Dr Simon McKenzie
Honorary Fellow
TC Beirne School of Law
Researcher biography
Simon McKenzie is a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland School of Law. Simon's current research focuses on the legal challenges connected with the defence and security applications of science and technology, with a particular focus on the impact of autonomous systems. His broader research and teaching interests include the law of armed conflict, international criminal law, and domestic criminal law.
Prior to joining the University of Queensland, Simon was a policy officer in the Victorian Department of Justice and Community Safety, working in a team responsible for reforming the criminal justice system to better respond to family violence. He has held teaching roles at the Melbourne Law School and as a researcher at the Supreme Court of Victoria where he completed a major research project on the management of expert evidence in the Kilmore East Bushfire Proceedings, the largest class action in Victoria's history. He has also worked as a researcher at the International Criminal Court assisting the Special Advisor to the Prosecutor on international humanitarian law. He began his career in 2011 at a large commercial law firm in Melbourne.
Simon graduated in 2011 from the University of Tasmania with a combined Arts and Law Degree with First Class Honours in Law and was admitted to practice in Victoria later that year. He received his PhD in international criminal law from the University of Melbourne in 2018.
Publications
Book
McKenzie, Simon (2020). Disputed territories and international criminal law: Israeli settlements and the international criminal court. Abingdon, Oxon, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003004004
Book Chapter
Massingham, Eve and McKenzie, Simon (2022). Testing knowledge: weapons reviews of autonomous weapons systems and the international criminal trial. Futures of international criminal justice. (pp. 177-197) edited by Emma Palmer, Susan Harris Rimmer, Edwin Bikundo and Martin Clark. London, United Kingdom: Routledge. doi: 10.4324/9781003087533-11
Journal Articles
McKenzie, Simon (2023). Review of The Concept of Security in International Law by NASU Hitoshi. New York, United States: West Point Press, 2022. xxxiii + 261 pp. Open Access. Online: http://westpointpress.com/security-in-international-law. Asian Journal of International Law, 13 (2), 409-410. doi: 10.1017/s2044251323000152
McKenzie, Simon and Massingham. Eve (2023). AUKUS: the regulation of the ocean and the legal dangers of working together. Ocean Yearbook, 37 (1), 136-170. doi: 10.1163/22116001-03701008
McKenzie, Simon (2023). Sovereign immunity of uncrewed surveillance vehicles and the limits of enforcement jurisdiction. Nordic Journal of International Law, 92 (4), 1-26. doi: 10.1163/15718107-bja10062
McKenzie, Simon (2022). The challenge of automated and autonomous technologies to Australian Defence Force compliance with workplace health and safety laws. Australian Journal of Defence and Strategic Studies, 4 (1), 65-88. doi: 10.51174/ajdss.0401/zyun5810
McKenzie, Simon (2021). Cyber Operations against Civilian Data. Journal of International Criminal Justice, 19 (5), 1165-1192. doi: 10.1093/jicj/mqab067
McKenzie, Simon and Massingham, Eve (2021). Taking care against the computer: precautions against military operations on digital infrastructure. Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies, 12 (2), 1-27. doi: 10.1163/18781527-bja10036
McKenzie, Simon (2021). Autonomous technology and dynamic obligations: uncrewed maritime vehicles and the regulation of maritime military surveillance in the exclusive economic zone. Asian Journal of International Law, 11 (1), 146-175. doi: 10.1017/s2044251321000011
McKenzie, Simon (2020). When is a ship a ship? Use by state armed forces of un-crewed maritime vehicles and the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Melbourne Journal of International Law, 21 (2).
Conference Papers
McKenzie, Simon (2020). Territorial trespass and the sovereign immunity of uncrewed surveillance vehicles. Colloquium for New Research in International Law, Sydney, NSW Australia, 11 December 2020.
McKenzie, Simon, Mullins, Darryn and Goussac, Netta (2020). Autonomous military technology and the development of international law. Australia and New Zealand Society of International Law Zoom Keynote Lecture Series, Online, 1-11 December 2020.
McKenzie, Simon (2020). The Principle of Legality, New Technology and the Rome Statute: The Case of Cyber Operations against Civilian Data. ANZSIL International Peace and Security Interest Group, Online, 13 November 2020.
McKenzie, Simon (2020). The problem of persistent surveillance: the use of un-crewed maritime vehicles for surveillance in the EEZ. ANZSIL International Peace and Security Interest Group Virtual Seminar Series, Armidale, NSW, Australia, 22 May 2020.
