Dr Karen Lee is a specialist in telecommunications regulation. Her PhD, for which she received the UNSW Faculty of Law’s PhD Research Excellence Award, involved an in-depth study of the development of three telecommunications consumer codes by working committees of the Communications Alliance – the peak self-regulatory body in the Australian telecommunications sector.
Karen’s book The Legitimacy and Responsiveness of Industry Rule-making, which was based on her PhD thesis, was published by Hart Publishing in September 2018. She has also published in the Federal Law Review, the Media and Arts Law Review and the Australian Journal of Competition and Consumer Law; and is a contributor to Australian Telecommunications Regulation and Telecommunications Law and Regulation. In 2018, she received a visiting scholar fellowship to the European University Institute from the Australian European University Institute Fellowship Association.
Dr Derek Wilding’s experience spans direct participation in telecommunications rule-making, development of broadcasting protections, and research into both sectors. As Director of the Communications Law Centre at the University of New South Wales, he contributed to research on consumer issues and held advisory positions on industry and government consumer committees. He has made numerous submissions on broadcasting regulatory development, such as privacy protections, regional content obligations and news standards. As Executive Director at the Australian Press Council, he worked with public members and external stakeholders developing a new code of practice, while also managing the complaints scheme.
With colleagues from UTS and the University of Sydney he holds a three-year Australian Research Council grant examining media pluralism and online news. Other recent research includes a study of the impact of digital platforms on news and current affairs, commissioned by the Australian competition regulator as part of its Digital Platforms Inquiry.
- Watch Karen and Derek’s video discussing the findings from Karen’s book, The Legitimacy and Responsiveness of Industry Rule-making
- Read Karen’s Medium blog on industry self-regulation published ahead of our public seminar in November 2018 featuring Karen, Arie Freiberg (Monash University), Darren Sinclair (University of Canberra) and Delia Rickard (Australian Competition and Consumer Commission).
- Read Derek’s article (with Sacha Molitorisz) for The Conversation on proposals for codes of practice for digital platforms in Australia and the UK.