Research highlights

Victoria’s first Mental Health Complaints Commissioner

Ms Lynne Coulson Barr, a current doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Law, has been appointed Victoria’s first Mental Health Complaints Commissioner. See details of the new role. Ms Barr is currently enrolled in a Doctor of Juridical Science (SJD) program under the supervision of Associate Professor Bronwyn Naylor. Her research concerns the efficacy of decision making on the suitability of disputes for statutory conciliation.

In 2013, Ms Barr was awarded a Weinstein International Fellowship from the JAMS Foundation in the United States to undertake a study of alternative dispute resolution practices, one of only 12 people selected from around the world.

Ms Barr will apply the insights gained from this study tour, together with the findings from her current doctoral research on conciliation, to develop specialist approaches to complaint resolution in the mental health sector, with a focus on promoting effective access and outcomes for people with mental illness and their families.

2013 Mollie Holman Doctoral Medal

Dr Eric Windholz’s PhD thesis ‘Harmonisation of social regulation in the Australian federation: a case study of occupational health and safety’ has been awarded the 2013 Monash University Mollie Holman Doctoral Medal as the best doctoral thesis for Law in 2013. The Mollie Holman Doctoral Medal annually recognises the most outstanding doctoral thesis from each Faculty and takes into account the quality and scope of the research conducted and the publications and patents that arise directly from the thesis.

The medal is named in honour of Emeritus Professor Mollie Holman AO, who made a long and distinguished contribution to the University (in particular in the fields of science and education, as a pioneering physiologist) and was a vigorous champion of postgraduate education.

Dr Windholz is currently working as a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, Monash University. He joined the Faculty in 2013 after a successful career in private practice, corporate practice and the public sector, where he held a series of senior legal, regulatory and management roles, in Australia, Hong Kong and New York. Dr Windholz's thesis examined the harmonisation of Australia's occupational health and safety laws, reflecting his research interests in regulation and policy, federalism and harmonisation, and occupational health and safety. The thesis' findings have been published in general law journals, as well as in specialist journals in public policy, public administration, health and safety policy and practice, labour history and employment and business law.

Australian Endeavour Research Fellowship

Ms Lisa Burton, a PhD student, has been awarded an Australian Endeavour Research Fellowship from the Australian Government. The Endeavour Fellowships are highly-competitive funding grants, which enable Australian scholars to travel abroad to undertake research towards a postgraduate degree. Ms Burton will travel to the United Kingdom in September 2014 to conduct further research and to present her findings to leading public law academics in the UK.

Ms Burton is completing her course under the supervision of Professor Jeffrey Goldsworthy and Dr Colin Campbell, examining the constitutional foundations and limitations of judicial review of executive action under the Australian Constitution.

Visit by Ms Kimberley Brownlee of the Warwick Law School

Ms Kimberley Brownlee, an associate professor of the Warwick Law School (UK), visited the Faculty in April 2014 with the support of a Faculty of Law Warwick-Monash Visiting Law Scholar Grant. In addition to meeting with Faculty staff, she presented a Faculty Research Seminar ('Freedom of Association - It's not what you think’), and gave a presentation on 'Being social: The human right against social deprivation', a Castan Centre for Human Rights Law public event that was held at the Monash University Law Chambers. Listen to the audio recording on our website.