Chris Duke died on 22 June 2023

We have received the message from his wife Liz that “Chris passed away this morning, in the loving arms of family.”

His death is very sad news for all of us in the adult learning and education community who were lucky to have met Chris and worked with him at different stages throughout his extraordinary life.

Prof. Chris Duke had a founding Chair in Adult and Continuing Education at the Australian National University in Canberra when he took over the role as Secretary General of ASPBAE and established cooperation with DVV International in 1977. This strong partnership is lasting till today. Alongside he was Associate Secretary General of the ICAE, and served as rapporteur for CONFINTEA. Within his outstanding career he rose to the positions of Vice Chancellor and University President. He was inducted into the International Adult and Continuing Education Hall of Fame in 2014.

Throughout his professional life he stayed close to DVV International as a prolific writer for the journal Adult Education and Development, as co-editor in the series International Perspectives in Adult Education like Knowing More, Doing Better. Challenges for CONFINTEA VI from Monitoring EFA in Non-Formal Youth and Adult Education or in 2021 on Public Financing of Popular Adult Learning and Education (ALE). Experience, lessons and recommendations from 14 country and case studies. Earlier he wrote reports for our joint ventures with the World Bank on Adult Education and the Reduction of Poverty, with UIL on The Right to Education in Migration or with a university consortium on From Comparison to Cooperation. Partnership and Diversity in the Training and Accreditation of Adult Educators by Institutions of Higher Education.     

Chris Duke was the brain and energy behind founding PIMA (Promoting, Interrogation, Mobilizing for Adult Learning and Education) in 2015 and kept it growing in reach and strength. He served as Editor of the PIMA Bulletin – and there could have been no better celebration and thank you to him than the Special Issue which was produced honoring his contributions locally and globally. We invite you to have a closer look via https://www.pimanetwork.com/post/honouring-chris-duke-special-issue

We have lost a staunch champion of lifelong learning who will be much missed.