As a Commonwealth Games gold medal-winning triathlete, Gillian Backhouse believed postgraduate study was something that would have to wait until after her professional sporting career was over.
“As an athlete I spent four to five months overseas each year,” she says. “In the early season I would travel to races around Australia and Asia, and for the main part of the season I was based in Europe for several months. In 2018 and 2019 I also spent some time training in Hong Kong.”
Despite her successful (and busy) career as an elite athlete, Gillian missed studying. After coming across UNE’s flexible online degrees, she began to think that maybe she could in fact, have it all.
“UNE was the obvious choice as they offered the degree I wanted and I could do it all online from anywhere in the world,” she said.
“I was also able to plan my degree so that if it all became too much, I could finish early with a graduate certificate. It was far less daunting knowing that if I had to stop early I would still come out with a qualification.”
While studying her Master of Environmental Science and Management, Gillian was part of the university’s Elite Athlete Program, which is designed to support professional sportspeople and remove the need for them to choose between tertiary education and an athletic career.
“The program afforded me extra flexibility with my study,” she says. “I endeavoured to be organised so that I didn't need extensions on assessment that coincided with racing, however it was comforting knowing that option was always there.”
After five years of back-to-back assessments and meticulous planning, Gillian has finally marked the end of her time at UNE (for now). With her supervisor Dr Deborah Bower by her side, she recently celebrated the completion of her degree at the Winter Graduation in Armidale, and was named a Vice Chancellor’s Scholar for her academic excellence.
Image: Gillian and her supervisor, Dr Deborah Bower, at her recent graduation ceremony.
After retiring from triathlon in 2021, Gillian’s new qualification has set her up well for life after racing.
“I'm very much still feeling my way around post retirement from triathlon, but I was extremely fortunate in that my degree has allowed me to walk straight into a job post retirement from triathlon,” she says.
“This transition is typically very challenging, and has certainly been smoother for me because of my studies.”
Now, she’s able to apply the knowledge gained from her research project on the New England Tableland’s upland wetlands to her new role as an environmental consultant.
While she isn’t sure where her career will take her in the long run, for now, her work is allowing her to explore her second great passion.
“I love our natural environment and think it is vitally important to protect it for future generations, both so it is there for them to enjoy and in the light of climate change,” she says.
“More particularly, I find the challenge of sustainability and finding a balance between protecting our environment and development and resource use to support society really interesting.”
Reflecting on her time at UNE, there is one piece of advice that Gillian would give to other busy people wishing to pursue study.
“Studying is like training; it's all about consistency,” she says.
“Try doing a little bit each day (or week). If you try to cram in too much, you can't take it in and end up tiring yourself. It's also vitally important to recognise when you need to take a rest and come back fresh!”
