Biography
Biography
I am an Associate Professor at Deakin University, and a Director of the Laboratory of International Assessment Studies. I am interested in education policy, regulation and reform; global networks, aid and development; the social studies of science and technology (STS), the sociology of numbers, and critical data studies. I explore how policy ideas are assembled and how they gain influence. I use concepts from STS to explore quantification and comparison, PISA, the history of indicators in education, national and global education reforms, datafication and accountability. I have a growing interest in AI and ethics, digital platforms and cultures, and human-digital assemblages in learning.
I am a member of Research for Educational Impact; a founding member of the Science and Society Network; and a Theme Leader for Data Cultures.
Current Projects
Global Policy Networks and Accountability in the Global South (DECRA)
Mapping the Changing Patterns of Research in Australia
Ethical Engineers by Design
Data for Good? Exploring trends in data philanthropism
Migrating to On-line Examinations: Strategies, Concerns, Experiences
Supervisions
I welcome students with an interest in STS, education policy, global reforms, education aid and development, AI-human learning, & AI ethics; quantification and data cultures. I particularly welcome interdiscipinary projects.
Current supervisions
Harsha Chandir (PISA's measurement of Global Competency)
Rizwana Shehzad (The role of examinations in Pakistan's education policy)
Olsi Kusta (A critical perspective on the influence of digital pathology in diagnostic and knowledge practices of cancer diseases)
Selected Grants
- Gorur, R. Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (2017-2019) for the project Accountability and global education policy networks in the Indo-Pacific $368,000.00
- Gorur, R. Sorensen, E. and Maddox, B. Grant from the Heidelberg Academy for Sciences and Humanities (2016-2017) for the project PISA for Development: Between Standardisation and Recontextualisation (Science Numbers and Politics project) $10,000
- Maddox, B. Grek, S., Hamilton, M., Guadalupe Mendizábal, C.A., Steiner-Khamsi, G., Gorur, R. and Addey, C. Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) – grant (2014-2016) for the international seminar series The Potentials, Politics and Practices of International Educational Assessment $60,000
- Gorur, R. Australia India Education Council – grant of $ 35,000 for the project Strengthening the Australia-India knowledge Partnership: Barriers and Solutions (2012-2013)
Awards
Faculty Mid-Career Research Award, Deakin University, 2017
School of Education Research Award, Deakin University, 2017
Faculty Early Career Researcher Award, Deakin University, 2016
Outstanding Paper Award, Australian Association for Research in Education, 2015
CRN Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award (2012-2015), Victoria Unviersity, 2015
Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research and Research Training – Early Career, Victoria University, 2014
Selected Invitations
I have been an invited speaker at prestigious institutions including Harvard, Columbia, Strasbourg, Western, Georgetwon, Arizona State University and the University of Tampere. I will be the closing keynote speaker at the Comparative Education Society of Europe conference in 2021.
Career highlights
AWARDS
Faculty of Arts and Education Mid-Career Researcher Award (2017)
School of Education Research Award (2017)
Faculty Early Career Researcher Award (2016) Deakin University
AARE Outstanding Paper Award (2015)
CRN Oustanding Early Career Researcher Award (2012-2015)
Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research and Research Training Early Career (2014)
Laboratory of International Assessment Studies
In 2014, together with Mary Hamilton (Lancaster University), Bryan Maddox (University of East Anglia) and Camilla Addey (University of East Anglia), I set up the Laboratory of International Assessment Studies, which aims to bring together producers, consumers and critics of international assessments to explore how we might understand the extraordinary role and power of international assessments and comparisons in current policy regimes. The Laboratory seeks to bring together these disparate communities to promote the generation of better assessments, better use of assessments and better critique of assessments. The Laboratory has assembled an Expert Group of significant academics, policy makers, officials of transnational organisations, and test producers who advise and guide the Laboratory.
