Potential HDR projects list

TOPIC: ‘Parallelism and cartels: boundaries between legal and illegal collusion’

Competition law regimes of many developed countries, including Australia, have been increasing penalties for cartels and/or criminalising such conduct. This encourages entities involved in collusive behaviour to achieve consensus through indirect means to avoid a possibility to be caught by a competition authority. It is important therefore for courts and competition authorities to distinguish between cooperative oligopoly and natural oligopoly and to interpret evidence correctly.

This potential PhD thesis should/could include not only analysis of a cartel regime but also a study of the most recent (and older) economic theories and existing and potential legal theories to establish boundaries between illegal and legal conduct and argue the correctness of an approach to horizontal collusion. This topic could include a comparative study or it could even be a pure empirical study.

For further information contact Dr Barbora Jedlickova, e: b.jedlickova@law.uq.edu.au.

Potential projects may include:

• Courts, Tribunals and Judges
• Chapter III of the Australian Constitution
• The separation of powers.
• Judicial and Non-Judicial Detention and Sanctions.
• Jurisdiction
• Procedural fairness and due process
• Implied rights and freedoms
• Constitutional theory and interpretation

For further information contact Dr Rebecca Ananian-Welsh, e: rebecca.aw@law.uq.edu.au.

Critically examine developments and specific issues associated with corporate regulation and governance in Australia and abroad.

Potential topics could include:

• Comparative work with other jurisdictions: comparing Australia with, eg, the US, UK and EU, particularly the role of public enforcement of breaches of directors' duties.
• Theories of regulation and the future of regulation.
• With the seemingly never-ending succession of corporate and financial scandals in Australia, whether the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) is an effective regulator has come under growing scrutiny and been the subject of several parliamentary inquiries. Is ASIC ‘fit for purpose’ and/or can or should it survive in its present form?
• A consideration of recent corporate governance failures, such as with Crown Resorts and The Star Entertainment in the gaming industry and more recently, the PWC tax scandal.
• ‘Flawed’ corporate cultures have been identified as a major contributor to the appalling conduct that led to the Global Financial Crisis and misconduct since (e.g., of Australia’s leading banks exposed during the course of the recent Banking Royal Commission). However, whether ‘culture’ can be regulated or used as a tool, e.g., in criminal prosecutions, remains a hotly debated question that deserves further scholarly attention.

Dr Vicky Comino is a leading scholar on corporate regulation in Australia. She has published widely in this area. Her own PhD (2011) explored how, and to what extent, ASIC in its original and primary role as corporate regulator can achieve more effective regulation of the corporations legislation.

For further information contact Dr Vicky Comino, e: v.comino@law.uq.edu.au.

In 2017, the Council of Europe adopted a new Convention on Offences relating to Cultural Property. In addition, there is patchwork of other international frameworks that, directly or indirectly, address this crime type.  Research on this topic can examine the new Council of Europe Convention in detail or look more broadly at existing or emerging international frameworks to criminalise offences relating to cultural property.

For further information please contact Professor Andreas Schloenhardt, e: a.schloenhardt@uq.edu.au.
 

In 2023, the Council of Europe started to draft a new convention ‘to protect the environment through criminal law’. Similar initiatives have been debated in the United Nations systems and by academic experts.  Research on this topic can examine the new Council of Europe Convention in detail or look more broadly at existing or emerging international frameworks to criminalise crime against the environment.

For further information please contact Professor Andreas Schloenhardt, e: a.schloenhardt@uq.edu.au.
 

• Topics that explore socio-legal issues related to the intersection or intermingling of immigration/refugee law/policy with criminal law/policy
• Topics that explore the socio-legal issues relating to the criminalisation of asylum seekers
• Topics that related to the detention or containment of asylum seekers and refugees
• Topics that relate to refugee protection and regulation of risks to national/border security

For further information contact Professor Peter Billings, e: p.billings@law.uq.edu.au
 

Potential topics available include:

• Gender and judging – does diversity matter? What is the scope for feminist judging?
• Questions of bias and gendered approaches to the law
• Advocating ‘other’ interests
• Equality of representation within the legal profession

For further information contact Associate Professor Francesca Bartlett, e: f.bartlett@law.uq.edu.au.

The PhD program provides students with an opportunity to examine the legal and social impacts of human rights law, and explore in depth the effects of the law and legal systems on people experiencing social and economic disadvantage. Students could apply human rights law, and related scholarship, to a number of different legal areas and problems, including:

• Social welfare 
• Child protection
• Housing and homelessness
• Criminalisation, policing and corrections

For further information contact Professor Tamara Walsh, e: t.walsh@law.uq.edu.au.
 

Radha welcomes expressions of interest for Higher Degree by Research supervision (MPhil or PhD) on a range of topic in international law and corporate (criminal) law.

Projects could explore:

• Economic crime controls and human rights – The impact of anti-corruption, anti-money laundering and/or counter-terrorist financing regimes on individuals or groups
• Non-state actors in international law – The role of corporations and other non-state actors in international law formation, implementation and/or change
• Anti-corruption controls in international and domestic law – The scope, history and future of efforts to control problems, like foreign bribery, through transnational regulation
• Corporate criminal laws and reforms – The history, content and direction of efforts to control corporate power through the criminal law or allied regulatory strategies in particular states, like Australia
• Business and human rights initiatives – The formation and/or implementation of the so-called Ruggie Principles and related efforts to limit the harmful impact of investment, especially in the Global South

Other projects on the transnational regulation of economic crime, transnational criminal law or transnational legal theory, including applied studies of transnational legal ordering. 

