Research

Kate's PhD research started with a shocking discovery. Children in orphanages sponsored by her charity had been recruited and posed as orphans for funding. After winding up the orphanages and reuniting children with their families, she discovered how commonplace these schemes were. Parents were being promised an education for their children, often for a fee, but in reality these children were being sold into orphanages to meet the demand of volunteer tourists and their donations.

Kate's research has been instrumental in the Australian government's world-first recognition of orphanage trafficking as a form of modern slavery through the Modern Slavery Act 2018. Internationally she has worked with the United States Department of State on the Trafficking in Persons Report to recognise the links between orphanages and trafficking, and the Dutch and United Kingdom governments on the same issues.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has detrimentally affected all recognised human rights in every country. Professor Sarah Joseph has been working on the human rights implications of COVID-19 since April 2020, with one published paper, an earlier free access version of that paper, several media outputs and presentations to audiences in Indonesia, Turkey, the Australian National University, Bond University and a forum under the auspices of the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Her latest work is on the crucial issue of equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines. While rich countries can aspire to vaccinating most of their populations in 2021, poorer countries have very low rates of vaccination. Yet the pandemic will not be over until it is over for everyone, as uncontrolled COVID spread is more likely to produce variants of concern such as Delta, or worse, variants that are truly resistant to vaccines. In this paper, co-written with epidemiologist Professor Greg Dore, she explores the issue of global vaccine equity through the lens of international human rights law.

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The Right to Repair movement is a global response to the inability of consumers to repair their digital goods. At the heart of the legal and regulatory barriers to repair is the IP law regime. The inability of Australians to repair their smart goods or to access repair or service information is having a significant impact on not only the Australian economy, but also its environmental future.

Leanne is an ARC Future Fellow whose project, Unlocking Digital Innovation: Intellectual Property and the Right to Repair (2022-2025) is being funded in the sum of $1,087,370. Leanne’s research on the intersection of The Right to Repair and IP laws, raises difficult but important questions both from a theoretical and practical perspective. Her research will examine the regulatory implications of a Right to Repair through as series of industry case studies including examining repairability barriers and opportunities within the automotive; agricultural; consumer and repair industries.

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'The Indigenous Justice Reports: New narratives and practices in sentencing’ ARC Linkage Project (lead by Professor Thalia Anthony (UTS), with Professors Elena Marchetti and Larissa Behrendt (UTS)) engages a participatory action research model to assess the impact of Indigenous Justice Reports in sentencing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It introduces Aboriginal Community Justice Reports for Aboriginal people being sentenced in selected Country Koori and mainstream courts in Victoria and expands their availability in some Queensland Murri Courts.

This project seeks to improve sentencing processes and outcomes by providing courts with reports that address personal and community circumstances of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, provide relevant sentencing options and detail appropriate supports. It builds on previous research by the Chief Investigators, which was funded by the Australian Institute of Judicial Administration and published in the Journal of Judicial Administration.

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The Australian Government currently faces a significant dilemma about how to allocate limited resources in a way that ensures the rights and entitlements of all Australians with a disability. NDIS Scheme officials and personnel urgently require clarity and consistency to improve their decision-making. Citizens with a disability, particularly those without advocacy support, require assurances that their rights are safeguarded within the Scheme.

By enhancing the visibility and transparency of decision-making processes and priorities, and promoting informed public discussion, this project will contribute to making the National Disability Insurance Scheme a fair and sustainable scheme, and an international exemplar. This project will highlight the power and justice effects of the administration of the NDIS, including what principles and values serve as dominant justifications for reasonable and necessary support, areas of contestation with choice and control, and the discrepancies in how administrative justice is viewed.

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Malcolm’s recent work has been focused on the legal and regulatory issues that impact on those supporting persons with diabetes. Malcolm’s current work with the Australian Diabetes Educators Association (ADEA) is focused on the legal, ethical and professional practice issues for Credentialled Diabetes Educators in terms of their scope of practice.

Malcolm’s previous work in this field, undertaken with Dr Elizabeth Dickson ( QUT ), has included a major project with Diabetes Australia and the ADEA focusing on the legal issues for schools and school staff in supporting students with type 1 diabetes in the school setting, including the legal issues associated with insulin administration by school staff. Malcolm’s previous work with the ADEA has also examined the legal issues relevant to the administration of insulin by carers and support workers to persons with a disability and type 1 diabetes.

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Professor Susan Harris Rimmer focuses on international human rights law, climate justice and gender equality in the Griffith Law School and is a member of the Griffith Asia Institute. Sue leads the Climate Justice theme of the Griffith Climate Action Beacon, is the founder of the EveryGen coalition and is the co-convenor of the Griffith Gender Equality Research Network.

Susan provided the independent Human Rights Assessment for the successful FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia and New Zealand 2032 Bid in 2020 and was the Human Rights Adviser to GOLDOC for the 2018 Commonwealth Games. She was also appointed as the Independent Reviewer for the Queensland Human Rights Act 2019 in 2024. Susan is the editor of Climate Politics in Oceania, Futures of International Criminal Justice, the Research Handbook for Feminist Engagement with International Law and author of Gender and Transitional Justice: The Women of Timor Leste and over 44 refereed academic works in leading journals. She has won over $2 million in grants and consultancies. She currently holds voluntary board positions as President of UNAA Qld and Foundations for Tomorrow.

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