Stephen Naylor

PROFESSOR STEPHEN NAYLOR

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) 2001 - 2006: Monash University,

Master of Arts (Fine Art) 1994 - 1996: Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Bachelor of Education (Art/Craft) 1979 - 1982: Melbourne State College, Majors: 3D and Art Theory.

Professor Stephen Naylor has been an active participant in education, learning & teaching and the creative arts for more than 45 years. He has taught in high schools, TAFE and for the last 25 years worked in the University sector, receiving a National Carrick Institute Citation for Outstanding Contributions to Student Learning in Higher Education in 2007. He has assumed roles of leadership in each sector, driving curriculum, quality assurance, policy development, staff management, professional development, assessment strategies and research agendas. Currently he is the Associate Director of Policy and Standards and was the Chair of the Academic Board of James Cook University (JCU) from 2015 -2024 and serves on a number of Boards including the Advisory Board for TEQSA Panel of Experts Australia. As a Board member he provides expertise on governance, contemporary Art in a global context and a strong understanding of both community art and art training in tertiary education.

His creative arts background drove his professional practice for more than 20 years where he worked in the area of furniture design, alternative building mediums, painting and contemporary sculpture. Since that time he has focused on research into Australian contemporary creative arts and international exhibition platforms. This research culminated in his Ph.D. project, Australian Contemporary Arts from the Outside in - A spatial analysis of Australia's representation at the Venice Biennale 1954-2003 and has seen him as an active arts reviewer for a variety of Australian journals. His Routledge monograph entitled The Venice Biennale and the Asia-Pacific in the Global Art World, was published in July 2020. More recently his research has sought to gain an understanding of a sense of place within the tropical region, especially in the area of spatial design and architecture for the Tropics. He has received funding grants from the Queensland government to stage research into architecture in North Queensland which resulted in major exhibition held at Pinnacles Gallery (Townsville) in 2009, culminating in a symposium probing the issues of appropriate domestic housing design in North Queensland.

In parallel to his work in the creative arts he has maintained a strong link with pedagogy and academic governance in higher education. He has presented numerous papers at conferences reviewing curriculum design and the use of the study tour as an alternative pedagogy. With four years’ experience in Asia, where he was the Dean for JCU’s Singapore campus, he had a major role in providing commentary and advice at numerous forums throughout the region on assessment, approaches in student centric learning & teaching, quality assurance and governance in higher education. Whilst undertaking roles in senior management he supervisors HDR candidates and is a PhD examiner for post graduate candidates in the broad areas of the creative arts at the intersection between business and teaching & learning.