Dr Andrew Lawson

Biography

Andrew Lawson is Director of the AgLaw (Agriculture & Law) Research Hub at the University of New England (UNE), Armidale, Australia, and Senior Lecturer at UNE’s School of Law. His research focusses on issues of concern to rural communities, particularly regulatory, governance and institutional issues. This includes the rural environment, farmland stewardship, soil governance, and rural responses to the climate challenge. He is a member of the Rural Transition & Succession Research Group at UNE together with other UNE Law School and Business School colleagues. This group has had a strong focus on gender and farm transition and succession. Out of this research, he created Australia’s first university qualification in transition and succession planning, which he teaches. Other teaching responsibilities include Environmental Law and Property Law at undergraduate and Masters levels. He co-ordinates an annual memorial symposium at UNE’s Oorala Aboriginal Centre as a part of the annual commemorations 1838 Myall Creek Massacre in northern New South Wales.

He has a strong record in supervising post-graduate candidates, including domestic and international candidates from Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Indonesia, and Ethiopia.

Andrew has a unique combination of agricultural science and legal qualifications and has a professional background in rural and urban environmental issues. Before coming to UNE in 2012, he worked in Hong Kong for the local NGO Civic Exchange, for Land & Water Australia in Canberra, and a grassroots Landcare group in Holbrook, southern NSW.

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