The choice she didn’t have to make - a podcast by ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences

Dr Alison Behie is the Head of Biological Anthropology and the Deputy Head of the ANU School of Archaeology and Anthropology. Her research focuses on how all primates (human and non-human) adapt in the face of severe environmental change. She was awarded an ARC DECRA fellowship for a part of this work that explores how non-human primates adapt their behaviour and distribution to survive following severe weather events – with some of this work featured in her paper “Hurricanes and Coastlines: The role of natural disaster in the speciation of howler monkeys” and her most recent book "Primate Research and Conservation in the Anthropocene".

Another key area to her work is to understand how stress during pregnancy in Australian women, caused by environmental disasters and other sources, impacts the development of children and their birth outcomes. This work has been published in papers including “Prenatal smoking and age at menarche: influence of the prenatal environment on the timing of puberty” and media outlets including the ABC ("What happens to pregnant women when disaster strikes"). This work hits close to home for Alison as she underwent two years of IVF to conceive her second child while maintaining her academic career and conducting research on pregnancy and child development. While doing both at the same time was often challenging, it has given her a new perspective on both her own work and the importance of work-life balance, for which she is an advocate.

Follow Alison on Twitter @BioanthBehie

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The theme music for This Academic’s Life is “Snow Blower” by Flower Crown.

Other music used in this episode: “Curious” and “Discovery” by Jon Luc Hefferman; “Danse Morialta” by Kevin MacLeod; and “In Paler Skies” by Blue Dot Sessions.

This Academic’s Life is a production of the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences. It’s produced by Evana Ho.

You can find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @ANUCASS.

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