Dr Patrick Brownlee brings 20+ years’ of experience in research development, strategy and policy in the University sector as ANZSOG’s Acting Executive Director, Research. His knowledge of research capability and operations in universities and applied interdisciplinary research analytical skills helps inform ANZSOG’s work to foster and strengthen for public benefit deep links between research, policy and practice communities.

Patrick’s teaching and research fields span teacher education, education assessment, sociology of education and also political economy. Over the last decade Patrick has worked as a Director and Manager of research partnerships and engagement, brokering and co-designing applied projects and programs of work with particular focus on education and social policy and social work fields.

Between 2018-21, Patrick has been coordinating a multi-university team of scholars examining validity and reliability of a teacher performance assessment mandated by the Australian government to address teacher quality. A key area of interest is disciplinarity and knowledge production – methodology, applied epistemology and the construction of knowledge.

More recently, he has been collaborating on a University-based project for NSW DoE on Aboriginal teachers in NSW schools and on community-led research, both with first nations researchers at the University of Sydney. Other recent prior strategic planning and research advisory work includes:

Establishment Committee founding member and Operations Manager (2019-20), NSW Public Policy Institute (now James Martin Institute); $10m funded program
Deputy Director (Acting – 2018) and Learning Management program lead, NSW Community Languages Education Institute, University of Sydney and NSW Dept of Education; $7m funded program

Patrick’s disciplinary background is in political economy and migration studies. His recent book analyses macroeconomics and migration and multicultural policymaking in Australia. This stemmed from his early career work coordinating a UNESCO-funded program to build a knowledge base on social transformations in the Asia Pacific resultant from labour migration.

Patrick holds a PhD in political economy, a Masters in Journalism and a Grad Dip. Teaching (TESOL).