Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Education

Law and Society Hub

 

Further Information
 
If you would like any further information about the Law and Society Hub, or are interested in becoming a member, please contact Dr Theodore Bennett.

UWA garden sculpture

The Law and Society Research Hub was established at the UWA Law School in 2012. The Hub provides a network for academic staff, researchers and research higher degree students who share a mutual interest in the interconnections between law and its broader social context.  This includes the links that law has with cultural, politics, ideology, history, science etc.

‘Law and Society’ (also known as ‘socio-legal studies’ and ‘empirical studies in law’) is an interdisciplinary field that engages with the multitude of ways that law operates as a phenomenon within society.  This field extends academic engagement with law beyond the judgements, statutes and regulations that constitute legal doctrine, and is concerned more broadly with the principles, institutions and practices of law.
 
Law and Society Hub members have a diversity of expertise and have backgrounds in disciplines such as criminology, cultural studies, law and legal theory. Current issues of interest for Hub members include:

  • Criminology and criminal justice;
  • Understanding and regulating transnational crimes through international laws and cooperation;
  • Socio-legal research on international human rights;
  • The interaction between law and religion;
  • Indigenous peoples and the law;
  • Histories and theories of Indigenous rights;
  • Penal policies and Indigenous Peoples in the criminal justice system;
  • The Legal regulation of fictional literacy characters and the interface between art and law;
  • The regulation of bodies and sexuality; and
  • Learning and teaching in criminology and socio-legal studies.

What Do We Do?

The Law and Society Hub connects ‘law and society’-oriented academics, researchers and research higher degree students. It is a contact point for introducing and facilitating engagement between members.  It also runs seminars that provide a forum for discussing the current research projects of members and other 'law and society' scholars.
 
Many Law and Society Hub members also undertake teaching in ‘law and society’ oriented units across UWA. In particular, a number of members involved in the Law School's undergraduate Law and Society major. 
 

Membership

Renae Barker
Theodore Bennett

Harry Blagg
Ethan Blue
Kieran Dolan
Richard Harding
Ambelin Kwaymullina
Blaze Kwaymullina
Jade Lindley
Dylan Lino
Jani McCuthceon

Fiona McGaughey
Neil Morgan
Nolan Sharkey
Hilde Tubex
Tamara Tulich
Murray Wesson

 

 

 

 

Research Activities

For further details of the Hub's research activities, please refer to the profile pages of individual Hub members. 

Visiting Scholars

If you are an academic or researcher who is not based in Western Australia, the UWA Law School hosts a number of Visiting Scholars each year. The Law and Society Hub encourages applications from ‘law and society’-oriented scholars.