We’re profiling nominees in the lead up to the 2014 Macquarie University Research Excellence Awards on Thursday 2 October.
This week meet Dr Nick Parr from the Department of Marketing and Management, who is nominated for an Excellence in Research – Business, Management and Economics Award.
How long have you been a researcher at Macquarie?
Only for the last 22 years.
I was drawn to research because…
Refreshment was important to me. I found new knowledge refreshing.
What would be an ‘elevator pitch’ of your research area?
The effects of demographic change will be sustained over the very long run (more children will lead to more grandchildren, great grandchildren, great great grandchildren and so on). The priority assigned to researching demographic change should reflect the potentially infinite durations, as well as the cross-sectional magnitudes, of its effects.
In layman’s terms, what is the wider impact of your research?
My research has informed some parliamentary legislation, public debate, media coverage and academic literature.
Who is/was your biggest research mentor?
Ross Guest from Griffith University has inspired me to focus on contemporary issues.
If I were given $1Million in research funding, the first thing I would do is…
Employ a research assistant to prepare spreadsheets for valuing projections of the populations and labour forces for all those countries for which data are readily available.
In 10 years I see my research…
I see it still being progressively refined towards answering the ‘Holy Grail’ questions of life, the population and everything.
My favourite and/or most proud research moment was…
The two that stand out are when my most recent paper was published, and when the decision to overturn the closure of Hunters Hill High School was announced.