2018 International Women’s Day: Dr Helen Barrie

To celebrate the great contributions of women in research we shine the spotlight on Dr Helen Barrie, chief investigator of the CRE in Frailty and Healthy Ageing.

To celebrate International Women's Day on March 8th 2018 we interviewed Dr Helen Barrie, chief investigator of the CRE in Frailty and Healthy Ageing leading the Demography and Geography aspects of the research.

Helen was the National President of the Australian Association of Gerontology (2015 – 2017), having served for over 10 years on the National Board. She is the Deputy Director of the Hugo Centre for Migration and Population Research at the University of Adelaide.

What drew you to research? 

Before going back to studies my previous career had been in community development. Working closely with communities is a very rewarding and enriching experience but it also gets you asking lots of ‘why’ and ‘what if’ questions. I see my research in the Social Sciences as a natural extension of this community based work. It is still about helping people, making a difference and understanding how and why individuals, families, neighbourhoods and communities work the way they do.

What has been the best experience you have had so far as a research leader?

My first large project as research leader was a natural extension of my PhD, looking at older people living in small rural communities in South Australia. The larger project looked at how new technologies, such as laptops and iPads™, could enable older people to remain connected to their communities and families. I got to spend about seven years engaged with wonderful people and communities across the Murray Mallee and Riverland regions – in fact I am still doing research on new migrants groups across this region today! The most rewarding thing about this project was seeing the difference things like Skype and email could make to people’s lives. Over 10 years later and I still get emails, Facebook™ messages and play ‘Words with Friends’ with participants from this project. They still tell me how much richer their lives are from this project. It’s a rare thing when your research can make such a direct impact on participants’ lives and that you get to share that for so many years.

What is one thing you would like to share with female researchers? 

I started my research career as a mature woman, a single mother of three teenage boys with a part time job and it wasn’t easy! As I get older I have replaced those parenting duties for caring duties – with an ageing mother and a grandchild and the part time job is now a full time research career that often involves long hours. It is tough – juggling a demanding career that will easily eat up all your time with research projects, grant applications, journal writing, teaching and mentoring others. It is tough but it is possible – hang on to the dream of having it all and take up all the opportunities that are offered to you; but also, be kind to yourself and put those opportunities and work demands into perspective – take time for family and friends and doing the things you love. What has helped me keep a good life balance is putting my career into perspective – I value what I do, in fact I love what I do - but it is not all I am or could be, just one part of the whole picture.

Which women in your life inspired/mentored you?

My mother definitely tops this list. She was an early example of women who returned to a career (as a teacher) after she had children. We were still quite small when she went back to work and then juggled further education, three children and a full time job for several years, and yet I never felt that we missed out on family life as children. Today she is a very independent and engaged 85 years old, living in her own home, still volunteering, actively engaged in many groups, and contributing positively to her community.  She is a great example of how to live a full life and age well.

In my work life I have been lucky enough to work with some wonderful women who have mentored me, supported me, inspired me and who have been a pleasure to work with. One of the advantages of being in the field of Geography is that we tend to form part of very interdisciplinary groups, so I have had the opportunity to work with inspirational women in Medicine, Architecture, Public Health, Psychology and Planning as well as Geography.  I feel very proud to have worked alongside such inspiring researchers, who are also terrific mothers, daughters, sisters and grandmothers.

The CRE in Frailty and Healthy Ageing would like to thank Helen for sharing her story with us and for inspiring the next generation of female researcher leaders.