Recently recognised with the Distinguished Service to the Australian Sociological Association (TASA) Award for outstanding contributions to sociology, Professor Fran Collyer (BA ’87, PhD(SS) ’95) has dedicated her working life to advancing the field of sociology and better understanding of the global power of knowledge and healthcare systems.
Professor Collyer has published extensively on issues such as the privatisation of healthcare services, public-private financing partnerships, health insurance systems, neoliberalism and higher education systems, the academic publishing industry, and social theory and methodology.
“I wouldn’t have discovered sociology if I hadn’t attended Flinders University,” Professor Collyer says.
“It holds so many good memories for me, and I had several favourite lecturers – Anna Yeatman, Claire Williams and Bryan Turner just to name a few. I have wonderful recollections of the protests and rallies I attended, being elected to the Student’s Union, and the many, many hours spent over coffee with fellow students in the Refectory.”
After graduating, Professor Collyer won a Summer Scholarship to the Australian National University (ANU) to work with sociologist Frank Jones in the Research School for the Social Sciences. Although initially only slated for a couple of months, Professor Collyer stayed on as a research assistant while concurrently studying an Honours in Sociology for another year.
“This research experience helped me to move from the ANU the following year to take up a position with the Centre for Technology and Social Change at the University of Wollongong,” Professor Collyer explains.
“I have gone on to work in all areas of the economy, but my current role as an editor, writer, university lecturer, researcher and President of the International Sociological Association’s research committee on the history of sociology, relies on the foundational skill my Flinders degree gave me; learning to think critically about the world.
“The other most important skill was training me in both qualitative and quantitative research methods.”
Professor Collyer later returned to Flinders to undertake a PhD, opening new doors for her both professionally and personally.
“Basically, I grew up during those years, opening my eyes to the world around me,” she says.
“I came to have a clearer idea of ‘how the world worked’ and I found my place within it. I realised I could contribute to society, that I could be useful, and at the same time, have a profession, a career, and be an independent woman able to make choices about the direction I wanted to follow.”
In her current role as President of the RC08 History of Sociology committee (a research committee of the International Sociological Association), Professor Collyer assists her international colleagues, who are engaged in studying the history of sociology, to promote their research, and encourages the international dissemination of leading-edge research. She is also Managing Editor of Serendipities, the Journal for the History of Sociology, giving a platform to share her many years’ worth of knowledge on topics that matter to her most and to help others develop academically, particularly junior scholars.
There is a long list of accomplishments to Professor Collyer’s name, all contributing in some way to making society better by examining the very groups, cultures, institutions and processes that develop when people work and interact together.
“[In the future] I plan to continue doing exactly what I am doing at present,” says Professor Collyer.
“I love what I do, so would not wish to change it. I have several books in process, and I am quite sure I will find others that need writing when these are finished. I want to continue with my past interests, but I also keep finding new questions I wish to explore.”