Upcoming events and opportunities
Read our monthly round up of upcoming public law events and opportunities, including conferences, seminars and calls for papers
If you have an AUSPUBLAW opportunity, conference or significant public lecture that you would like included in this roundup, please contact us at auspublaw@unsw.edu.au. The roundup is published once a month by the first business day of the month, so please let us know in time for that deadline.
Competitions, calls for papers and scholarships
10 February 2025
Call for Papers and Panel Proposals - 32nd ANZSIL Annual Conference 2025
Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law
CfP closes: 10 February 2025
The 2025 ANZSIL Conference will be in person, at the Australian National University in Canberra, Australia on Wednesday, 2 July–Friday, 4 July 2025. The Conference theme is ‘International Law: Silence, Forgetting and Remembrance’.
The Organising Committee for the 32nd Annual Conference invites paper submissions and panel proposals on any area of public and private international law relevant to the Conference theme. This includes, but is not limited to, papers and panels that explore issues of contemporary relevance such as international law and Gaza, the Middle East, and Ukraine, climate change and refugee movements, an era of strategic competition and economic decoupling, and international litigation and dispute settlement through the lenses of silence, forgetting and remembrance.
The Conference Organising Committee will also consider proposals on international law topics not connected to the Conference theme, and welcomes the submission of panel proposals from ANZSIL Interest Groups. The Committee particularly encourages non-traditional panel formats, including round-table discussions, or a Q&A panel with subject matter experts. The Committee is very happy to be contacted for questions regarding innovative panel suggestions.
The closing date for paper and panel proposals is 10 February 2025.
ANZSIL will be awarding the Alice Edwards Breakthrough Researcher Award for participation in the 32nd ANZSIL Annual Conference. The purpose of the Award is to encourage and foster the research of the most talented and promising doctoral students and early career researchers from Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands whose research in international law is making, or is likely to make, a significant contribution to finding solutions to some of the world’s most pressing global or regional challenges. One or two awards will be made to assist in enabling doctoral students and early career researchers to present at the ANZSIL Annual Conference.
For more information, click here.
21 February 2025
Call for Papers: AIAL 2025 National Administrative Law Conference
Australian Institute of Administrative Law
CfP closes: 21 February 2025
The AIAL 2025 National Administrative Law Conference will be held in Perth on Thursday 31 July and Friday 1 August 2025 at the University Club of Western Australia, Hackett Drive, Crawley, Perth, Western Australia.
The overarching theme for the 2025 AIAL National Administrative Law Conference is Perspectives in Administrative Law. Within this topic, the 2025 Conference aims to explore and present various viewpoints and voices in administrative law, whilst also trying to understand the impact of administrative decisions on the individual.
We seek papers that explore how administrative processes and decisions shape the lives of individuals, organisations and society, including:
The impact of administrative law on First Nations peoples or people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
Challenges that individuals face when navigating administrative systems, such as public housing.
Administrative law in the context of emerging environmental and human rights issues.
Legal fictions in administrative law, including the fair-minded observer and the reasonable person.
The growing role of judicial and anti-corruption commissions in maintaining transparency and accountability.
The ability of tribunals to provide more accessible and human-centred approaches to administrative law proceedings.
The corporate perspective on administrative law including how the processes assist or hinder certainty in business operations, viability of projects, the economy and sovereign risk assessment.
The Institute calls for potential papers on our theme to be presented at the Conference. Please send written proposals for a paper by Friday 21 February 2025 by email to: Marina Georgiou at mgeorgiou@shorelinechambers.com.au and aial@commercemgt.com.au
For more information, click here.
24 February 2025
Call for Abstracts: 2025 ANZSIL Postgraduate Research Students Workshop
Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law
CfA closes: 24 February 2025
The Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law (ANZSIL) Postgraduate Research Students Workshop will be held in person on Tuesday, 1 July 2025, at the Australian National University, Canberra, Australia.
The Workshop aims to provide postgraduate degree research students with an opportunity to present their research to their peers, develop their feedback and engagement skills, discuss their experiences of postgraduate research and make academic and professional connections. Participants will give presentations on an aspect of their research for approximately 10 minutes, followed by a roundtable discussion of each paper. To facilitate this discussion, participants must submit short papers (no more than 1,500 words) for distribution before the Workshop. Participants will also be expected to engage as discussants of other papers. There is no registration fee.
Postgraduate research students wishing to present their work on an international law topic are encouraged to submit their proposals for presentation at the Workshop. Applicants must be enrolled in a higher degree research program (PhD, SJD, or Research Masters) at an Australian or New Zealand university.
