Dr. Daniel Kirk is the Dean of the College of Education and a Professor of Education at Winona State University, USA. Dr. Kirk has served as a Dean and Professor of Education at the American University of Ras Al-Khaimah. Dr. Kirk has also served as Associate Dean and Professor at the National Defense College in the United Arab Emirates, Associate Dean in the College of Education, and Executive Director of the School of Learning and Teaching at the Pacific University, Oregon (USA), where he held a tenured full Professor position on faculty. Dr. Kirk was senior faculty at the Emirates College for Advanced Education in Abu Dhabi, where he led the Division of Leadership and Educational Policy and was an Associate Professor of Education.

Dr. Kirk has served as a Researcher in Education Policy at the Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research (ECSSR, Abu Dhabi), and a faculty at the American University of Sharjah, Bahrain Teachers College, Macon State College (now Middle Georgia State University), and Pacific University, Oregon. Prior to his move into higher education, Dr. Kirk was a secondary (6-12) school English Language Arts/Literature teacher in the United Kingdom, Qatar, Bermuda, and Dubai.

Dr. Kirk was the Founding President of the Gulf Comparative Education Society and currently sits on several editorial and advisory boards based within the Gulf region and the United States. He has been commissioned by various educational organizations and government agencies to conduct bespoke consultancy services, focusing on developing educational institutions, policies, and practices in educator preparation in the Arabian Gulf countries and worldwide. His current research examines educational innovation and policy formation in the GCC, with a particular lens on the international and comparative implications of such policies on educator preparation and school development. Dr. Kirk holds a Ph.D. from the University of Georgia, USA. He also has a Bachelor’s degree, a Master’s degree, and a Post-Graduate Certificate in Education (PGCE with QTS) from the University of Sunderland, UK.