Barbara Pocock is an Emeritus Professor at UniSA Business at the University of South Australia and has been researching work and employment in Australia for more than thirty years.  She founded and was Director of the Centre for Work + Life at the University of South Australia 2006-2014, and prior to that was employed in various academic roles at The University of Adelaide in the social sciences. She has worked in many different jobs - in shearing sheds, the Reserve Bank, on farms, in factories, in unions, advising politicians, for governments, in universities - and as a mother and carer.

Most recently, Barbara is an Australian politician who was elected at the 2022 Australian federal election to become a Senator representing South Australia from July 2022.  

She holds an honours degree in economics from The University of Adelaide and completed her PhD there in 1997.  Her research has included work, industrial relations, inequality, work and family, pay and pay equity, and vocational education.  Barbara has supervised many PhD students on issues related to work, workplace relations, gender and work, and trade unions.  She has also examined many PhDs on these themes. 

Barbara has been a member of many Boards, including the Economic Development Board of SA (2012-2016), The Australia Institute (2004-, currently Deputy Chair), and Women's Advisory structures at state and national level.  She has presented research findings and keynotes in many countries, and at many Australian conferences and events.  She has been President, Vice-President and Conference Convenor of the Association of Industrial Relations Academics of Australia and New Zealand (AIRAANZ) and a member of the Festival of Ideas Committee in Adelaide.  She was awarded an ARC Queen Elizabeth II Fellowship (2003-2007) to study the intersections between work, family, and community. 

In 2010 Barbara was made a member of the Order of Australia (AM) for services to industrial relations research and for her advocacy of social justice.

Mothers for a Sustainable South Australia (MOSSA) are a group of five South Australian mothers (including Barbara) concerned about the environmental and economic future of our state. We have campaigned against the unsafe 'disposal' of nuclear waste in SA.

The Australia Institute is one of the country's most influential public policy think tanks. Barbara is on the Board and has been for many years.

The Work and Family Policy Roundtable is a research network of 35 academics from 18 universities with expertise on work, care and family policy. Established by Barbara Pocock and Elizabeth Hill (University of Sydney) the Roundtable has been evaluating election policies on care and families for over a decade.

Qualifications

• Doctor of Philosophy The University of Adelaide

• Bachelor of Economics The University of Adelaide

Work history

Full CV