As inaugural Chair of Arts Education:

to develop the culture of combining research, practice and knowledge transfer of Arts in educational settings;
to encourage and support an informed advocacy for the use of the arts in educational settings;
to encourage and support training in the arts within the university and the Australian tertiary community that provides efficacy and competency in arts industry, lifelong educational and community settings.

American Alliance of Theater and Education
Drama Australia (co-Founder 1976)
Drama Queensland (co-Founder 1976)
International Association for Drama/Theatre and Education (Director of Publications 1998-2004)
National Drama (UK)
Australian Society of Authors

BA/MA (Cambridge UK, 1962/1965)
Advanced Diploma of Drama in Education (Durham UK 1970)
M.Ed (Newcastle upon Tyne, 1977)
PhD (Queensland 1990)

Judith Kase Cooper Award for Research (American Alliance for Theater and education 2001)
President's Award, Drama Australia (2003)
Life member, Drama Queensland (2000)

Drama and theatre education and pedagogy, theatre practice
Arts Education
Communication and oracy

Drama and Arts in Educational settings
Drama and Arts in the community
Drama and Arts in tertiary education
Intercultural implications of arts

He is author or co-author of many standard publications on drama, including the first book on Theatre in Education (1977), Dramawise (1988 - now also in Chinese, Italian and Danish), The Process of Drama (1992), Pretending to Learn (2002 – Australian primary Textbook of the Year 2003; now also in Chinese and Danish) and Cooling Conflict (2005).

He has just spent 10 years researching the impact of drama and peer teaching on conflict and bullying in schools.
He is involved in three research projects with major performing and creative arts venues, investigating the cultural capital they produce, and the real effects on young people and children, in terms of artistic understanding, engagement, learning outcomes and cultural citizenship.
He has been for many years involved with research into the educational effects of theatre, including theatre for development in economically developing countries