The Laboratory won the prestigious ESRC Seminar Grant to organise six international seminars on various aspects of international assessments (I was a co-CI on this grant, with UEA’s Bryan Maddox and PI). The first Laboratory publication, the edited volume Literacy as Numbers (Cambridge University Press) was launched in March 2015. The Laboratory is also undertaking exploratory research in June 2015 in the area of computer-based assessments through an internal UEA grant.
Significant Invitations and Speaking Engagements
Keynote, Comparative Education Society of Europe Conference, May 2021
Public Lecture, L@BED Seminar Series, Naples, September 2019
Panellist, Networked Governance in Action Seminar, Manchester Metropolitan University, September 2019
Public seminar, U Toronto, April 2019
Speaker, Governing by Numbers, Strasbourg University, October 2018
Speaker, Reading, Writing and Reform, Georgetown University, October 2018
Keynote speaker, International Organization for Science and Technology Education Conference, Malmö University and Stockholm University, August 2018
Speaker, Technologies of Expertise conference, Graduate Institute Geneva, May 2018
Visiting Scholar, Limits of the Numerical project, University of California, Irvine, April 2018
Public Lecture, University of Western Ontario, April 2018
Visiting Scholar, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland - May-June 2017
Panellist, Highlighted Presidential Session Problematising Innovation and Development, Comparative and International Association Society Annual Conference, Atlanta, USA, March 2017
Keynote speaker, Comparative and International Education Society Fall Conference The Possibility and Desirability of Global Metrics in Education. November, 2016
Keynote speaker, GLOBED program, Autonomous University, Barcelona, September 2016
Speaker and panellist, International Assessment and International Convergence of Educational Reforms, Teachers College, Columbia University, 6-7 March 2015.
Panellist, Harvard Congress on India, Harvard University, 14-15 February 2014.
Invited speaker and Panellist at the seminar Literacy as Numbers at the Institute of Education, London, June 2013.
Guest speaker at the Doctoral Student Seminar of Professor Gita Steiner- Khamsi, Columbia University, on my research on higher education policy in India, 2012.
Guest lecture to students and faculty, Azim Premji University (India), on issues in Australian education policy, 2012.
Research interests
Education Policy, Regulation and Governance
Contemporary Global Contexts of Education; Aid and Development; Comparative Education
Data Cutlures, Digital Infrastructures, Sociology of Numbers
Curriculum, Pedgagoy and Assessment
Social Theory
Classroom research and video-based research
Research Methodology; Science and Technology Studies; Actor-Network Theory
Affiliations
Director: Laboratory of Iinternational Assessment Studies
Founding Member, Deakin Science and Society Network
Member, Australian Association for Research in Education
Member, European Educational Research Association
Member, Comparative and International Education Society
Teaching interests
Education Policy; Contemporary Global Contexts of Education; Aid and Development, Comparative Education
Data Cutlures; Digital Infrastructures
Curriculum, Pedgagoy and Assessment
Units taught
EPR 703 - Reflecting on Practice in Professional Experience
EEG 704 - Internationalising the Curriculum in Education
Knowledge areas
Research Interests
Education policy, governance, regulation, reforms and accountability
Intergovernmental organisations, global reforms, global measurements, comparisons and rankings
Sociology of numbers; Digital infrastructures; Actor-Network Theory
Sociology of knowledge; Science-society-state nexus
AI-human assemblages, AI ethics
Curriculum, pedagogy and assessment; Classroom research, video-based research
Current Projects
Gorur, R., Blackmore, J., Rowlands, J. REDI Grant (2020). A Framework for Mapping the Changing Patterns of Research in Australia. ($10,000)
Gorur, R., Kowal, E., Hoon, L. REDI Grant (2020). Ethical Engineers by Design. ($5,000)
Gorur, R. Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (2017-2019). Accountability and global education policy networks in the Indo-Pacific $368,000.00
Expertise
- Education
Conferences
Selected Recent Invitations
Panellist, Innovations in Global Learning Metrics, Arizona State University, November 2018
Speaker, Governing by numbers, Strasbourg University, October 2018
Speaker, Reading, Writing and Reform, Georgetown University, October 2018
Keynote speaker, International Organization for Science and Technology Education Conference, Malmö University and Stockholm University, August 2018
Speaker, Technologies of Expertise symposium, Graduate Institute Geneva, May 2018
Visiting Scholar, Limits of the Numerical project, University of California, Irvine, April 2018
Public Lecture, University of Western Ontario, April 2018
Visiting Scholar and Keynote, University of Tampere, Finland, May-June 2017
Panellist on the Presidential Highlighted Session on Innovation and Development, CIES annual conference, Atlanta, March 2017
Inaugural Lecture, the GLOBED Program, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, September 2016
Participant, Methods Workshop: Screen-Based Ethnographies, the ARITHMUS Project, Goldsmiths College, London, June 2015.
