Tony Hall

Tony is a Professor of Education in the School of Education, University of Galway.
A former post-primary teacher (Physical Education, English, ICT, Mathematics) and School ICT Coordinator, he primarily teaches on University of Galway's initial teacher education programmes, postgraduate and undergraduate. 
Within University of Galway's teacher education programmes, Tony teaches English Subject Pedagogics, ICT/Digital Education, Educational Design, and the History and Philosophy of Education.

Tony's research interests focus primarily on educational design research (design-based research), innovation and technology in education; he has researched and published in these fields since 2001. More recently, these interests have coalesced around the concept of designing educational futures. From 2020-2025, Tony served as Director of Educational Design Research for Designing Futures at University of Galway (awarded €7.57m under the Irish Government's Human Capital Initiative (HCI). He is academic lead for, and he teaches on University of Galway's Design Your Life modules, based on Stanford University's Life Design/Designing Your Life programme. Tony is a member of the Life Design/Designing Your Life international research network.
Key projects and programmes in which he has served in a central leadership role include: Designing Futures, Designing & Evaluating Innovative Mobile Pedagogies, Professional Diploma in Mathematics for Teaching (PDMT), and T-REX: Teachers’ Research Exchange (co-founder). He has been awarded funding nationally and internationally, including by the Higher Education Authority, Department of Further & Higher Education, Research Innovation & Science, Teaching Council, Department of Education & Youth, National Council for Curriculum & Assessment, Horizon Europe and the European Institute of Innovation & Technology.

Tony has supervised 11 PhDs to completion, in education and design-based research/technology-enhanced learning; and he is Director of Doctoral Studies in the School of Education. He convenes and collaboratively teaches the doctoral modules, ED6167: Educational Research Methodology and Development, and ED6182: Theoretical Foundations of Education. 

Tony has served as editor-in-chief for two of Ireland's leading educational publications: Irish Educational Studies (Co-Editor, 2015-2020; General Editor, 2020-2023) and Education Matters Yearbook: Ireland's Educational Yearbook (Editor, 2012, 2013 & 2014). He is Vice-President of the Educational Studies Association of Ireland, and co-convenes the ESAI Special Interest Groups (SIGs). Tony is the local chair for the ESAI’s 50^th Anniversary Conference 2026: First Meeting of Scholars at University of Galway, 28^th–30^th May 2026: From Legacy to Futures: Celebrating ESAI’s First Meeting of Scholars and 50 Years of Irish Educational Research.

Tony serves on the editorial boards of several international journals, including Irish Educational Studies and Journal of Computer-Assisted Learning; and in 2022 was appointed Academic Advisor for Routledge Open Research. Since 2007, he has been an invited expert on educational design, technology, and research e-infrastructures for the European Commission; and advises the Teaching Council on educational research.

Tony has served as both Head and Deputy Head (two terms) of the School of Education, and inaugural Vice-Dean for Learning, Teaching and Assessment in the College of Arts, Social Sciences & Celtic Studies, University of Galway. He led the design and accreditation of University of Galway's denominated, concurrent initial teacher education degree, BA in Mathematics and Education. Tony was also the inaugural programme director (education) for the BA Mathematics and Education. He is an Elected Member to Academic Council 2024-2028. In 2026, Tony was appointed to the Teaching Council, Ireland's statutory body for the teaching profession.

Tony is a graduate of concurrent initial teacher education from the University of Limerick (BA in Physical Education & English), and he holds a Master of Information Technology (MIT) from the University of Galway and a PhD (Computer Science) from the University of Limerick. He was appointed Lecturer in Educational Technology in the School of Education, University of Galway in 2006, promoted to Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in 2017 and to Full Professor of Education in 2022. Tony has previously held research positions at the Interaction Design Centre and Enterprise Research Centre, University of Limerick; Learning Sciences Research Institute (LSRI), University of Nottingham, UK; and the Center for Informal Learning and Schools (CILS), The Exploratorium, San Francisco, US. Elected in 2016, he is a Fellow of the International Society for Design and Development in Education (ISDDE).