Law Research & Projects

We serve our community through our expertise, research, and innovation.

The scope of our research transverses all areas of the law and policy. Our expertise covers:

Environmental and Rural Communities: Law and Governance

Our research engages with the management and sustainable use of natural resources. This area spans the full spectrum of governance instruments from local government regulations to international conventions, as well as non-government rules, codes of practice, and standards. Research in this area aims to understand how to appropriately govern environmental systems in ways that are efficient, equitable, transparent, and accountable. We also seek to use our expertise to engage in public forums and contemporary issues of the day.

UNE’s Law School is ideally placed to be a national and international leader in this area, with its established research centre, The Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law (AgLaw Centre) <link to AgLaw> has a strong research and teaching focus on agriculture, natural resources, and the environment.

We are interested in any issues that connect with this area, and the Law School’s track record includes:

  • Community driven approaches to governing collective action issues such as biodiversity conservation, carbon farming, invasive species, and water resource management in a changing climate
  • Governance of novel foods
  • Hybrid governance arrangements – involving governments and private industry
  • Governance of community engagement – in developments affecting rural people and landscapes
  • Food Security
  • Regulating the approval of agricultural technologies – such as agricultural and veterinary chemicals
  • International developments – including treaties, conventions and international public law principles for environmental and marine law
  • Developing novel instruments for natural resources and sustainability regulation – including tax and insurance approaches
Law in Context: Social Justice, Law Reform, Governance

This research area focuses on interdisciplinary, multi-level research into contemporary issues related to social justice, governance, and law-in-context. It is a broad research field focused on matters that may ultimately affect human functioning and wellbeing in a variety of contexts. This ranges from research into law, policy, politics, and practice relevant to human rights, social justice, and governance. It includes research in areas ranging from constitutional law, corporate governance, race, gender, culture, health, indigenous law and legal pluralism. A key area of focus in the ‘social justice, governance, and law-in-context’ area for UNE is rural and regional law.

A central part of Australia’s first regional university, UNE Law is uniquely connected to the heart of regional  Australia. Whilst the regional and rural Australian experience is rich in many ways, it does present certain complexities (such as geographical distance, sparse populations, small community dynamics and limited services) which can pose special challenges in the context of social justice and the application of law. For this reason, the intersections of law and other factors such as gender, health, race, age, socio-economics and disability require careful consideration in the context of rurality. Researchers at UNE Law work to practically translate their key project findings to:

  • develop resilient rural communities
  • develop equitable and just social systems within rural communities
  • inform best practice across a range of social justice issues in rural Australia

    • Some of our current social justice research projects include investigating:

  • the intersections of gender, law and socio-economics on intergenerational farm succession planning;
  • the impact of rurality on the nature and reporting of workplace sexual harassment;
  • the social recognition of First Nations peoples in law.
    • International and Comparative Law

    This research area focuses on matters of international and comparative law in a broad range of areas. It includes domestic and international considerations related to administrative law, domestic human rights, examination of educational, health, religious and professional bodies and institutions, public international law, international human rights law, humanitarian law, and international organisations. The comparative law aspect of this cluster examines and compares laws and policies across states, legal systems, and legal institutions. Legal theory is also encompassed in this research theme with economic, historical, jurisprudential, philosophical and social considerations in a wide variety of legal contexts, being considered through an international and comparative lens.

    Associated Projects

    The EU, International Law, the Indo-Pacific and Australia (EUIntIPOz)

    The EU, International Law, the Indo-Pacific and Australia (EIntIPOz) project develops interdisciplinary research and teaching on core aspects of EU governance (law and policy) and its relationship to Australia, in the Indo-Pacific context.

    The project explores the internal structure of the Union, its external relations, notably trade, investment, the twin transitions, fundamental rights developments and security, in the light of the Indo-Pacific Strategy and the EU relationship to Australia.

    European Union logo

    Project Contact -  Professor Ottavio Quirico