For further information contact Dr Radha Ivory, e: r.ivory@law.uq.edu.au

International trade law covers a diverse range of topics. Potential projects include:

• the practice and regulation of the finance of international trade;
• commercial letters of credit in international trade;
• the role of the banks in the financing of international trade;
• a comparative analysis of the UN Convention on International Sales of Goods;
• the use of trade terms in international trade – Incoterms

For further information contact Dr Alan Davidson, e: a.davidson@law.uq.edu.au.

Potential projects may concern:

• The law of elections, in any democratic system
• The regulation and funding of political parties and campaigns
• Parliamentary law (particularly in Westminster style legislatures)
• Norms around the use and meanings of political symbols and language

For further information contact Professor Graeme Orr, e: g.orr@law.uq.edu.au  

While few people would contest the importance of values like transparency, accountability, and participation, laws to enhance governance within and between states raise many important and unexplored research questions.

Dr Radha Ivory welcomes HDR proposals on:

• International efforts to suppress transnational crime and promote human rights
• Domestic measures on corruption, terrorist financing, asset recovery, and corporate criminal liability, including compliance
• International cooperation in criminal matters and targeted financial sanctions
• Individual and collective rights, including the right to development
• The regulation of international financial institutions, multinational corporations, and non-governmental organisations

Candidates are particularly encouraged to explore interactions between regimes.

For more information, please email Dr Radha Ivory r.ivory@law.uq.edu.au or call +61 7 3365 9123.

Potential topics available include:

• Technology and ethical legal practise;
• Advocates’ immunity;
• The role of the lawyer in access to justice and efficient administration of the courts
• Prosecutorial ethics and judicial ethics;
• Regulation of the legal profession including admission and disciplinary law and debates about professionalism
• Teaching lawyers’ ethics

For further information contact Associate Professor Francesca Bartlett, e: f.bartlett@law.uq.edu.au.

• Legal philosophy related to H.L.A. Hart or Jeremy Waldron
• Comparative constitutional law of the English-speaking developed world
• Democracy and bills of rights

For further information contact Professor James Allan, e: j.allan@law.uq.edu.au.

The issues raised by legal pluralism are diverse and wide ranging, and pose complex challenges for law reform and development. The topic explores in detail the uncertainties and tensions which arise between very different systems of law in South Pacific Islands. It also encompasses the broader issues that arise within the sphere of South Pacific Law.

For further information contact Professor Jennifer Corrin, e: j.corrin@law.uq.edu.au.

The staff of the Marine and Shipping Law Unit (MASLU) are available to supervise research projects in the general area of national and international maritime law. These include private maritime law issues (e.g. carriage of goods, international trade, maritime casualties and environmental compensation); maritime law regulatory issues (e.g. safety and environmental protection); enforcement of maritime claims (e.g. arrest, jurisdiction, security, liens, compulsory insurance); international maritime law reform (e.g. the role of the IMO, UNCTAD, UNCITRAL and CMI) and issues arising in the Law of the Sea.

For further information contact Professor Craig Forrest at c.forrest@law.uq.edu.au.

Potential topics available include:

• The impact of the Civil Liability Act
• Competency to Consent to Medical Treatment
• Duties to Disclose Medical Information
• Disability and the Law
• End of Life Decision Making

For further information contact Professor John Devereux, e: j.devereux@law.uq.edu.au.

Potential projects may concern:

• Public law and human rights challenges presented by national security law
• The migration, normalisation and impacts of national security laws.

For further information contact Dr Rebecca Ananian-Welsh, e: rebecca.aw@law.uq.edu.au.

Potential projects may include:

• Legal protections and threats to press freedom, including by national security law and policy.

For further information contact Dr Rebecca Ananian-Welsh, e: rebecca.aw@law.uq.edu.au.

Potential topics available include:

• Theories of Public and Private Enforcement
• The role of the Bounty Hunter – past and present

For further information contact Professor Kit Barker, e: k.barker@law.uq.edu.au.

Potential projects are available relating to these primary areas of law, including interdisciplinary proposals.

For further information contact Associate Professor David Morrison, e: d.morrison@uq.edu.au.

Potential topics could include:

• Islamic family law reform
• Family and inheritance law for Muslims in secular Western nations
• Constitutional law in particular Muslim nations
• The role of law in the process of Islamisation in a particular Muslim nation or region

For further information contact Professor Ann Black, e: a.black@law.uq.edu.au.

Potential topics available include:

• Foundational theories of unjust enrichment
• Remedies for unjust enrichment

For further information contact Professor Kit Barker, e: k.barker@law.uq.edu.au.

Potential topics available include:

• State Negligence
• Liabilities for Pure Economic Loss
• Misfeasance in Public Office and False Prosecution
• Private actions for the Invasion of Privacy Remedies for Defamation
• Remedies for Defamation

For further information contact Professor Kit Barker, e: k.barker@law.uq.edu.au.