Speaker, Education by Numbers: Politics of Knowledge and International Comparisons of School Performance Conference, Gothenburg University, June 2015
Speaker, International Assessment and International Convergence of Educational Reforms, Teachers College, Columbia University, 6-7 March 2015.
Panellist, India Congress at Harvard, Harvard University,14-15 February, 2013.
Speaker and Panellist Literacy as Numbers seminar at the Institute of Education, London, June 2013.
Professional activities
Director, Laboratory of International Assessment Studies
Editor, Discourse: Studies in the cultural politics of education
Member of the Advisory Board, Journal of Education Policy
Reviewer for several journals
Media appearances
Videos:
Old Power, New Power and Soft Infrastructures - video interview - starts at 0.56 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1HkJv322k0
Freshed Podcast on Seeing Like PISA - http://www.freshedpodcast.com/radhikagorur/
Video on the paper Leaning Too Far - with Margaret Wu for Discourse https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Br93GTTnWr8
Articles in The Conversation
Governments need to look beyond education rankings and focus on inequities in the system
Policymakers should use caution when drawing lessons from OECD's education Report
Research groups
Science and Society Network
International Centre for Classroom Research - Research Group
Socio-Material Studies in Education
Awards
Faculty Mid-Career Research Award, Deakin University, 2017
School of Education Research Award, Deakin University, 2017
Faculty Early Career Researcher Award, Deakin University, 2016
Outstanding Paper Award, Australian Association for Research in Education, 2015
CRN Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award (2012-2015), Victoria Unviersity, 2015
Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Excellence in Research and Research Training – Early Career, Victoria University, 2014
Visiting Researcher at RAND Corporation (Washington DC) for two weeks each in 2013 and 2014
Honorary Fellow at the University of Melbourne from February 2012 – present
Adjunct Fellow at the Victoria Institute, Victoria University, 2015-2018
Best Paper Award (runner up) – European Conference on Educational Research, 2010
Outstanding Achievement Award, Master of Arts, Michigan State University, 1994
Projects
Gorur, R. Australian Research Council Discovery Early Career Researcher Award (2017-2019) for the project Accountability and global education policy networks in the Indo-Pacific $368,000.00
Gorur, R. Sorensen, E. and Maddox, B. Grant from the Heidelberg Academy for Sciences and Humanities (2016-2017) for the project PISA for Development: Between Standardisation and Recontextualisation (Science Numbers and Politics project) @$10,000
Gorur, R. Deakin Arts & Education Faculty Award (2016) for the project The Techniques and Politics of Contextualisation and Comparison: PISA for Development $8,000
Gorur, R. Deakin CREFI Seeding Grant (2015) for the project Assembling Literacy Assessments in Low- Income Countries: A Brief History $5,000
Maddox, B. Grek, S., Hamilton, M., Guadalupe Mendizábal, C.A., Steiner-Khamsi, G., Gorur, R. and Addey, C. Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) – grant (2014-2016) for the international seminar series The Potentials, Politics and Practices of International Educational Assessment $60,000
Gorur, R. Australia India Education Council – grant of $ 35,000 for the project Strengthening the Australia-India knowledge Partnership: Barriers and Solutions (2012-2013)
Te Riele, K., Rizvi. F., and Gorur, R. Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia grant (2013) for conducting the workshop Vulnerable Youth in Policy and Practice: conceptualisations, enactments and impacts (2013) $7,500