Applicants should submit an abstract of up to 350 words and biographical note of 250 words no later than 24 February 2025. Short papers (no more than 1500 words) will be due on 9 June 2025.
For more information, click here.
28 February 2025
Fencott v Muller Prize & Call for Papers – UWA Law Review
University of Western Australia Law Review
Submissions close: 28 February 2025
Just over 40 years have passed since the landmark decision in Fencott v Muller [1983] HCA 12. The case featured a finely balanced decision that touched on matters of federal jurisdiction, the corporations power and trade practices law. Not only did the decision relate to a Western Australian business, but it featured a number of notable UWA alumni acting as counsel on both sides: Robert Meadows AM KC, Hon Robert French AC, John Ley SC, Hon Malcolm Lee KC and Peter Johnston. The decision continues to reverberate to this day.
To celebrate the decision and the activities of UWA alumni in helping shape the law, the UWA Law Review is pleased to announce a new $1,000 prize, kindly provided by the Hon Robert French AC, for the best article on a topic related to federal jurisdiction, the corporations power or trade practices law. To be eligible, articles must be submitted to the UWA Law Review by February 2025, and accepted for publication in Issue 1 of 2025.
28 March 2025
Australian Academy of Law – First Nations Scholarship 2025
Australian Academy of Law
Applications close: 28 March 2025, 5pm (AEDT)
The Australian Academy of Law offers the Australian Academy of Law First Nations Scholarship tenable in 2025 for a First Nations final year law student studying for the LLB or JD or combined Law degree at any Australian law school, or the Diploma in Law through the NSW Law Extension Committee (LEC).
The amount of the award is $6000 for one year only. The successful applicant may, additionally, have the opportunity of being mentored for up to a year by an AAL Fellow.
The winner will be announced by the end of April 2025. The award cannot be deferred to a later year.
Applications are through nominations by the respective Law Deans to the AAL Secretariat by the closing date of 28 March 2025 at 5pm (AEDT). Each Law Dean may nominate one Final Year First Nations law student.
Interested applicants should contact their respective Law Deans to seek to be nominated. They must provide their academic transcripts, CVs, Personal Statements of no more than 500 words and a list of their existing sources of financial sponsorship (if any).
For more information, click here.
30 March 2025
Call for Papers: 2025 Malcolm Fraser symposium
University of Melbourne
CfP closes: 30 March 2025
The University of Melbourne (Archives and Special Collections) and Trinity College are delighted to invite scholars, researchers, politicians and members of the public to submit original proposals for participation in a Symposium being held to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Fraser Government.
The Symposium will be held at Trinity College, starting with the Fraser Oration on Thursday 11 December, and with the body of the event on 12th and 13th of December.
Prospective contributors are encouraged to use the collections of the University of Melbourne in their research and will be supported in doing so. In particular, we draw attention to the Malcolm Fraser collection.
We welcome submissions on a wide range of topics, as well as suggestions for sessions, but in particular we plan sessions on the following:
financial reform
constitutional reform
human rights and administrative reform
Aboriginal affairs
public service reform
economic policy
defence policy
foreign policy
The New Federalism and national identity
We will conclude with a debate on the topic of “What is Liberalism?”
The deadline for submissions is 30 March 2024.
Submissions comprising a 200 word abstract and a CV of no more than one page, should be sent as two separate Word documents attached to an email to: kais@trinity.unimelb.edu.au. Please use the subject line “Malcolm Fraser Symposium Submission”.
For more information, click here.
1 June 2025
Call for Entries: 2025 Law and Religion Essay Competition
The University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice
Entries close: 1 June 2025, midnight AEST
Students currently enrolled in an LLB or JD university law program in Australia are invited to enter the 2025 Law and Religion Essay Competition.
The University of Southern Queensland School of Law and Justice invites submissions for the 2025 Law and Religion Essay Competition. All entries will be evaluated by a panel comprising two UniSQ academics and one external expert using standardised assessment criteria.
Prize information:
1st place – $500 and a publication opportunity with the Australian Journal of Law and Religion (AJLR). AJLR is co-edited by Dr Alex Deagon (Associate Professor in the QUT School of Law).
2nd place – $250
3rd place – $100
Entries must be submitted by 1 June 2025.
For more information, click here.
Conferences and seminars
6 February 2025
Public Law in the Classroom Workshop 2025
Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law, University of New South Wales; Public Law and Policy Research Unit, University of Adelaide; Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, Monash University; Western Sydney University School of Law
Date: 6 February 2025
Time: 11.00am-5.30pm (AEDT)
Location: Online and In-person at UNSW Law & Justice Building, UNSW Kensington Campus, Sydney
The eleventh annual Public Law in the Classroom workshop will be held at UNSW Sydney and online on Thursday, 6 February 2025.
