Acclaimed UNSW social policy researcher receives ARC Future Fellowship

An ambitious project looking at social and economic productivity across the age spectrum has won Professor Lyn Craig a prestigious Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council.

Professor Craig, Director of UNSW’s Social Policy Research Centre and an ARC Queen Elizabeth II Fellow, was one of 50 Australian researchers awarded an ARC Future Fellowship for 2015.

Professor Craig will use her Fellowship to examine productivity across the age spectrum.

Announcing the Fellowships, Education and Training Minister Simon Birmingham said: “These 50 Fellows will build on the nation’s innovation efforts and deliver research outcomes that will improve the lives of everyday Australians.”

Professor Craig is an internationally renowned expert in what’s known as time-use research – the division of an average day into paid and unpaid work, how many hours we spend sleeping, eating and relaxing, and who we do those activities with.

The $900,000 Future Fellowship will fund Professor Craig’s work on productivity at the extremes of the age spectrum, examining how young people and older adults spend their time across 10 different countries.

She will contrast the transition to adulthood and employment for young people with the exodus of baby boomers from the workforce hoping to identify global patterns in terms of social and economic participation.

“I’m extremely pleased and honoured, and proud to represent UNSW,” said Professor Craig of the grant.

Countries to be examined in her research include Korea, Japan, the United States, Denmark, Italy and France.

The project aims to identify how different policy frameworks influence productivity worldwide to inform best-practice policy which both invests in younger Australians and protects older generations.

The full list of Future Fellowship winners can be seen at the ARC website.