Gorur, R. Victoria University Researcher Development Grant Scheme (2013) for the project Rummaging Through Data: Secondary Analysis, International Data Sets and National Education Policies $26,000
Rizvi, F., & Gorur, R. Australia India Education Council - grant (2012) for the project India-Australia Institutional Collaborations in Higher Education: Potential, Problems, Promises $35,000
Publications
Opening the black box of peer review
Radhika Gorur
(2022), pp. 62-76, Intimate Accounts of Education Policy Research : The Practice of Methods, London, Eng., B1
Regulating private sector schooling in the global south: the case of India
R Gorur, B Arnold
(2022), pp. 1-17, Compare: a journal of comparative and international education, Abingdon, Eng., C1
Capacity building as the 'Third Translation': The story of PISA-D in Cambodia
Radhika Gorur, Camilla Addey
(2021), pp. 72-87, World Yearbook of Education 2021 : Accountability and Datafication in the Governance of Education, Abingdon, Eng., B1
Governing by Dashboard: Reconfiguring Education Governance in the Global South
Radhika Gorur, Benjamin Arnold
(2021), pp. 166-181, Digital disruption in teaching and testing : assessments, big data, and the transformation of schooling, New York, N.Y., B1
Translating Schools in the Calculative Worlds of Education
Paolo Landri, Radhika Gorur
(2021), pp. 60-80, Educational Leadership, Management, and Administration through Actor-Network Theory, New York, N.Y., B1
Making the user friendly: the ontological politics of digital data platforms
R Gorur, J Dey
(2021), Vol. 62, pp. 67-81, Critical Studies in Education, C1
Dancing with Covid: Choreographing examinations in pandemic times
C Alarcón López, M Decuypere, J Dey, R Gorur, M Hamilton, C Lundahl, E Sundström Sjödin
(2021), Vol. 20, pp. 403-422, European Educational Research Journal, C1
Unsustainable measures? Assessing global competence in PISA 2018
Harsha Chandir, Radhika Gorur
(2021), Vol. 29, pp. 1-27, Education Policy Analysis Archives, Tempe, Arizona, C1
Hybrid models of delivery: Statemandatedpublic-private partnerships in India
R Gorur, B Arnold
(2020), pp. 82-97, Privatisation and commercialisation in public education : how the public nature of schooling is changing, London, Eng., B1
Radhika Gorur
(2020), pp. 219-228, International Large-Scale Assessments in Education, London, Eng., B1
Drawing to reason and learn in science
R Tytler, V Prain, G Aranda, J Ferguson, R Gorur
(2020), Vol. 57, pp. 209-231, Journal of Research in Science Teaching, London, Eng., C1
R Gorur
(2020), Vol. 29, pp. 187-197, International Studies in Sociology of Education, London, Eng., C1
Translating PISA, translating the world
Camilla Addey, Radhika Gorur
(2020), Vol. 56, pp. 547-564, Comparative education, Abingdon, Eng., C1
M Peters, F Rizvi, G McCulloch, P Gibbs, R Gorur, M Hong, Y Hwang, L Zipin, M Brennan, S Robertson, J Quay, J Malbon, D Taglietti, R Barnett, W Chengbing, P McLaren, R Apple, M Papastephanou, N Burbules, L Jackson, P Jalote, M Kalantzis, B Cope, A Fataar, J Conroy, G Misiaszek, G Biesta, P Jandrić, S Choo, M Apple, L Stone, R Tierney, M Tesar, T Besley, Y Hwang, N Burbules, M Tesar, L Misiaszek
(2020), Vol. 54, pp. 1-45, Educational Philosophy and Theory, C1
Big data and even bigger consequences
Radhika Gorur, Sam Sellar, Gita Steiner-Khamsi
(2019), pp. 1-9, World yearbook of education 2019: comparative methodology in the era of big data and global networks, Abingdon, Eng., B1
Video research: purposeful selection from rich data sets
J Ferguson, George Aranda, Russell Tytler, Radhika Gorur
(2019), pp. 124-139, Video-based research in education: cross-disciplinary perspectives, Abingdon, Eng., B1
Patterns: in search of patterns: with enough data, do the numbers speak for themselves?
