Christopher Walker

Areas of expertise

• compliance and enforcement
• management and leadership
• Policy theory and policy analysis
• Public administration
• Public value
• Regulation theory

Christopher Walker is Deputy Dean (Education and University Relations) and Academic Director of the Executive Masters of Public Administration (EMPA) of the Australia and Aotearoa-New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG). Chris is a member of the ANZSOG executive leadership team and responsible for developing and maintaining relations with ANZSOG’s 15 partner universities across Australia and Aotearoa-New Zealand. Chris also contributes to the development of strategic relations with other international centers of academic expertise in public sector management, leadership, regulation and public policy. As Academic Director, Chris leads the management and delivery of ANZSOG’s core program, the EMPA. This involves oversight of ongoing program development, review and input into quality learning and teaching. Chris is responsible for the oversight of student matters as well as liaison and negotiation with expert faculty engaged in subject delivery who are drawn from across Australia, Aotearoa-New Zealand, Europe and the US. Chris is also Subject Lead for the EMPA subject Delivery Public Policies and Programs.

Chris is a highly skilled teacher active in knowledge translation and contributes extensively to ANZSOG executive education programs, he also maintains an active program of research in public policy and regulation. Prior to joining ANZSOG, Chris was the Head of the School of Social Sciences, University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia (2012-2018). Chris’s work in academic leadership was preceded by a highly successful 20 year career in the New South Wales public service working in middle and senior executive positions in the departments of health, road transport, rail safety and the NSW Cabinet Office.

Christopher’s PhD examined regulatory reform in the Australian trucking sector. Most recent research projects have examined policy transfer, the implications of digitisation in social welfare service provision, and digital regulation and compliance in the transport sector. Christopher’s academic and practitioner experience means he is able to effectively bridge both the theoretical and applied understandings of public policy analysis and regulation in both his teaching and research. He is regularly engaged by public sector agencies in executive education and knowledge translation in the areas of public sector leadership, public value, strategic policy, policy analysis and regulatory reform. His work has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Public Policy and Administration, Policy Studies, Australian Journal of Public Administration and Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management. His most recent book is a co-edited collection on policy circulation and transfer, Baker, T., & Walker, C. (Eds.). (2019), Public Policy Circulation: Arenas, Agents and Actions. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar.