Richard Niesche is an Associate Professor of Educational Leadership in the School of Education at the University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia. He has taught in both NSW and QLD. His research interests include educational leadership, the principalship and social justice. His particular research focus is to use critical perspectives in educational leadership to examine the work of school principals in disadvantaged schools and how they can work towards achieving more socially just outcomes. He has published his research in a range of peer-reviewed journals and is the author of a number of books including Foucault and Educational leadership: Disciplining the Principal (Routledge, 2011), Deconstructing Educational Leadership: Derrida and Lyotard (Routledge, 2013), Leadership, Ethics and Schooling for Social Justice (co-authored with Professor Amanda Keddie, Routledge, 2016), and Social, Critical and Political Theories for Educational leadership (co-authored with Dr Christina Gowlett, Springer, 2019). He is the founding co-editor (with Associate Professor Scott Eacott) of the ‘Educational Leadership Theory’ book series with Springer. His latest book is Theorising Identity and Subjectivity in Educational Leadership Research (co-edited with Dr Amanda Heffernan, Routledge, 2020).
2011 - 2013 University of Queensland Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
2009 Nominated for AARE Doctoral Thesis Award
2005 – 2007 University of Queensland Joint Research Scholarship (PhD)
Keddie, A., Blackmore, J., Wilkinson, J., Gobby, B., Niesche, R. & Eacott, S. (2019-2021) School autonomy reform and social justice in Australian public education. ARC DP190100190 ($350,000)
Vass, G. & Niesche, R. 2015-2018 Culture, Curriculum, and Community Project funded by the Ian Potter Foundation ($120,000)
Niesche, R. (2018). Equity Review. Gonski Institute for Education UNSW Sydney ($10,000)
Niesche, R. (2014). FASS Research Grant ($5,000)
Niesche, R. (2014). UNSW Goldstar Award ($10,000)
Niesche, R. (2011-2013). University of Queensland Postdoctoral Research Fellow ($241,000)