Mr. Chris Field

President of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) Australia 

Chris Field PSM 

Chris Field PSM is the President of the International Ombudsman Institute (IOI) and Western Australian Ombudsman. He is an Adjunct Professor in the School of Law at the University of Western Australia. He was awarded a Public Service Medal in the 2023 Australia Day Honours List for "outstanding public service as Ombudsman and President of the International Ombudsman Institute.” In July 2023, in a formal ceremony in Taipei, he was awarded the highest honour of the Control Yuan, the First Grade Medal. The citation of the Medal is: “His extraordinary contribution to the promotion of international ombudsman and human rights work”. He was the 2022 recipient of the Justitia Regnorum Fundamentum Award granted by the Commissioner for Fundamental Rights of Hungary for "those who have achieved extraordinary, exemplary results in the field of protecting fundamental rights". Mr Field is Australia’s longest serving ombudsman, having been appointed to four consecutive terms of office, commencing in 2007 at age 39. In May 2021, he commenced his four-year term as IOI President at the 12th quadrennial World Conference and General Assembly of the IOI in Dublin. It is the first time in the 45-year history of the IOI that an Australian has been elected President. He commenced his career as a lawyer at one of Australia’s leading law firms, Arthur Robinson and Hedderwicks (now Allens Linklaters). He holds Arts and Law (Honours), graduating in 1996.