Professor Allan Walker is Adjunct Research Chair Professor of International Educational Leadership and Co-Director of The Joseph Lau Luen Hung Charitable Trust Asia Pacific Centre for Leadership and Change (APCLC) at The Education University of Hong Kong (EdUHK). Previously he had served as Joseph Lau Chair Professor of International Educational Leadership, Dean of the Faculty of Education and Human Development and Director of APCLC. Prior joining the EdUHK, he has worked in universities in Australia, Singapore and Hong Kong and has conducted leader development courses and/or research in America, Europe and across the Asia Pacific.
Allan has published extensively on educational administration and leadership; and school leadership development and learning. His work also explores the relationship between culture and school leadership. Allan serves on the editorial boards of the top ranked journals in his field and has published over 300 books and articles with international publishers and in the world’s most prestigious academic journals. His recent research focuses on expanding knowledge of school leadership in Chinese and other Asian societies and disseminating this internationally. Allan has also acted as a consultant/advisor on large-scale research and development activities in countries including China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Norway, Finland, Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Canada, the US, South Africa, Chile, New Zealand and Australia.
He is known internationally for his passion for school leadership, innovative approaches to leader development and the promotion of leader control and accountability for their own professional learning. In 2010 Allan was made a Fellow of the Australian Council for Educational Leadership for his contribution to educational leadership research and development globally, but especially in South and Southeast Asia. In 2011, he was awarded an endowed chair professorship by The Education University of Hong Kong in recognition of his outstanding research and academic achievements in international educational leadership. In 2015, he was awarded the Edwin M. Bridges Award by the University Council of Educational Administration in recognition of his significant contribution to the preparation and development of school leaders. He has won six General Research Fund grants and twenty other competitive research and development grants.
He has conducted research projects commissioned by the International Baccalaureate, including:
- A distributed perspective on middle leadership in International Baccalaureate continuum schools in Northeast Asia [link]
- The International Baccalaureate continuum: Student, teacher and school outcomes. [link]
- Personal Project: Outcomes of the IB Middle Years Programme’s capstone experience [forthcoming]
