Above: Professor Ford (left) pictured with a Cambodian labour activist.
Professor Michele Ford
Affiliation: Arts and Social Sciences – University of Sydney
Discipline: Sociology
Year elected: 2022
What initially drew you to your field of study?
Serendipity. I didn’t want to do Law or Medicine, so took on an Engineering/Arts double degree, which brought me from regional Queensland to UNSW. I became involved in the Indonesian community, took up Indonesian, and ended up specialising first in Indonesian labour relations and later in the intersection between global and Southeast Asian labour movements.
Tell us about a recent moment of motivation or inspiration?
Real-world impact matters a lot to me. Recently an APHEDA staff member told me that they had refocused their entire program in Timor-Leste based on an article I published in 2016 on Timor-Leste labour relations, which I found hugely motivating.
What continues to motivate your work?
The opportunity to learn new things and make a difference both in my university context and internationally. I am currently working with great teams on projects in five Southeast Asian countries, so life is never boring!
What are you most proud of?
My efforts to support researchers and build research communities. Setting up the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre, which I ran for over a decade, gave me the opportunity to do that not just within the University but beyond it. I continue that work now through my role as FASS Director of Research Development.
Where is your ‘happy’ place?
My non-work happy place is the Victoria Park pool and the community that has grown up around it. In a work context, my happy place is talking to labour activists about their efforts to make life better for workers.