Dr Chris Wallace BEc (Syd) MBA (AGSM) BA PhD (ANU) MAICD is a political historian with a strong record in applied politics and history, and political economy. She is a professor in the Canberra School of Government, University of Canberra, where she teaches public policy and administration, leadership, governance, risk and change management. Wallace's research focuses on power and effective politics and policy, with a particular emphasis on equity issues and the environment. She was the Official Historian for the National Archives of Australia 2000 and 2001 Cabinet Papers release in 2021-2022, delivered the National Library of Australia's Seymour Lecture in 2023, and UC's Aitkin Lecture in 2024. In 2026 Wallace was appointed director of the Pathways To Politics For Women Program in the Vice-Chancellor's Centre of Public Ideas (CoPI), coexistent with her Canberra School of Government position. She has twice been named one of Australia's Top 50 Thinkers by The Conversation. Her first career was as a political journalist in the Canberra Press Gallery, of which she remains a member.

Wallace has written several books – most recently, Political Lives: Australian prime ministers and their biographers (UNSW Press, 2023), which was shortlisted for the NSW Premier's Prize for History. Earlier books include How To Win An Election (NewSouth, 2020), The Private Don (Allen & Unwin, 2004), Greer, Untamed Shrew (Pan Macmillan, 1997), and Hewson, A Portrait (Pan Macmillan, 1993).