Christopher Williams (1952 - )

Short Biography & Significant Contribution

Chris Williams works within the Centre for International Education and Research (CIER), and lives in London. Before joining Birmingham, he held posts at the universities of Bristol, Cambridge, Cairo, London, and the United Nations. He has also lived in Egypt, Jordan, and South Africa where he set up education projects for street children.

He has recently been involved in evaluations of projects in Lebanon for the US Department of Labor (USDoL), in Afghanistan for the European Commission, for Oxfam in Liberia and UNESCO in Palestine.

Other research has concerned emergency education in Asia for UNICEF, and disability in India, Thailand, Turkey, and Japan. Earlier research was for the ESRC Environmental Change Programme - 'The environmental effects on human intelligence' - and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation - 'Crime and abuse against people with learning disabilities'.

Current work concerns conceptualizing 'Education and global justice', and links between rehabilitation and education in emergency contexts, including the dilemmas of 'apocalyptic information' about global threats. He is also interested in the future of North Korea, and writes regularly for the Korea Herald.

His research intrests include:

Global security
Environmental justice
Education and omnicide
Leadership accountability
Street-working children
Disability rights and inclusion

A 'consilience' (E.O.Wilson) approach to research - interdisciplinary solution-oriented investigation which considers all relevant aspects from neuroscience to international relations.

Within the context of 'Educating for global justice', he teaches across the 'International studies in Education' course, and has direct responsibility for 'International study skills' and 'Curriculum design in global contexts'. He has also taught leadership skills at the UN University in Jordan, street children in South Africa, musicians at the Cairo Conservatoire, and adults with learning disabilities in Britain.

Educational Background

A.G.S.M. (Guildhall School of Music, London)
Cert.Ed (University of London)
PhD (University of Birmingham)

Professional Background

Lecturer in International Education, University of Birmingham

Affiliations (associations, organizations, institutions)

Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts (FRSA)

Selected Publications

Williams, C. (2009) (with Yazdani, F.) The rehabilitation paradox: street working children in Afghanistan, Diaspora, indigenous, and minority education. 3(1), 4-20.

Williams, C. (2006) Leadership accountability in a globalizing world. London: Palgrave-Macmillan.

Williams, C. (2003) Global leadership, education and human survival, World Futures, special issue, Survival research: proposal for a new discipline, 59: 299-311.

Williams, C. (2002) New security risks and public educating: the relevance of recent evolutionary brain science. Journal of Risk Research, 5(3): 225-248.

Williams, C. (2000) Education and human survival: the relevance of global security to international education. International Review of Education (UNESCO) 46(3-4): 183-203.

Williams, C. (1997) The environmental threats to human intelligence, London: Cassell. German translation: (2003) Endstation Gehirn: die Bedrohung der menschlichen Intelligenz durch die Vergiftung der Umwelt, Klett-Cotta: Stuttgart.

Created: 10/5/2010

Updated: 12/29/2010

Contributed By: Stephen Griffin