UTS Law research – from socio-legal to legal history, and doctrinal to legal theory – has real world impact. We strive to make a positive and effective contribution to our discipline, policy and lawmaking, and public debate through our research.

Recent examples of the impact of LRC members’ research at the international, national and local levels include:

  • Professor Jill McKeough as the Australian Law Reform Commissioner in charge of the Copyright and the Digital Economy inquiry delivered her findings and recommendations to the Federal Government in February 2014. Her appointment to this important position reflects her stature as a leading intellectual property scholar in Australia and worldwide. The response by the government to her recommendations when it comes could profoundly change the current copyright landscape.
  • Professor Shaunnagh Dorsett served as consultant and senior legal officer for the recent Australian Law Reform Commission review of the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) entitled Connection to Country released in 2015. Her appointment to this position reflects her international and national stature as a legal history and her ground-breaking work on jurisdiction and British colonial practices.
  • Associate Professor Beth Goldblatt co-authored a background paper with Professor Sandra Fredman (Oxford) entitled ‘Gender Equality and Human Rights’ shaped the approach taken by UN Women in its flagship report Progress of the World’s Women 2015-2016 and was one of the first papers in the new UN Women Discussion Paper Series.
  • Professor Jennifer Burn and Anti-Slavery Australia  launched its e-learning site, which is Australia’s first-of-its-kind evidence based online training program on slavery, slavery-like practices and human trafficking funded by the Australian Government. 450 people have signed up to this course. ASA has collaborated with Plan International Australia to conduct a comprehensive study of child marriage in the Indo-Pacific region which was launched in Parliament House, Canberra in September 2014.
  • Professor Ana Filipa Vrdoljak served as consultant and co-authored the report for UNESCO’s review and evaluation of the operation of the Convention on the Means of Prohibiting and Preventing the Illicit Import, Export and Transfer of Ownership of Cultural Property 1970 presented to the Conference of States Parties’ Subsidiary Committee in April 2014.

UTS Law hosts the only Law and Legal Studies case study (and only UTS example) included in the Commonwealth government’s first Excellence in Innovation for Australia report (2012). The Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) is hosted by UTS Law and UNSW Law School. Based on research funded by over 20 ARC grants, plus contributions and research contracts from industry and other organisations, AustLII provides the free access, national legal database. It has also played a leading role in promoting free access to law internationally and operates a number of international portals: AsianLII, CommonLII and WorldLII.

In recognition of the impact of AustLII’s work, Professor Andrew Mowbray, its Co-Director and Co-Founder, was awarded the NSW Law and Justice Foundation’s Justice Medal for 2014. In presenting the award, Sir Anthony Mason spoke of Professor Mowbray’s 25 year commitment and its profound impact in Australia and globally. AustLII’s work in developing the LawCite citator was short-listed and received a Highly Commended award in the 2014 CHASS Australia Prize for Distinctive Work in the Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences (HASS) field.

Hear from UTS Law's Professor Thalia Anthony on her process of creating research with impact: 

Episode Seven - Creating research with real world impact today

Research can be a slow burn, it takes time, and the impact and benefits from research won’t always be realised straight away.

As discovered throughout the Impact at UTS podcast, research with impact involves long term relationship building and ongoing engagement with research partners, be that industry, government or community.

But even researchers can get impatient. What if you want your work to create change in the world right now? How do you go about it?

In the final episode of Impact at UTS we hear from Professor Thalia Anthony, a Law Professor who is leading in her field when it comes to translating her research into real world impact. She discusses impact strategies including time management, being media savvy and the ethics of collaborating, particularly when you are just starting out.