Dr Rebecca Ananian-Welsh

Dr Rebecca Ananian-Welsh is a constitutional law scholar and Senior Lecturer at UQ Law with combined expertise in the Australian judiciary and national security law. She has published widely in these fields, including two edited collections as well as articles in leading journals such as the Sydney Law Review, Melbourne University Law Review, Public Law Review and more. In 2019, she was awarded the Academy of Social Sciences in Australia’s Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research and a UQ BEL Faculty research award, in recognition of her research in national security, press freedom and fair trial rights. Her book 'The Tim Carmody Affair: Australia's Greatest Judicial Crisis' (co-authored with Gabrielle Appleby and Andrew Lynch), was shortlisted for a 2017 Queensland Literary Award.

Rebecca’s current research combines legal and empirical approaches to examine the impact of national security law on press freedom. Rebecca is also interested the fundamental nature and powers of courts, with recent publications concerning the ‘inherent’ jurisdiction and powers of courts, and the defining characteristics of courts under the Constitution.

Rebecca writes regularly for The Conversation, has given evidence to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, and has contributed to numerous submissions to government with respect to national security, human rights and constitutional issues. Prior to joining UQ Law, Rebecca was an member of the Laureate Fellowship Project 'Anti-Terror Laws and the Democratic Challenge' and the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law's Terrorism & Law Project at UNSW. Before commencing her academic career, Rebecca was as a litigation solicitor at DLA Piper (then DLA Phillips Fox) Sydney and a legal officer with the Federal Attorney-General's Department Canberra.