The workshop is organised by the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law at UNSW, the Public Law and Policy Research Unit at the University of Adelaide, the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at Monash University and the School of Law at Western Sydney University. The past ten workshops have been a great success, each attracting public law teachers from across the country and internationally.
The first panel session will focus on Building Micro-Skills, and will explore how teachers have helped their students to develop the ‘micro-skills’ needed to study law, such as how to take notes, how to read for class, how to understand an assessment task, etc. The second panel session will focus on Design and Visualisation to Increase Engagement and will explore how visualisation and the design of materials can bring public law to life, encourage pre-class preparation and help students in organising their knowledge. The third panel session will focus on Authentic Assessment and will explore both assessment design, as well as the provision of feedback – particularly in the context of authentic assessment.
Attendance is free. For more information, and to register, click here.
12 February 2025
Human Rights in the Coroners Court
Human Rights Law Association
Date: 12 February 2025
Time: 6.00-7.15pm (AEDT)
Location: Online
It is well established in the UK, and recognised by the UN Human Rights Committee, that coronial inquests give effect to the right to life in their conduct of investigations into lethal incidents. The impact of domestic human rights statutes on the coronial function in Australia has so far been canvassed in a series of coronial decisions in Victoria and one decision in Queensland. There are divergences in those decisions and the position in Queensland cannot be described as a settled one. The issue is yet to be ventilated in the ACT.
The Human Rights Law Association is pleased to convene a panel session on the relevance of human rights to the coronial function, to discuss these developments and the impact human rights statutes might have on the scope of matters to be investigated at inquests, the findings that might be made with respect to the actions of public entities, and the framing of preventative recommendations.
Speakers: Klaire Coles, Coroner Simon McGregor, Bill Mitchell, Paula Morreau KC
Chair: Coroner Megan Fairweather
Attendance is free. For more information, and to register, click here.
13-14 February 2025
Artificial Intelligence, Law and Society conference
Macquarie University Ethics and Agency Research Centre; Macquarie University Data Horizons Research Centre; ANU School of Regulation and Global Governance; Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence
Date: 13-14 February 2025
Location: Macquarie Law School, Michael Kirby Building, 17 Wally's Walk, Wallumattagal Campus, Sydney
The inaugural Artificial Intelligence, Law and Society conference addresses one of the most pressing issues of our time: the rapid advancement and integration of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and other sophisticated technologies into various sectors of society. As these technologies continue to evolve and proliferate, they offer unprecedented opportunities for innovation, efficiency, and problem-solving across diverse domains. However, they also pose significant ethical and legal challenges that must be carefully articulated, regulated, and governed to ensure that their development and deployment are both beneficial and just.
This conference aims to create a dynamic and interdisciplinary platform where scholars and policy makers come together to discuss research on ethical, social, legal, and governance issues surrounding AI to inform ongoing AI policy and law-making debates.
Sessions and featured speakers include:
AI in government: Regulatory challenges (Elizabeth Tydd, Australian Information Commissioner; Paul Miller, NSW Ombudsman; Katelyn Cioffi, New York University)
AI and First Nations’ perspectives (Dr Terri Janke, Terri Janke & Co)
AI privacy, bias and transparency (Prof Lyria Bennett Moses, University of New South Wales)
For more information, and to register, click here.
19 February 2025
2025 George Winterton Memorial Lecture
University of Sydney Law School; University of Western Australia Law School
Date: 19 February 2025
Time: 5.30pm-6.45pm (AEDT) , registration from 5pm
Location: Banco Court, Supreme Court of NSW (184 Phillip Street, Sydney)
The Hon Stephen Gageler AC, Chief Justice of Australia, will deliver this year’s George Winterton Memorial Lecture: “The evolving electoral system as an ongoing constitutional process”.
The form of popular sovereignty empowered by the Australian Constitution was framed to be government by "the people" in constitutive and routine manifestations, both sustaining and sustained by the system of government it called into existence. It was framed to be dynamic, the design of the electoral system according to which the people would act in those distinct manifestations having been entrusted to development by ordinary law made by the Commonwealth Parliament. And it can be seen to have evolved: through the development of a broad franchise to be exercised by the people today in fact comprising the large portion of the community entitled to vote at federal elections and at constitutional referenda; and through the establishment of a system of compulsory voting by which the people today in fact exercise that broad franchise. The form of popular sovereignty empowered by the Australian Constitution can accordingly be seen today to be government by "the people" writ large. Chief Justice Gageler will trace this evolution as a process by which ordinary law has built out the constitutional structure empowering popular sovereignty.
A cocktail reception will follow the lecture. For more information, and to register, click here.
