Rae Cooper, AO is Professor of Gender, Work and Employment Relations. Rae is founding Director of the Australian Centre for Gender Equality and Inclusion at Work. Rae is a leader of her scholarly discipline of employment relations internationally and is President-Elect of the International Labor and Employment Relations Association. In 2019 Professor Cooper was made an officer of the Order of Australia for her contributions to higher education and to workplace policy and practice.
Rae is a leading researcher on the world of work and has a particular interest in gender and work, women’s careers and high quality flexible employment. She has received grants from the Australian Research Council, from state and federal governments and has worked in collaboration with leading organisations including the Australian Human Rights Commission, the Australian Institute of Company Directors and the Australian Council of Trade Unions through her research. Presently she is working on two key projects which examine ‘The Future of Women’s Work’ and ‘Women’s work in male-dominated occupations’.
Rae teaches classes in employment relations and HR across undergraduate, postgraduate and executive contexts. She supervises several PhD, MPhil and Honours students working on projects spanning employment relations, gender and work and organisational policy. She is co-author of the leading text Employment Relations: Theory and Practice.
Rae uses her research expertise to contribute to public debates about work and careers and is a key Australian commentator on workplace matters in television, radio and print media. She regularly speaks to business and policy audiences as well as to the media about her research.
In addition to academic roles, Rae has been a non-Executive Director on several boards of public sector businesses and NGOs including three years as Chair of the Board of Directors of Australian Hearing and three years as a director of the NSW TAFE Commission board. She has additionally played a leadership role in organisations in the women’s policy area including previously being Chair of both the NSW Premiers Expert Advisory Council on Women and the NSW Working Women’s Centre.
