Reclaiming copyright's lost cultural value for authors and the public. This project aims to develop new empirical understandings of the cultural value lost through current approaches to copyright. Copyright rules that favour one party do necessarily need to imply losses for another. By changing the scope and division of rights it is possible to improve outcomes for multiple stakeholders. The project will result in new understanding of how this can be achieved within the confines of an unamendabl ....Reclaiming copyright's lost cultural value for authors and the public. This project aims to develop new empirical understandings of the cultural value lost through current approaches to copyright. Copyright rules that favour one party do necessarily need to imply losses for another. By changing the scope and division of rights it is possible to improve outcomes for multiple stakeholders. The project will result in new understanding of how this can be achieved within the confines of an unamendable treaty framework by exploring fuller protection of authorship as a mechanism for securing a fairer go for creators, unlocking new opportunities for publishers, generating new sources of arts funding and improving access for the public. The project should provide significant benefit by informing law reform debates at domestic and international levels.Read moreRead less
Small States' use of law of the sea litigation against greater powers. This project will investigate how small States are using law of the sea dispute settlement mechanisms to gain political advantages in conflicts with greater powers, including Security Council permanent members. It is important to understand how the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea can be leveraged to defend coastal State rights in strategic disputes concerning sovereign rights, unresolved boundaries, and military affairs. ....Small States' use of law of the sea litigation against greater powers. This project will investigate how small States are using law of the sea dispute settlement mechanisms to gain political advantages in conflicts with greater powers, including Security Council permanent members. It is important to understand how the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea can be leveraged to defend coastal State rights in strategic disputes concerning sovereign rights, unresolved boundaries, and military affairs. This research will better equip lawyers and policy makers to understand how such strategic litigation strengthens or undermines the rules based order at sea. The project will assist Australia to maintain its leading role in defending that maritime order and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea as its cornerstone.Read moreRead less
Normalising Ability Diversity through Career Transitions:Disability at Work. This project aims to investigate how the higher education sector can better support people with disabilities to transition from economic exclusion to work. One in five Australians have a disability and of these 47.3% are not employed. This is a significant issue with regulatory failures and challenges often affecting rights to education and work being exercised on an equal basis. This project seeks to examine internatio ....Normalising Ability Diversity through Career Transitions:Disability at Work. This project aims to investigate how the higher education sector can better support people with disabilities to transition from economic exclusion to work. One in five Australians have a disability and of these 47.3% are not employed. This is a significant issue with regulatory failures and challenges often affecting rights to education and work being exercised on an equal basis. This project seeks to examine international legal norms, theories and strategic and operational practices in the higher education sector. Expected outcomes include advances in scholarship on ableism, informed policy reform, and transferable operational processes for the education and employment sectors, to improve the transition of people with disabilities to work.Read moreRead less
Better end-of-life care through an optimal, holistic regulatory framework. This project aims to enhance end-of-life care through better regulation. Current regulation does not work as intended and is complex and fragmented. This harms patients, families and health professionals, and wastes health resources across the 100,000 medical end-of-life decisions in Australia annually. Expected outcomes are: (1) the first study internationally to establish in practice how the interaction of conflicting l ....Better end-of-life care through an optimal, holistic regulatory framework. This project aims to enhance end-of-life care through better regulation. Current regulation does not work as intended and is complex and fragmented. This harms patients, families and health professionals, and wastes health resources across the 100,000 medical end-of-life decisions in Australia annually. Expected outcomes are: (1) the first study internationally to establish in practice how the interaction of conflicting law, policies, ethics and training affects the end-of-life care patients receive; and (2) a new holistic regulatory framework to enhance the quality of end-of-life care. Expected benefits are better palliative care, more patient involvement in decisions, reduced patient-doctor conflict and a more efficient health system.Read moreRead less
Informal Lawmaking in Maritime Security: New Directions in Ocean Governance. This project will investigate the rapidly increasing contribution of informal lawmaking to promoting maritime security and to developing new forms of ocean governance. It is important to assess this form of international cooperation in response to key maritime security concerns, such as the freedom of navigation, boat migration, illegal fishing and transnational crimes, to demonstrate the impact of diverse actors, insti ....Informal Lawmaking in Maritime Security: New Directions in Ocean Governance. This project will investigate the rapidly increasing contribution of informal lawmaking to promoting maritime security and to developing new forms of ocean governance. It is important to assess this form of international cooperation in response to key maritime security concerns, such as the freedom of navigation, boat migration, illegal fishing and transnational crimes, to demonstrate the impact of diverse actors, institutions and networks on governance. This research will facilitate how international lawyers and policymakers can currently influence the operation of international law to improve maritime security responses and will better equip Australia to preserve its leadership role internationally in promoting a rules-based order at sea.Read moreRead less