24 February 2025
Meet the author - Misha Ketchell, Frank Bongiorno, Michelle Grattan and Mark Kenny
Australian National University; The Canberra Times
Date: 24 February 2025
Time: 6.00pm-7.00pm (AEDT)
Location: Cultural Centre Kambri (ANU Building 153), Tangney Rd, Acton, ACT, 2601
Misha Ketchell will moderate a discussion with Frank Bongiorno, Michelle Grattan and Mark Kenny, contributors to the new collection of essays, How Australian Democracy Works. And why we need it more than ever, edited by Amanda Dunn, a book in which The Conversation‘s best authors reveal the real story of how power works in Australia.
In recent years, the trust in Australian politics and politicians has been at an all-time low. From political polarisation and the spread of disinformation to the lack of trust in the public institutions that underpin our government, the truth can often be hard to find.
How Australian Democracy Works is a much-needed pulse check of our country’s political health and a helpful guide to understanding our nation’s political history and our place in the world, from government, parliament, the Constitution and pressing policy issues.
For more information, and to register, click here.
25-26 February 2025
Leading in the Law 2025
Centre for the Future of the Legal Profession, University of New South Wales Law and Justice
Date: 25-26 February 2025
Location: Cliftons, Lvl 11, 60 Margaret St, Sydney
Join Centre for the Future of the Legal Profession on February 25 and 26 2025 for the inaugural two-day summit to discover how lawyers lead in various capacities, from self and team leadership to shaping the profession and impacting society.
Be inspired and motivated by our lineup of speakers who are leaders in the field. Attendees can expect an immersive two days with front line presentations and panel discussions, exploring the multifaceted ways lawyers and the legal sector lead.
Speakers include:
The Hon Andrew Bell, Chief Justice of New South Wales
Juliana Warner, President Elect, Law Council of Australia
Stuart Fuller, KPMG Head of Global Legal Services
Topics include:
Access to justice as leadership
Breaking Barriers: structural challenges to diversity in the legal profession
Technology - leading beyond competence
There is a fee for this event. For more information, and to register, click here.
28 February 2025
2025 Sydney Centre for International Law “Year in Review”
Sydney Centre for International Law, University of Sydney Law School
Date: 28 February 2025
Time: 9.00am-5.00pm (AEDT)
Location: Common Room, Level 4, New Law Building, University of Sydney
This annual ‘year in review’ conference gives participants insight into the latest developments in international law over the preceding year, including those most salient for Australia.
This all-day event features Professor Aaron Fellmeth of the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law as keynote speaker and includes insights on important legal developments in 2024. Nick Bryant, one of the BBC’s finest foreign correspondents, joins us for a literary lunch where he will discuss his latest book The Forever War.
The conference will traverse recent developments in areas such as public international law, private international law, international criminal law and international environmental law. Speakers will include leading academics, practitioners and government lawyers.
There is a fee for this event. For more information, and to register, click here.
19 March 2025
Information Integrity, Transparency and Accountability
InfoGovANZ
Date: 19 March 2025
Time: 12.00-1.00pm (AEDT)
Location: Online
Join us for a conversation with the Australian Information Commissioner – Elizabeth Tydd and the Director-General of the National Archives of Australia – Simon Froude to discuss the critical importance of ensuring information integrity and accessibility in government. Our special guests will discuss their collaborative efforts to promote proactive information management and foster transparency, accountability, and citizen engagement.
Key topics will include:
The evolving role of information in democracy;
The importance of a proactive approach to the management of government information;
Strategies for improving information access while maintaining information integrity; and
Maintaining openness, transparency, accountability and integrity in the age of AI.
There is a fee for this event. For more information, and to register, click here.
22-24 August 2025
2025 Samuel Griffith Society Conference
Samuel Griffith Society
Date: 22-24 August 2025
Location: Ritz-Carlton Perth
The 35th annual national conference of The Samuel Griffith Society will be held at the Ritz-Carlton in Perth over the weekend of Friday 22 August to Sunday 24 August, 2025.
The conference will feature:
The Fifteenth Sir Harry Gibbs Memorial Oration, delivered by The Hon Simon Steward, Justice of the High Court of Australia
The Third Sir David Smith Memorial Oration, delivered by The Hon Tony Abbott AC, 28th Prime Minister of Australia
Other announced speakers include:
The Hon Richard Court AC, 26th Premier of Western Australia
There is a fee for this event. Early bird registration for the conference is open for financial members and their guests until 11:59 pm AEDT Sunday 9 February and will not be extended further. Accommodation at the Ritz-Carlton may also now be booked at a special discount rate for conference attendees.
For more information, and to register, click here.