Dr Chris Walsh is a Director of BABSEACLE.  He is also a Professor of Education at James Cook University in Australia at the College of Arts, Society and Education (CASE) within the Division of Tropical Environments and Societies. He has worked across diverse contexts in Asia, North America, Europe, The Middle East and Australia.   Much of his academic and research leadership in developing contexts has centred on building institutional capacity—using information and communication technologies (ICTs)—for training and developing a high-quality teaching workforce in countries most hampered by the lack of qualified teachers (Afghanistan, Bangladesh and India).  Within developed contexts, his work leverages the power of technology to assist pre-service teachers and practicing educators connect their teaching practices to students’ lifeworlds by drawing on their individual, family and community funds of knowledge (Australia, Austria, Greece, USA, and the UK).

Dr Chris has been extremely successful in obtaining research income as the lead applicant, co-applicant or co-investigator.  This world-leading research—funded by the European Commission, the UK’s Department for International Development (DFID), the Australian Research Council (ARC), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), The AIDS Research Foundation (amfAR), the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) and the Spencer Foundation—totals more than $25 million (AUD). His participation on these projects has resulted in an outstanding, collaborative and on-going record of publications.   He also currently edits Digital Culture & Education (DCE), a peer-reviewed and open-access international journal.   Dr Chris led on the design, data collection and analysis of large teacher professional development projects in Bangladesh and India using ICTs and measuring the impact of introducing university-based CLE projects in Vietnam, Thailand and Myanmar.