Constitutional Design & Democratic Resilience . Democracy is under stress worldwide. Both new and longstanding are seeing waves of democratic erosion. In many cases, this erosion is also taking new and more subtle forms, which are harder to detect than outright coups or suspensions of democracy – that is, they involve a form of “abusive constitutional change” that uses existing legal democratic norms and processes to subvert democracy from within. This Project will investigate the nature and sc ....Constitutional Design & Democratic Resilience . Democracy is under stress worldwide. Both new and longstanding are seeing waves of democratic erosion. In many cases, this erosion is also taking new and more subtle forms, which are harder to detect than outright coups or suspensions of democracy – that is, they involve a form of “abusive constitutional change” that uses existing legal democratic norms and processes to subvert democracy from within. This Project will investigate the nature and scope of this problem of abusive constitutional change, as well as potential solutions through constitutional design. It will offer new theoretical insights for the field of comparative constitutional studies, and practical insights for policymakers in Australia and globally.Read moreRead less
The Blue Economy and International Law. States, regional bodies and international financial institutions are seeking new economic opportunities from the sea. Both national and globally-shared ocean resources are marked for the pandemic recovery amidst escalating threats including marine plastics pollution, climate change and overfishing. The Blue Economy promises to deliver growth that aligns with environmental and human welfare goals. This project aims to provide the first detailed analysis of ....The Blue Economy and International Law. States, regional bodies and international financial institutions are seeking new economic opportunities from the sea. Both national and globally-shared ocean resources are marked for the pandemic recovery amidst escalating threats including marine plastics pollution, climate change and overfishing. The Blue Economy promises to deliver growth that aligns with environmental and human welfare goals. This project aims to provide the first detailed analysis of the laws and practices relating to the Blue Economy. It will investigate treaties and other instruments from trade, development, fisheries, climate and environmental organisations. The findings will provide guidance to Australia, the Indo-Pacific region and the international community.Read moreRead less
Unravelling Corporate Fraud: re-purposing ancient laws for modern times. This project aims to reform the ancient laws of common law and equitable fraud that underpin commercial regulation in Australia. These laws are vital to supporting a fair and efficient economy but have failed to evolve to address the rise of corporate actors. Drawing upon a collaborative network of experts, the project intends to develop models of liability that address and overcome the existing ‘state of mind’ and ‘attribu ....Unravelling Corporate Fraud: re-purposing ancient laws for modern times. This project aims to reform the ancient laws of common law and equitable fraud that underpin commercial regulation in Australia. These laws are vital to supporting a fair and efficient economy but have failed to evolve to address the rise of corporate actors. Drawing upon a collaborative network of experts, the project intends to develop models of liability that address and overcome the existing ‘state of mind’ and ‘attribution’ hurdles to holding corporations liable for fraudulent conduct. The intended outcome is a road map for comprehensive judicial and legislative law reform, which should offer significant legal, economic and social benefits by supporting more just, effective and efficient regulation of corporate fraud.Read moreRead less
Regulating and countering structural inequality on digital platforms. This project aims to find legal, ethical, technical, and commercial opportunities to counter inequality online. It uses machine learning and custom data collection tools to create new knowledge about how digital platforms—including search engines, social media, peer economy, and news platforms—can help to tackle misogyny, racism, and other forms of structural discrimination. It uses this knowledge to investigate the extent to ....Regulating and countering structural inequality on digital platforms. This project aims to find legal, ethical, technical, and commercial opportunities to counter inequality online. It uses machine learning and custom data collection tools to create new knowledge about how digital platforms—including search engines, social media, peer economy, and news platforms—can help to tackle misogyny, racism, and other forms of structural discrimination. It uses this knowledge to investigate the extent to which private sector digital platforms can be expected to monitor and regulate the actions of their users, what responsibilities they have to avoid contributing to discrimination, hatred, intolerance and abuse, and how the law should develop to ensure that our digital environment is more equal and fair. Read moreRead less
Understanding and Recognising Indigenous Law and Legal Systems. This project aims to analyse the written constitutions and laws of Indigenous nations in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. The Project expects to generate the first comparative study of written Indigenous law. It will generate new knowledge of Indigenous legal concepts that will enable settler and Indigenous officials, scholars and members of the public to better understand and recognise Indigenous law. Expected ....Understanding and Recognising Indigenous Law and Legal Systems. This project aims to analyse the written constitutions and laws of Indigenous nations in Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. The Project expects to generate the first comparative study of written Indigenous law. It will generate new knowledge of Indigenous legal concepts that will enable settler and Indigenous officials, scholars and members of the public to better understand and recognise Indigenous law. Expected outcomes of this project include new knowledge that will improve the effectiveness of settler law by ensuring it responds to Indigenous values and aspirations; facilitate the design of Indigenous representative institutions; and assist the negotiation of treaties and other agreements.Read moreRead less