Christopher Walker

Find out more about ANZSOG's Executive Master of Public Administration

Christopher Walker is the Associate Dean (University Relations) and Academic Director of the Executive Masters of Public Administration (EMPA) of the Australia and 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 New Zealand. Chris also contributes to the development of strategic relations with other international centers of academic expertise in public sector management, leadership 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, New Zealand, Singapore, Europe and the US.

Chris is a highly skilled teacher active in knowledge translation and has contributed 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. Chris’s work in academic leadership was preceded by a highly successful 20-year career in the Australian public service working in middle and senior executive positions in the departments of health, road transport, rail safety and Cabinet Office. Christopher has extensive research, teaching and leadership experience in the fields of strategic policy, public value, policy analysis, policy transfer, regulation and compliance.

Christopher’s PhD examined regulatory reform in the Australian trucking sector. Most recent research projects have examined policy transfer, the implications of digitization 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.

Recent Publications

Books

1. Baker, T. and Walker, C. Eds. (2019) Public Policy Circulation: Arenas, Agents, and Actions. Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar.
2. Hadjiisky, M., L. A. Pal and C. Walker, Eds. (2017) Public Policy Transfer: Micro Dynamics and Macro-Effects. Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar.

Journal articles

1. O’Sullivan, S & Walker, C. (2018), ‘From the interpersonal to the internet: Social service digitisation and the implications for vulnerable individuals and communities’, Australian Journal of Political Science. Vol. 53, pp. 490-507. https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2018.1519064
2. Walker, C. (2018) ‘Policy transfer in a corporatist context: Agents, adjustments and continued innovation’, Public Policy and Administration, Vol. 34, No. 3, pp. 308-328. https://doi.org/10.1177/0952076718754617
3. Walker, C. (2016), ‘Neoliberalism and the reform of regulation policy in the Australian trucking sector: policy innovation or a repeat of known pitfalls?’, Policy Studies, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 72-92. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01442872.2015.1108402

Book chapters

1. Walker, C. (2020) Digital Regulation: A New Frontier for Public Service Delivery, Surveillance and Compliance. In: Sullivan H., Dickinson H. (Eds) The Palgrave Handbook of the Public Servant. Palgrave Macmillan, pp.1-17.
2. Walker, C. (2019). Collaborative interactions: Understanding transfer success in transport regulation and compliance policies. Public Policy Circulation: Arenas, Agents, and Actions. Baker, T. and Walker, C. (Eds.), Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar: 123-143.