Rate My Professor David Bright

David Bright is an Associate Professor in the School of Education Culture & Society within the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Melbourne. His research interests include critical approaches to English as a second or foreign language, teacher and student identity, international schooling, post-qualitative research methods, sociology of education, education policy, difference, diversity, culture and society, expatriate teachers, and teacher education. He teaches in pre-service and postgraduate education programs. Bright has received notable awards for his scholarly work, including the AARE Early Career Researcher Award in 2019, the Illinois Distinguished Qualitative Dissertation Award on 21 May 2016, the Dean's Award for Outstanding HDR Theses in 2015, and the N.V. Varghese Prize for Comparative Education in 2015.

In his career at Monash University, Bright has served as lecturer, senior lecturer, and now Associate Professor. He has led key research projects, such as Chief Investigator for 'Teacher capabilities in conditions of superdiversity' (2020–2026), 'Delivery of EMI Professional Learning Course for Northwestern Polytechnical University, China' (2019), 'WORKHELP Research Program' (2019), and 'Building Leadership for Change through School Immersion' (2017). His publications include 'Counter-narrative as method: researching immigrant teachers differently' (2025, with Yan and Prosser), 'Navigating the tensions between international schooling and national goals of education: expatriate teachers and local students in international schools in Vietnam' (2025, with Poole), 'Performing my other self: movement between languages, cultures and societies' (2025, with Yan and Prosser), 'Speech-thinking and translation: cultivating liminal spaces of speech and reality in educational research' (2025, with Yan and Prosser), 'Performing the inappropriate/d cultural other in the third space' (2025), and earlier contributions like 'Writing a thesis differently' (2016, with Honan). With over 1,230 citations on Google Scholar, his work impacts discussions on education policy, teacher identity, and international education. He has engaged in public discourse through media on Australian views of teachers and schools, contributing to UN Sustainable Development Goals such as Quality Education, Reduced Inequalities, and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions.