Optimising Industry-led Regulation for the Digital Platforms Era. This project aims to investigate how harms caused by digital platforms can be effectively prevented through co-regulation where industry develops rules enforced by a regulator. Widely used in the broader communications sector, ‘co-regulation’ remains chronically under-theorised and its effectiveness has never been adequately reviewed. Meanwhile, harms such as disinformation and violent content expand in both scale and impact. This ....Optimising Industry-led Regulation for the Digital Platforms Era. This project aims to investigate how harms caused by digital platforms can be effectively prevented through co-regulation where industry develops rules enforced by a regulator. Widely used in the broader communications sector, ‘co-regulation’ remains chronically under-theorised and its effectiveness has never been adequately reviewed. Meanwhile, harms such as disinformation and violent content expand in both scale and impact. This research will provide an evidential base for optimising co-regulation in the contemporary Australian communications environment, benefiting regulators seeking to meet public policy goals; consumers experiencing online harms; and platforms themselves, who might otherwise be subject to blunt regulatory tools.Read moreRead less
Legal and social dynamics of eBook lending in Australia’s public libraries. Legal and social dynamics of eBook lending in Australia’s public libraries. This project aims to develop an evidence base of quantitative and qualitative data about how eBooks are used in libraries. EBooks have tremendous beneficial potential, particularly for Australians in remote areas and those with impaired mobility or vision. However, libraries’ rights to acquire and lend them are more restricted than for physical b ....Legal and social dynamics of eBook lending in Australia’s public libraries. Legal and social dynamics of eBook lending in Australia’s public libraries. This project aims to develop an evidence base of quantitative and qualitative data about how eBooks are used in libraries. EBooks have tremendous beneficial potential, particularly for Australians in remote areas and those with impaired mobility or vision. However, libraries’ rights to acquire and lend them are more restricted than for physical books. Libraries and legal, social and data science researchers will investigate eBook lending practices and understand their social impacts. The project will identify ways of reforming policy, law, and practice to help libraries fulfil their public interest missions. This project is expected to enable libraries to extract more value from existing public investments.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE210100525
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$421,625.00
Summary
Reconceptualising copyright to improve access to screen culture . This project examines the impact of copyright law in Australia’s screen industries, focusing on distribution and access to audiovisual material. It seeks to understand how copyright law and practice can better ensure that the wealth of humankind’s recorded creative output is available for people to enjoy, learn from, and reuse. It combines novel digital research methods with in-depth interviews to study the challenges of licensing ....Reconceptualising copyright to improve access to screen culture . This project examines the impact of copyright law in Australia’s screen industries, focusing on distribution and access to audiovisual material. It seeks to understand how copyright law and practice can better ensure that the wealth of humankind’s recorded creative output is available for people to enjoy, learn from, and reuse. It combines novel digital research methods with in-depth interviews to study the challenges of licensing and distribution in the screen industries, where copyright is at its most complex. It aims to provide rigorous evidence to inform the development of technology-neutral regulation for Australia's copyright industries, improve copyright licensing markets, and unlock the value of under-distributed screen content.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
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
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE220100064
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$448,919.00
Summary
Socio-Legal Implications of Virtual Autopsies in Coronial Investigations. This project aims to assess how forensic imaging technology impacts coronial investigations in Australia. It expects to generate new knowledge on the implementation of post-mortem computed tomography in coronial investigations using a socio-legal approach. Expected outcomes include a framework for understanding how the technology has been developed in coronial investigations, and the social and legal effects of using virtu ....Socio-Legal Implications of Virtual Autopsies in Coronial Investigations. This project aims to assess how forensic imaging technology impacts coronial investigations in Australia. It expects to generate new knowledge on the implementation of post-mortem computed tomography in coronial investigations using a socio-legal approach. Expected outcomes include a framework for understanding how the technology has been developed in coronial investigations, and the social and legal effects of using virtual autopsies as a supplement or replacement of post-mortem dissections. This should provide significant benefits for stakeholders of the coronial process, through deeper understanding of how new technologies can be best implemented to improve the efficiency, accuracy and cost-effectiveness of coronial investigations.Read moreRead less
