In semester 1 / 2010 Baden is teaching HUM00272 Space, Place and Travel and CUL00210 Australia, Asia and the World at the Lismore Campus.

Baden was born in Aotearoa/NZ and migrated to Australia in 1961. He is Associate Professor in Cultural Studies and Co-Director of the research Centre for Peace and Social Justice. He is the recipient of several national and state teaching awards (2004, 2006 and 2009), including a National Carrick Citation for an Outstanding Contribution to Student Learning for: “Pioneering cultural studies and cultural diversity programs in regional Australia; outstanding command of his field, and inspiring transformative student learning.” His book, Homosexual Rights as Human Rights: Activism in Indonesia, Singapore and Australia (Peter Lang: Oxford, 2003), won the George Duncan Memorial Award in 2005. In 2006 he received a Manning Clark House Honourable Mention for an Outstanding Contribution to Australian Culture.

Baden's research focuses on human rights, cultural studies, sexuality and cultural diversity. He has published 1 sole authored book, co-edited 3 books and produced numerous book chapters and refereed journal articles. Recent publications include Activating Human Rights (co-edited with Elisabeth Porter, 2006), Landscapes of Exile (co-edited with Anna Haebich, 2008) and Activating Human Rights in Education: Exploration, Innovation and Transformation (co-edited with Christopher Newell, 2008). Most recently: “Surfing Towards Australian Androgyny: Aussie Bums on the beach,” In D’Cruz, V. et al (eds.), As Others See Us: Postcolonial Perspectives on Australia Culture – the values debate, (Australian Scholarly Press, Melbourne, 2008). Baden is a member of the Australian Research Council funded Cultural Research Network. His work has been acknowledged for significantly contributing to innovative ways of conceiving belonging, identity and cultural citizenship. He has had 9 PhD student completions. His Hons students have completed projects, for instance, on surfing culture, journalism ethics, multiculturalism, ecocultural studies and film, identity, terrorism and social justice.

As part of his international research and teaching he has been a Visiting Professor at the Centre for Australian Studies, University of Barcelona in 2003, 2005 and 2007 and established a successful student and research exchange. Since 2007 he has been part of a team of researchers investigating Enlightenment Australia and the Necessary Other, which has involved collaboration with Ashis Nandy and the late Vin D'Cruz. In 2008 he was a Visiting Fellow at the Kinsey Institute, Indiana University, and a Visiting Fellow at the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University. In 2010 he is a Visiting Research Professor at the University of Barcelona.

Baden holds a BA from the University of Sydney (1994) in Asian Studies and History and in 1995 completed his Honours at Southern Cross University on human rights in Australian foreign policy in relation to the Tienanmen and Dili Massacres. He gained his doctorate in 1999 from Southern Cross University in the study of human rights, sexuality, activism and identity in Southeast Asia. He has provided expert testimony and advice for more than 40 asylum cases by gay and lesbian Southeast Asians in New York, Philadelphia and Melbourne as well as to the Canadian government.

Prior to his academic life he worked for the Theosophical Society in Australia and India. He was Officer-in-Charge of Archives at its international headquarters in Chennai (formerly Madras), India, from 1986-1988. He also lectured widely on Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta and contemporary Indian philosophies. His passwords for life are curiosity and compassion.