Rate My Professor Richard Sallis

Richard Sallis, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Melbourne, serves as Head of Drama Education in the Melbourne Graduate School of Education. He earned his PhD and Masters by Research from the University of Melbourne and a Bachelors degree from Deakin University-Rusden. Internationally recognised as an expert in drama education and research-based theatre, his research specializations include ethnodrama, performed research, equity, diversity, and inclusion. Key academic interests encompass gender, sexualities, youth masculinities, creativity expression, youth cultures, subcultures, and identity formation in educational and community contexts.

Sallis's career history features senior lecturing in drama and theatre education, Assistant Dean for Diversity and Inclusion, and Director of Professional Experience overseeing school placements. He is former president of Drama Australia, current director of publications for the International Drama/Theatre and Education Association, chair of the University of Melbourne Theatre Board, and board member of the Australian Children’s Theatre Foundation. With over 20 years as playwright, theatre director, and educationalist, he advances initial teacher education and professional placements. He received the Freda Cohen Award for Most Meritorious Masters Thesis.

Key publications include co-authorship of multi-award-winning VCE textbooks Acting Smart: Drama and Acting Smart: Theatre Studies (eighth edition, with Jane Bird and Mark Bailey). He co-edited Drama Research Methods: Provocations of Practice and edited Artistry, Identity and the Drama Teacher: A Case Study Using Performance Ethnography (2017). Other works are The Education Landscape: Building Engaged Theatre-Goers (with Kate Donelan), Investigating the Role of Drama in Two Enabling Courses in Australia (with Carol Carter, 2019), and 'The Greatest Love of All': an ethnodrama (with Jane Bird and Kelly McConville, 2020). His scholarship garners over 360 citations on Google Scholar, influencing drama education and research-based theatre fields.