Regulatory power and corporate misconduct. This project aims to map and critically analyse the shift towards negotiated enforcement in response to corporate misconduct in the financial sector. There is growing concern within the community, consumer advocates, elected representatives and the finance industry itself about the increasing use by regulators of negotiated enforcement mechanisms rather than litigation to counter serious corporate misconduct in the financial sector. There is concern tha ....Regulatory power and corporate misconduct. This project aims to map and critically analyse the shift towards negotiated enforcement in response to corporate misconduct in the financial sector. There is growing concern within the community, consumer advocates, elected representatives and the finance industry itself about the increasing use by regulators of negotiated enforcement mechanisms rather than litigation to counter serious corporate misconduct in the financial sector. There is concern that these practices may lack transparency, be inefficient, fail to deter corporate misbehaviour, and operate to subvert individual justice and the rule of law. This project aims to address these concerns by developing detailed recommendations for reform based on an examination of the theory and practices of Australian and United States of America financial regulators.Read moreRead less
Constituent power in federal constitutions. The concept of constituent power is fundamental to public law. This project aims to provide the first systematic and theoretical examination of the concept as it manifests in federations. The idea of constituent power was first developed in unitary states. Consequently, its role in federations has rarely been explored. Expected outcomes include a systematic comparative analysis of constituent power in federations and the development of a theory of plur ....Constituent power in federal constitutions. The concept of constituent power is fundamental to public law. This project aims to provide the first systematic and theoretical examination of the concept as it manifests in federations. The idea of constituent power was first developed in unitary states. Consequently, its role in federations has rarely been explored. Expected outcomes include a systematic comparative analysis of constituent power in federations and the development of a theory of pluralised constituent power. Expected benefits include the generation of insights into the constitutional foundations of federal systems (including Australia), new approaches to the interpretation of federal constitutions and mapping of pathways for legitimate constitutional reform.Read moreRead less
Reconceiving Engagement with International Law in a Populist Era. This project seeks to address the fundamental problem of how to reconceive engagement by states with the international legal order, in the face of a sustained populist backlash. It proposes to develop a new analytical framework to evaluate the origins and impact of populist concerns about international law. Expected outcomes include detailed empirical studies of the extent to which countries with populist leaders have disengaged f ....Reconceiving Engagement with International Law in a Populist Era. This project seeks to address the fundamental problem of how to reconceive engagement by states with the international legal order, in the face of a sustained populist backlash. It proposes to develop a new analytical framework to evaluate the origins and impact of populist concerns about international law. Expected outcomes include detailed empirical studies of the extent to which countries with populist leaders have disengaged from the international legal order, and evidence-based recommendations to increase committed engagement by states with that order. Anticipated benefits include expanding national research and policy capacity in reinforcing the rules and institutions that support Australia’s security and prosperity.Read moreRead less
Financial exclusion, poor insurer practices and consumer protection. This project aims to study financial exclusion and variations in access to general insurance, as well as insurer practices in selling insurance and handling claims. Through surveys, focus groups and interviews, the project also aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the legal protections for consumers of general insurance. The expected project outcomes include law and policy reform proposals to improve the effectiveness of these ....Financial exclusion, poor insurer practices and consumer protection. This project aims to study financial exclusion and variations in access to general insurance, as well as insurer practices in selling insurance and handling claims. Through surveys, focus groups and interviews, the project also aims to evaluate the effectiveness of the legal protections for consumers of general insurance. The expected project outcomes include law and policy reform proposals to improve the effectiveness of these protections and maximise access to general insurance, particularly for socio-economically disadvantaged consumers. This should have benefits such as an increased uptake of general insurance and improved community resilience to natural disasters and other unforeseen events.Read moreRead less