Australian Calabrese Cultural Association

Joseph Lo Bianco is a Professor of Language and Literacy Education at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education and the Immediate Past President of the Australian Academy of the Humanities, the first educator in this role. He was appointed Research Director for UNICEF’s Language and Peacebuilding initiative in Malaysia, Myanmar, and Thailand in 2012. Since 2011, he has been a senior research advisor for LUCIDE, a European Commission project studying multilingualism in 12 European cities.

In January 2014, he began advising the National Research Centre for Foreign Language Education at Beijing Foreign Studies University, supporting the State Language Commission and academic initiatives.

Professor Lo Bianco authored Australia’s National Policy on Languages in 1987, the first multilingual national language policy in an English-speaking country, and led the National Languages and Literacy Institute of Australia until 2002. This policy was adopted by the Australian government to address all language needs, including English literacy and Indigenous language rights.

He has advised on language, culture, and literacy education internationally, including in the Council of Europe, Sri Lanka, Ireland, and Canada, and supervises PhD research while teaching courses in language planning. His language policy work includes supporting multilingualism for the Sydney Olympic Games and advising various countries on language education, including a 20-year strategy for Irish in Ireland and a National Language Education plan for Sri Lanka.