This article was originally published in September 2016.
The University of Queensland’s Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS) recognised LCC’s Dr Francisco (Paco) Perales for his outstanding research contributions.
Dr Perales was awarded a 2016 HASS Early Career Researcher (ECR) award for his work, which focuses on identifying the factors that create an inherited cycle of social disadvantage in contemporary Australia.
The HASS faculty annual research awards recognise and reward outstanding contributions to research, and celebrates the researchers’ achievements and impact.
“It is important that we understand how a person’s life course is affected by the experience of adverse events and circumstances, and how policymakers can best intervene to reduce ensuing socio-economic inequalities,” Dr Perales said.
As a quantitative sociologist Dr Perales examines social issues like socio-economic disadvantage and family dynamics during the life course. He actively collaborates with researchers from across the disciplines of social statistics, demography, geography, psychology and epidemiology. The ECR award acknowledges the quality of his numerous publications in these areas, his role as Editor-in-Chief of the Life Course Centre’s Working Paper Series, his effective engagement with both national and international colleagues and more importantly the application of his research to help solve Australian and global social issues.
Dr Perales’ research into contemporary social issues such as discrimination of LGB people, gender inequalities across the transition to parenthood or the prevalence of the ‘male breadwinner’ model in Australian society has added substantially to UQ research strengths in ‘gender and inequality’ and ‘social statistics’. The collaborative nature of his research has lent to naturally breaking down disciplinary boundaries. In addition, he has incorporated innovative longitudinal and quantitative methods to his research.
Dr Perales has received competitive research grants in excess of $1.4 million in the four years since he received his PhD. His research work on childcare, sleep loss, housing satisfaction and gender attitudes has received substantial media coverage, both in Australia and overseas. This has included stories in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The Daily Mail, The Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and Channel 7 News. His research has also contributed to informing evidenced-based policymaking through commissioned research reports and policy briefs.