R Gorur
(2019), pp. 53-57, World yearbook of education 2019: comparative methodology in the era of big data and global networks, Abingdon, Eng., B1
Old power, new power and ontological flattening: the global 'data revolution' in education
R Gorur
(2019), pp. 66-82, New practices of comparison, quantification and expertise in education: conducting empirically based research, Abingdon, Eng., B1
Standardizing the context and contextualizing the standard: Translating PISA into PISA-D
Radhika Gorur, Estrid Sørensen, Bryan Maddox
(2019), pp. 301-329, Science, Numbers and Politics, London, Eng., B1
Context : Contextualizing 'context'
Gita Steiner-Khamsi, Radhika Gorur
(2019), pp. 165-168, Comparative methodology in an era of big data and global networks, London, Eng., B1
Politics by other means? STS and research in education
R Gorur, M Hamilton, C Lundahl, E Sjödin
(2019), Vol. 40, pp. 1-15, Discourse, C1
Standards: normative, interpretative, and performative
R Gorur
(2018), pp. 92-109, Education by the numbers and the making of society : the expertise of international assessments, New York, N.Y., B1
R Gorur
(2018), Vol. 31, pp. 89-108, Science and Technology Studies, C1
World Yearbook of Education 2019 Comparative Methodology in the Era of Big Data and Global Networks
Radhika Gorur, Sam Sellar, Gita Steiner-Khamsi
(2018), London, Eng., A7
Towards productive critique of large-scale comparisons in education
R Gorur
(2017), Vol. 58, pp. 341-355, Critical Studies in Education, C1
R Gorur
(2017), Vol. 58, pp. 261-265, Critical Studies in Education, C1
Towards sustainable, collective and participatory accountability in Education 2030
Radhika Gorur
(2017), Paris, France, A6
The performative politics of NAPLAN and Myschool
R Gorur
(2016), pp. 30-43, National testing in schools: an Australian assessment, Abingdon, Eng., B1
Seeing like PISA: a cautionary tale about the performativity of international assessments
R Gorur
(2016), Vol. 15, pp. 598-616, European educational research journal, London, Eng., C1
The 'thin descriptions' of the secondary analyses of PISA
R Gorur
(2016), Vol. 37, pp. 647-668, Educaçãon & sociedade, Campinas, Brazil, C1
S Rawolle, C Ure, J Blackmore, A Gallant, R Gorur, A Keddie, J Moss, A Nolan, J Rowlands, A Skourdoumbis, M Thomas, R Tytler, R Webster
(2016), Geelong, Vic., A6
Vulnerability: construct, complexity and consequences
R Gorur
(2015), Vol. 2, pp. 3-15, Interrogating conceptions of "vulnerable youth" in theory, policy and practice, Rotterdam, B1-1
Situated, relational and practice-oriented: the actor-network theory approach
R Gorur
(2015), pp. 87-98, Education policy and contemporary theory : implications for research, London, Eng., B1
Assembling a sociology of numbers
R Gorur
(2015), pp. 1-16, Literacy as numbers : researching the politics and practices of international literary assessment, Cambridge, Eng., B1-1
Research and innovation in Indian higher education
R Gorur, F Rizvi
(2015), pp. 423-438, Higher education in the BRICS countries : investigating the pact between higher education and society, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, B1
Producing calculable worlds: education at a glance
R Gorur
(2015), Vol. 36, pp. 578-595, Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education, Oxford, Eng., C1-1
Leaning too far? PISA, policy and Australia's 'top five' ambitions
R Gorur, M Wu
(2015), Vol. 36, pp. 647-664, Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education, Oxford, Eng., C1-1
