Having already been involved in some pitch sessions and having enjoyed a tour of Kingspan Stadium, he has been impressed with what he has seen so far:
"The facilities are second to none and the people have been really welcoming. You do your homework before you go anywhere and what I see is probably what I expected. The friendliness of the players and staff has been great and people are going out of their way to help.
"It's always good to progress in what you want to achieve as a coach. Coming to Ireland and coaching rugby and being part of a Province that has a large band of passionate supporters is a fantastic opportunity," he continued.
Joe is hugely experienced, having spent five years with the Waratahs where he worked as Defence Coach, Scrum Coach, Academy Head Coach and Head Coach of the Junior Waratahs. He has also coached Australia U21s and has been employed as a technical consultant to the Fijian Rugby Union, which included World Cup campaigns.
After watching Ulster from afar over the past few seasons and having detailed discussions with various members of the management team in the past few months, Barakat has a good grasp of the challenges ahead.
"First of all, the greatest attraction to Ulster is the playing group - it's outstanding. Les [Kiss] said to me that this team can win a European Cup. Obviously people are disappointed with the result last year, but that gives us a chance to change and take a step forward.
"Neil Doak has got the guys attacking really well. My focus will be on getting more aggression in our defence to ensure it's having as big an impact as our attack. Winning the gainline will be critical."
For the past five seasons Joe has worked in Japan, first as Forwards and Defence Coach at NTT Communications Shining Arcs, before joining Toshiba Brave Lupus as Set Piece, Forwards, Attack and Defence Coach. He describes it as a unique experience:
"Where else do you go in the world where 12 to 20 companies will spend up to $14 million on their rugby programme and get zero in return? They do it for the workers in their company. But they are prepared to spend money and for myself, having the opportunity to work with the likes of Richard Kahui and Francois Steyn has been great."
With experience of heading up the world-renowned Waratahs Academy and coaching Australia U21s, Barakat is well placed to develop the young talent coming through the ranks at Ulster, something he is relishing: "Les wants me to have a strong association with what our Academy is doing. I ran the Academy at the Waratahs and had fantastic success with bringing through some good players. We're only as good as our succession plan and the structures we have in place from U17 level up is strong and improving all the time."
Welcoming Joe to Ulster, Team Manager, Bryn Cunningham, said: "Joe has settled into our environment very quickly and he has already shown an appetite to drive standards to help Ulster achieve silverware. He's a very talented and experienced coach who is full of fresh ideas and I'm sure he'll be a huge success here."