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60 seconds with … Bryan Fricker

20 August 2008

Name: Bryan Fricker
Course: PhD, Linguistics
Year: One
Mode: Full-time

What is it about your course and the University that helped you to choose Monash?

It wasn't the course per se, so much as the welcome and acceptance I've found here compared to some other institutions I've been at.

What is your favourite aspect of your research and why?

I am fascinated by the psychological/linguistic process of stereotype formation and the way this impacts on people's beliefs and actions. This is particularly important in the way politicians and the media construct the reality surrounding minorities and out-groups.

What challenges are ahead for you this year?

Time! Having taken on the role of President of the Monash Postgraduate Association in addition to my thesis research, I could use a couple of extra hours in the day.

What will be your ideal career (and what will it involve) when you graduate?

Given that I'm 55 now, I should really be thinking about retirement rather than a career. I suppose researching and a little bit of teaching until I shuffle off would be my favoured option.

What is it about your course that holds your interest or is particularly satisfying?

My thesis is focused on the effects that stereotypes in the media have on the Indigenous community and I want to expose the unmarked assumptions that colour the reporting and disadvantage our original inhabitants in so many areas.

Of all the places in the world you would like to visit/re-visit, where is your favourite destination and why?

I wouldn't mind touring the British Isles and just listening to all the different accents. I did my undergraduate and Masters in phonetics, and the different accents of English have always fascinated me.

What is the best piece of advice you have received?

Don't procrastinate. Go to all the "tricks of the trade" seminars.

What is something about yourself that most of your fellow students wouldn't know?

Ah...That would be telling. Actually, although I am Indigenous, most people probably wouldn't pick me as such.