Massingham, Eve and McKenzie, Simon (2019). The role of weapons review processes in determining whether a war crime or other serious violation of international humanitarian law has been committed: does article 36 make any difference to criminal liability?. Australian International Criminal Law Workshop 2019: International Criminal Justice Futures, Brisbane, 28-20 October 2019.
McKenzie, Simon (2019). Military uses of maritime autonomous devices and international law. International Legal Studies Research Group Research Symposium, Melbourne, Australia, 11-12 December 2019.
McKenzie, Simon (2017). Assessing the interpretation of the Statute in the Ntaganda Appeals Chamber decision. Australian International Criminal Law Workshop, University of Melbourne, 4-5 September 2017.
McKenzie, Simon (2017). Old laws in new contexts: the protection of real property in Occupied Territory and the crimes of the Rome Statute. ANZSIL International Peace and Security Interest Group, Auckland, New Zealand, 5 May 2017.
McKenzie, Simon (2017). IHL, the law of occupation, and international criminal law: problems in translation. Annual Conference of the Australia and New Zealand Society of International Law, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 28-30 June 2017.
McKenzie, Simon (2017). Assessing the interpretation of the Statute in the Ntaganda Appeals Chamber decision. Australian International Criminal Law Workshop, Melbourne, Australia, 4 September 2017.
McKenzie, Simon (2016). What can we learn from the management of experts in the Kilmore East Bushfire Proceeding?. Innovation in litigation: lessons from the Kilmore-East Kinglake Litigation, Melbourne, VIC, Australia, 13 April 2016.
McKenzie, Simon (2016). The Appropriation and Seizure of Real Property in Occupied Territory and the Rome Statute. ANZSIL International Peace and Security Interest Group, Sydney, Australia, 22 April 2016.
McKenzie, Simon (2016). Untransformed law: the protection of real property in Occupied Territory. Early Career Workshop on Humanitarianism and the Transformation of International Law, Melbourne, Australia, 4 August 2016.
McKenzie, Simon (2016). Common purpose liability and the crime of transfer of population in Article 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute. Australian International Criminal Law Workshop, Perth, WA, Australia, 15-16 September 2016.
McKenzie, Simon (2015). Continuing crimes in International Criminal Law. Australian International Criminal Law Workshop, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 15-16 October 2015.
McKenzie, Simon (2014). Does International humanitarian law apply to the West Bank?. Australian International Criminal Law Workshop, Sydney, NSW, Australia, 25-26 September 2014.
Generic Document
Newspaper Articles
McKenzie, Simon (2020, 11 02). Could the Rome Statute apply to those responsible for the Israeli settlements in the West Bank? ILA Reporter
McKenzie, Simon (2020, 10 15). International law and uncrewed maritime vehicles GameChanger Trusted Autonomous System Blog
Liivoja, Rain, Massingham, Eve, McFarland, Tim and McKenzie, Simon (2020, 09 09). Are autonomous weapons systems prohibited? GameChanger
Massingham, Eve, McKenzie, Simon and Liivoja, Rain (2020, 05 01). Command in the age of autonomy–unanswered questions for military operations Opinio Juris
McKenzie, Simon (2016, 04 13). Black Saturday: the lessons of expert advice Pursuit
Research Reports
Nabbs-Keller, Greta, Ko, Ryan, Axelsen, Michael, Bongiovanni, Ivano, Dowsett, Dallas, Liivoja, Rain, Maher, Ray, Massingham, Eve, McEwan, Chris, McKenzie, Simon, O’Quinn, Richard, Radke, Amelia and Williams, John (2020). Submission to Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s Cyber and Critical Technology Engagement Strategy. Brisbane, QLD, Australia: The University of Queensland.
McKenzie, Simon (2016). Pre-trial management of expert evidence in the Kilmore East Bushfire Proceeding. Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Supreme Court of Victoria.
McKenzie, Simon (2016). Expert conferences in the Kilmore East Bushfire Proceeding. Supreme Court of Victoria Law Research Series Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Supreme Court of Victoria.
McKenzie, Simon (2016). Concurrent evidence in the Kilmore East Bushfire Proceeding. Supreme Court of Victoria Law Research Series Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Supreme Court of Victoria.
McKenzie, Simon (2016). Assessors in the Kilmore East Bushfire Proceeding. Supreme Court of Victoria Law Research Series Melbourne, VIC, Australia: Supreme Court of Victoria.