Interrogating conceptions of "vulnerable youth" in theory, policy and practice
K Riele, R Gorur
(2015), New York, N.Y., A7
Harnessing global resources for reforming Indian higher education
F Rizvi, R Gorur
(2014), pp. 153-179, India-Australia relations in the Asian century: perspectives from India and Australia, Daryaganj, New Delhi, B1
Towards a sociology of measurement in education policy
R Gorur
(2014), Vol. 13, pp. 58-72, European educational research journal, London, Eng., C1-1
S Sellar, G Savage, R Gorur
(2014), Vol. 35, pp. 462-469, Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education, Abingdon, Eng., C1
R Gorur
(2013), Vol. 34, pp. 214-230, Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education, Abingdon, Eng., C1-1
The struggle to technicise in education policy
R Gorur, J Koyama
(2013), Vol. 40, pp. 633-648, Australian educational researcher, Berlin, Germany, C1-1
Equity and marketisation: emerging policies and practices in Australian education
G Savage, S Sellar, R Gorur
(2013), Vol. 34, pp. 161-169, Discourse: studies in the cultural politics of education, Abingdon, Eng., C1-1
D Clarke, H Hollingsworth, R Gorur
(2013), Vol. 1, pp. 94-121, Sisyphus - journal of education, Lisbon, Portugal, C1-1
The invisible infrastructure of standards
R Gorur
(2013), Vol. 54, pp. 132-142, Critical studies in education, Abingdon, Eng., C1-1
India-Australia institutional collaborations in higher education: potential, problems, promises
F Rizvi, R Gorur, C Reyes
(2013), [Canberra, A.C.T], A6-1
R Gorur, D Loton
(2013), [Melbourne, Vic.], A6-1
Indian higher education and the dynamics of global collaborations
F Rizvi, R Gorur
(2012), pp. 17-36, Globalization, culture, and education in South Asia: critical excursions, Basingstoke, Eng., B1
ANT on the PISA trail: following the statistical pursuit of certainty
R Gorur
(2012), pp. 60-77, Researching education through actor-network theory, Chichester, Eng., B1
ANT on the PISA trail: following the statistical pursuit of certainty
R Gorur
(2011), Vol. 43, pp. 76-93, Educational philosophy and theory, Abingdon, Eng., C1-1
R Gorur
(2011), Vol. 10, pp. 611-622, European educational research journal, London, Eng., C1-1
Funded Projects at Deakin
Australian Competitive Grants
Accountability and Global Education Policy Networks in the Indo-Pacific
A/Prof Radhika Gorur
ARC DECRA - Discovery Early Career Researcher Award
- 2021: $21
- 2019: $131,320
- 2018: $120,489
- 2017: $134,193
CyberNinjas: Keeping Our Children Cybersmart
Prof Robin Ram Mohan Doss, A/Prof Radhika Gorur, Ms Sophie Mackenzie, A/Prof William Yeoh, Dr Graeme Pye
e-Safety Commissioner Online Safety Grants Program
- 2023: $254,259
Other Public Sector Funding
Governance Issues and Challenges of Universities in Pakistan.
A/Prof Radhika Gorur, Dr Shaun Rawolle, Mr Mehr Mohsin Raza
International Education Resilience Fund
- 2022: $15,000
Supervisions
Rizwana Shahzad
Thesis entitled: Strategic Incoherence: The Assessment Multiple and Education Policy in Punjab, Pakistan
Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education
Harsha Chandir
Thesis entitled: Global Competence: Situated Enactments
Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education
Joseph Ferguson
Thesis entitled: A Video-Based Analysis of Science Students' Computer-Mediated Abductive Reasoning
Doctor of Philosophy (Education), School of Education