Gilbert Burgh

Gilbert Burgh has been active in promoting philosophy in schools since 1990. He has published widely in the field of educational philosophy (philosophy functioning educationally), especially democratic education and collaborative philosophical inquiry as pedagogy, and in 2009 completed an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project Grant to conduct a study on the effectiveness of philosophy on children’s explanatory behaviour, problem-solving, and learning. He has participated in a number of philosophy teacher education programs in Australia and the United States, and was the founding president of the Queensland Association of Philosophy in Schools (1994-1996), and president of the Federation of Australasian Philosophy in Schools Associations (2002-2003). As one of the founding members of the Australian Philosophy Research Group (APRG), he works closely with other members, Dr. Simone Thornton (School of Humanities and Social Inquiry, UOW / Honorary Research Fellow, School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, UQ), Assoc. Prof. Michelle Boulous Walker (School of Historical and Philosophical Inquiry, UQ), and Adjunct Assoc. Prof. Mary Graham (School of Political Science and International Studies, UQ / Doctor of the University honoris causa, UQ / QUT), a Kombumerri and Wakka Wakka community development leader, Elder, educator, and philosopher, who has long been a sounding board and driver of Aboriginal philosophy. The aim of the group is to develop an Australian philosophy in dialogue with Indigenous and non-Indigneous scholars, to develop a place-based, grounded philosophy. This project informs his current research on place-responsive pedagogy as an ecological approach to education to improve human-environmental relations and how we understand citizenship and democracy.