Prof Allan Walker
School of Arts, Media and Creative Technologies
Current positions
Pro Vice Chancellor and Dean of School
Biography
Allan is Dean of the School of Arts Media and Creative Technology and a member of the leadership team of the University of Salford. He has held senior academic positions at three Higher Education Institutions in the UK and has contributed nationally and internationally to strategic developments in education for the creative economy. As Dean, Allan has led significant growth in undergraduate and postgraduate taught provision, high impact research with a strong focus on social engagement, partnerships with the creative and cultural industries, and internationalisation.
Allan joined Salford in 2011, coinciding with the opening of the Media City campus and established the new School of Arts and Media in 2012 from the merger of Art and Design and Music, Media and Performance. He led its expansion in the following year with the addition of staff from English and Politics and Contemporary History. These subjects underpin the school’s identity and provide a unique combination of the arts and humanities and a highly distinctive research profile. Creative Technology was added to the title in 2018 to reflect the increasing integration of content creation and technology-based production.
Committed to principles of equal opportunity and diversity, Allan has ensured that the school recruits widely across the UK while continuing to attract those who are first in their families to study at university. This is reflected in his support for initiatives such as the Asian Media Awards, which announced its first scholarship in November 2023, which develop cultural opportunities and increase the number of graduates from minoritised ethnic backgrounds in the creative economy.
Internationally, Allan has extensive experience of international partnerships and is a Visiting Professor at China Academy of Arts and an international panel member and chair for the Oman Academic Accreditation Authority. At Salford, he is responsible for formal Sino-UK partnerships with Luxun Academy of Fine Art and Zhejiang Fashion Institute of Technology.
As Deputy Director of The Glasgow School of Art (GSA), Professor of Art and Design Education at The University of Glasgow, and Vice Principal Academic at Wimbledon School of Art, Allan was responsible for institutional leadership of education and research with a strong track record of success in research assessment and quality assurance and enhancement. As part of Scotland’s Learning and Teaching Committee and QAA Scotland he was involved in the development of Scotland’s enhancement led approach to higher education and was an advisor on the creative industries for British Council Scotland. He is a Trustee for Protected Student Safety and Wellbeing Community Interest Company and, until recently, was a Trustee of the Centre for Contemporary Chinese Art, Manchester, and the Working-Class Movement Library, Salford.
Qualifying as a Landscape Architect specialising in land use and moorland conservation in the National Parks, Allan’s research contributed to the UK Wildlife and Countryside Act of 1981. As a print artist with an international exhibition record, his work is in international collections in Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia the UK and USA. He co-led the institutional submission for REF 2008 at GSA and his research was included in three national research assessments from 2001-2014, he was also a strategic reviewer and member of the AHRC College from 2005-2015. From 2004-08, Allan was convenor of the Macintosh Research Centre and co-convenor of the International Drawing Research Institute between GSA, Central Academy of Fine Art, Beijing and University of New South Wales.