Melbourne Law School - Research Publications

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    Inoculating Law Schools Against Bad Metrics
    Weatherall, KG ; Giblin, R ; Bowrey, K (Elsevier BV, 2021-01-25)
    Law schools and legal scholars are not immune to the expanding use of quantitative metrics to assess the research of universities and of scholars working within universities. Metrics include grant and research income, the number of articles produced in journals on ranked lists, and citations (by scholars, and perhaps courts). The use of metrics also threatens to expand to measure other kinds of desired activity, with various metrics suggested to measure the impact of research beyond scholarly circles, and even more amorphous qualities such as leadership and mentoring. Many working legal scholars are (understandably) unaware of the full range of ways in which metrics are calculated, and how they are used in universities and in research policy. What is more, despite a large and growing research policy literature and perhaps an instinct that metrics are inherently flawed as a means to recognise research 'performance', few researchers are aware of the full scope of known and proven weaknesses and biases in research metrics. In this contribution to a forthcoming book, we describe the use of metrics in university and research and higher education policy (with a focus on Australia). We review the literature on the many flaws and biases inherent in metrics used, with a focus on legal scholarship. Most importantly, we also want to promote a conversation about what it might look like for academic researchers working in law faculties or on legal issues to assess research contributions that promote the shared values of the legal academy. Our focus is on two areas of research assessment: research impact and the bucket of concepts variously described as mentorship, supervision, and/or leadership. We reframe the questions that researchers and assessors should ask: not, “what impact has this research had”, but “what have you done about your discovery?”; not “what is your evidence of research leadership”, but, “what have you done to enable the research and careers of others?”. We also present concrete suggestions for how working legal scholars and faculties can shift the focus of research assessment towards the values of the legal academy. The chapter incorporates some of our thinking on developing meaningful legal research careers - something that will hopefully be of interest to any working legal scholar.
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    Submission to the Select Committee on Job Security
    McDonald, P ; Marston, G ; Hardy, T ; Charlesworth, S ; Mayes, R ; Williams, P ( 2021)
    Work is a central human activity, critical to social cohesion and social identity, future economic prospects and the fulfilment of human potential. Yet over successive decades, paid employment has become more precarious and insecure. Insecure work includes fixed-term contracts; seasonal work; marginal part-time, casual and on-call work; labour hire and temporary agency work; and ‘dependent’ or ‘disguised’ self employment. .
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    Strengthening Australia’s cybersecurity regulations and incentives: Response to the Department of Home Affairs Discussion Paper
    Achrekar, A ; Ahmad, A ; Chang, S ; Cohney, S ; Dreyfus, S ; Leckie, C ; Murray, T ; Paterson, J ; Pham, VT ; Sonenberg, E ( 2021)
    The development of the regulatory and incentives framework is a key opportunity to align Australian enterprises’ cybersecurity practice with latest research, particularly on consumer protections, and emerging cyber threats and security challenges. The Australian Government has an essential role in establishing incentives to encourage best practice and consequences to combat poor practice. It will be increasingly important for government at all levels to act as a role model, by following best practice in the conduct of its public business.
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    Inclusion of Combatants in Constitution-Building
    Dziedzic, A ; Ramirez, SM (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance and the Constitutional Transformation Network, 2020)
    Where constitution-building occurs in a conflict-affected context, the inclusion and participation of combatants in constitution-building processes raises challenging and distinctive issues. In such contexts, constitution-building is likely to overlap with a wider peace process that comprises the negotiation of peace agreements, and disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programmes.
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    Consultation, Deliberation and Decision-Making: Direct Public Participation in Constitution-Building
    Dziedzic, A (International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance and the Constitution Transformation Network, 2020)
    Direct public participation is now regarded as an essential part of a constitution-building process. In the 21st century, almost every exercise in constitutional reform has involved an opportunity for members of the public to engage in the process. The right to participate in public affairs is internationally recognized and a consensus has emerged that public participation is good practice in constitution-building.
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    Review of domestic violence deaths involving non-fatal strangulation in Queensland.
    Sharman, L ; Douglas, H ; Fitzgerald, R (The University of Melbourne and The University of Queensland, 2021-11-01)
    This report draws on files held by the Domestic and Family Violence Death Review Unit in the Coroners Court of Queensland to examine 20 intimate partner homicides where strangulation was either present in the relationship before death, was the cause of death, or both. All deaths occurred between 2011 and 2020, before and after the introduction of the non-fatal strangulation legislation (Queensland Criminal Code Qld, s. 315A) in 2016. Research for this report was conducted on closed coronial investigations only and is not necessarily reflective of all deaths of this nature within the time period.
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    Investing for Sustainable Food Systems: Current Practice in Australia
    Carey, R ; Parker, C ; Robinson, E ; Sacks, G ( 2021-08-19)
    Summary • Food systems are a major driver of climate change, biodiversity loss, depletion of freshwater resources and pollution of waterways. • We examined the extent to which major institutional investors engaged in responsible investment in Australia consider sustainable food systems as part of their investment approach. • Nineteen out of 35 investors incorporated considerations related to sustainable food systems into investment decisions in some way. • We identified six strategies that investors used to incorporate sustainable food system considerations into their decision making. • The most common strategy used by investors was 'corporate engagement and shareholder action’ (using shareholder power to influence corporate behaviour). • The sustainable food system themes most commonly mentioned by these investors were ‘human rights’ (specifically labour rights in the food supply chain) and ‘animal welfare and anti-microbial resistance’. • Only one company, Australian Ethical, had a comprehensive policy on investment decisions related to sustainable food systems. • Examples of good practice included engaging with companies in relation to modern slavery concerns in the food supply chain, negatively screening intensive animal agriculture due to concerns about animal welfare and environmental sustainability, and investing in agricultural land to support a climate transition. • Future research will focus on engaging with investors to identify opportunities for progressing an investment agenda that promotes sustainable food systems in Australia.