Academic biography

Professor Mark Brown is Ireland's first Chair in Digital Learning and Director of the National Institute for Digital Learning (NIDL).

Mark has over 30-years experience of working in Higher Education and has played key leadership roles in the development, implementation and evaluation of several major university-wide digital learning and teaching initiatives. Before taking up his current position, Mark was Director of the National Centre for Teaching and Learning at Massey University, New Zealand. His is a recipient of a National Award for Sustained Excellence in Tertiary Teaching and remains a member of the New Zealand Academy of Tertiary Teaching Excellence. He is an EDEN Fellow and was recognised in 2017 by the Commonwealth of Learning (CoL) as a world leader in Open, Online and Distance Learning. In 2019, Mark was Chair of the ICDE World Conference on Online Learning, which DCU hosted in Dublin. Mark is an active researcher, has a strong publication record and contributes to a number of leading international bodies working in the area. 

Professional Contribution
Mark is a member of the Executive Committee of the European Distance and e-Learning Network (EDEN) and previously chaired (2014-2018) the Innovation in Teaching and Learning Steering Committee for the European Consortium of Innovative Universities (ECIU). He serves on the Supervisory Board of the European Association of Distance Teaching Universities (EADTU) and is a member of the Advisory Board for the US based Online Learning Consortium's Research Center for Digital Learning and Leadership. In Ireland, Mark has previously served (2016-2018) as an Irish Universities Association representative on the Board of the National Forum for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education. Mark is past President of the New Zealand Association for Open, Flexible and Distance Learning (DEANZ now FLANZ) and served as Treasurer as well as an Executive Committee member of the Australasian Society for Computers in Learning in Tertiary Education. ASCILITE is known as the peak professional body for blended, online and digital learning in Australia and New Zealand. Mark continues to have strong links down under and in 2019 was elected to the Executive Committee of the Open and Distance Learning Association of Australia (OLDAA), which publishes the journal Distance Education (Q1).

Professor Brown’s main research interests are in the a