Creating global change through world-class research
The Law Futures Centre was established in 2015 to produce outstanding scholarship—often interdisciplinary—that anticipates, innovates and meets pressing emerging challenges for law and legal institutions in Australia and internationally.
We bring together researchers from law, environmental sciences, international relations, business, health, criminology and humanities, to harness law as a key melioristic tool for shaping a better, more just future.
Our members are committed to outstanding collaborative research that is responsible for global change. We compete successfully for significant external research grants and have received significant funding for cutting-edge research, including from the Australian Research Council, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and the Open Society. Our members include Australian Research Council Future Fellows, Fulbright Scholars and Australian Development Research Award holders.
Our research
Discover more about our strategic approaches, innovation and collaboration across our four key research areas:
- Law, Governance and Global Change
- Law and Nature
- Law, Risk and Innovation
- Lawyering, Legal Education and Law's Future.
CENTRE DIRECTOR
Professor Mary Keyes
Professor Mary Keyes was appointed Director of the Law Futures Centre in January 2020. Prior to her appointment as Director, she was Deputy Director of the Centre. Her main area of research and teaching is private international law, and she has particular interests in jurisdiction and the use of agreements.
Professor Keyes is Review Articles Editor of the Journal of Private International Law and a member of two Experts’ Groups at the Hague Conference on Private International Law, on their projects on Jurisdiction and Family Agreements Involving Children. She will give a special course at the Hague Academy of International Law in August 2021, entitled ‘The Intentions of the Parties in Private International Law’.
Deputy Director
Professor Elena Marchetti
Professor Elena Marchetti is a Professor of Law in the Griffith Law School, Griffith University, and a member of the Griffith Criminology Institute and Law Futures Centre at Griffith University. She is also the Deputy Chair of the Queensland Sentencing Advisory Council. Elena completed her PhD in 2005 on how the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody considered the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women whose deaths in custody were investigated by the Royal Commission. Since completing her PhD she has been the recipient of two prestigious Australian Research Council Fellowships: an Australian Research Fellowship that considered the impact of using Indigenous sentencing courts for partner violence offending; and a Future Fellowship that aims to explore different ways of evaluating Indigenous-focused criminal justice programs. She is the author of a number of articles, chapters and reports in the areas of Indigenous justice, Indigenous sentencing courts and intersectional race and gender analyses of legal processes. Her book titled Indigenous Culture, Courts and Partner Violence was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2019.
Professor Mary Keyes
Professor Mary Keyes was appointed Director of the Law Futures Centre in January 2020. Prior to her appointment as Director, she was Deputy Director of the Centre. Her main area of research and teaching is private international law, and she has particular interests in jurisdiction and the use of agreements.
Professor Keyes is Review Articles Editor of the Journal of Private International Law and a member of two Experts’ Groups at the Hague Conference on Private International Law, on their projects on Jurisdiction and Family Agreements Involving Children. She will give a special course at the Hague Academy of International Law in August 2021, entitled ‘The Intentions of the Parties in Private International Law’.
Advisory board
Our Advisory Board is comprised of leaders from the judiciary, the legal profession, academia and the media.
Mr Greg Vickery AO (Chair) Norton Rose Fulbright
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Justice Patrick Keane AC – High Court of Australia
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Justice Berna Collier – Federal Court of Australia
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Ms Katherine Hayes - Youth Advocacy Centre Inc
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Ms Yasmin Murry - ACCC
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Mr Chris Flynn – White and Case
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Ms Amy Stockwell – SBS
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Professor Adrienne Stone – University of Melbourne
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Full members
Full members
Professor Kylie Burns
- Tort Law, Accident Compensation Systems and NDIS
- Judicial Decision-Making and Social Science
- Legal Education
Dr Chris Butler
- Legal theory and urban political ecology
- Public law and the control of state power
Professor Deborah Cao
- Animal law and welfare in China
- Legal semiotics and language used in law
- Chinese legal translation
Dr Shahram Dana
- Public international law, genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, national security, and terrorism
- The role of international atrocity trials in shaping international relations and world order
Professor Brett Freudenberg
- Taxation of small businesses and trusts
- Tax literacy and work-integrated learning
Associate Professor Patricia Fronek
- Surrogacy and adoption
- Social work practice, international social work and health emergencies
Professor Sue Harris-Rimmer
- Human rights based approaches to policy problems, especially climate justice
- Feminist approaches to international law and transitional justice
Professor Charles Lawson
- Intellectual property and especially patents and plant breeder's rights
- Law and biology and especially law and synthetic biology
Dr Simon McKenzie
- New military technology and international law
- International criminal law
- International humanitarian law
Dr Anna Mortimore
- Economic instruments in reducing road transport CO2 emissions
- Policy measures and analysis on the uptake of Electric Vehicles
Dr Emma Palmer
- International Criminal Law
- Infrastructure and Human Rights in Southeast Asia
Ms Emma Robinson
- Migration and refugee law
- Higher education and technology enhanced learning
Professor Charles Sampford
- Multidisciplinary values based governance research
- Ethics, integrity and professionalism
Associate Professor Malcolm Smith
- Health and medical law
- Bioethics and the regulation of health care
Eddie Synot
- Indigenous peoples and the law
- Constitutional law and democratic participation
Professor Therese Wilson
- Consumer law with a focus on consumer credit and vulnerability
- Commercial law including international commercial law, international
Professor Leanne Wiseman
- Intellectual Property in Agriculture
- Balancing IP rights with genuine access to information, whether that be in agricultural digital technologies or more generally.
Associate members
Adjuncts and research candidates
Explore our research candidates and adjunct members who help drive our research findings.