Barbara Edgar is ADSRI’s most recent PhD graduate, gaining her degree in August 2012. She has been a student with ADSRI since 2007 when she undertook the MA (Demography) program, being awarded the Charles Price Prize in Demography. Barbara’s PhD thesis examined residential concentration, dispersion and socio-economic mobility among three generations of ethnic groups in Sydney and Melbourne. Her study confirmed that ethnic groups with strong English skills and educational qualifications are likely to be both residentially dispersed and economically advantaged. An important statistical finding was that spatial concentration does not, of itself, affect the incomes of ethnic groups when human capital variability is controlled.

Barbara’s study is important for combining spatial assimilation theory and human capital theory in a distinctive way. It examined thirty-five separate ethnic groups that have settled in Australia since the end of World War 2 from all major geographic regions of the world. Findings confirmed the spatial assimilation model in which immigrant concentrations disperse over time as communities become established and socially mobile. The study findings also support human capital theory, widespread intergenerational mobility and the operation of open labour markets in Sydney and Melbourne. Some ethnic groups with stronger than expected spatial concentration were identified, notably Lebanese, Macedonian, Maltese, Russian, Turkish and Vietnamese.

Barbara’s interest in migration and immigrant groups was fostered during her twenty-year career with the Australian Department of Immigration and Citizenship, where her most recent responsibilities involved engaging with Australian migrant communities, managing community relations issues and responding to community crises such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2006 Lebanon War. Over her career, Barbara worked in diverse areas including temporary entry, settlement and multicultural policy, as well as information technology and statistics. She is pleased to be able to continue her research interests and connection with ADSRI and is currently undertaking, with Siew-Ean Khoo and Peter McDonald, a study of the contributions that family migrants make to Australia.