She was the state leader of a major political party, played a lead role in a primetime television drama, fought for social change and ran a radio station in a newly decolonised Malaysia. Now at 93 years of age, Dr Lis Kirkby is Australia's oldest PhD graduate.
Dr Kirkby's PhD thesis, 'Will we ever learn from history: the impact of economic orthodoxy on unemployment during the Great Depression in Australia', was completed in late 2013 through the University of Sydney Business School's Discipline of Work and Organisational Studies.
Dr Kirkby decided to pursue her PhD after watching conservative governments determined to reduce spending, repeat the same mistakes they made in the Great Depression after the GFC took hold.
While Dr Kirkby is aware that her age has set her apart from her fellow PhD candidates, she doesn't see it as a disadvantage. In fact, she believes the collective youth and inexperience of major finance corporations was a significant factor in the emergence of the GFC.
"When Goldman Sachs was in trouble in 2007-2008 there was no corporate memory. There was nobody who had any real knowledge of what had happened to Goldman Sachs prior to 1980," she says.
"I believe that people should be judged in old age on their capacity, not on their chronological age. I think it is terribly wrong that as soon as a person reaches a certain age they are automatically written off as too old. It really is infuriating that people assume you can't do something because of your age."culled
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