Human Rights Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission
Ceremony: 13 May 2019, 10:30am - Faculty of Law, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
About the Speaker
Edward has been Human Rights Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission since August 2016. He leads the Commission’s work on detention and implementing the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture; refugees and migration; human rights issues affecting the LGBTI community; counter-terrorism and national security; technology and human rights; freedom of expression; and freedom of religion.
Edward was previously a Senior Lecturer at the University of New South Wales Law School, a research director at the Gilbert & Tobin Centre of Public Law, and a solicitor in private practice.
From 2010 to 2016, he was chief executive of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, a leading non-profit organisation that promotes human rights through strategic litigation, policy development and education.
He is a Senior Visiting Fellow at the University of New South Wales, and serves on a number of boards and committees.
In 2009, Edward was presented with an Australian Leadership Award, and in 2017, he was recognised as a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
Edward graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts in English and Government and from the University of Cambridge with a Masters of Laws in Public Law.