Our people

Innovative, rigorous and forward-thinking research is central to the Kaldor Centre, where scholars are leaders in the national and international discussion about refugee law and policy.

Centre members

Jane Mcadam
Kaldor Centre Director
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Kaldor Centre Deputy Director Daniel Ghezelbash
Kaldor Centre Deputy Director
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Claire Higgins
Senior Research Fellow
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Senior Research Fellow Madeline Gleeson
Senior Research Fellow
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Senior Research Fellow Tamara Wood
Senior Research Fellow
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Senior Research Associate Tristan Harley
Senior Research Associate
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Frances Voon
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portrait picture of Lauren Martin
Communication Manager
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Frances Nolan
Centre Administrator
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Kaldor Centre Honorary Appointments

Honorary Professor

Guy S Goodwin Gill

Kaldor Centre affiliates

Professor Gabrielle Appleby
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Ashraful Azad
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Chantal Bostock
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Erica Bower
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Emma Dunlop
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Associate professor Bassina Farbenblum
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Associate Professor Maria Giannacopoulos
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Assistant Professor Regina Jefferies
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Professor Fleur Johns
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Associate Professor Linda Kirk
Associate Professor
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Joanne Kinslor
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Professor Natalie Klein
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Senior Lecturer Vicki Sentas
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PhD candidates

The Kaldor Centre includes a small number of outstanding PhD students pursuing advanced research and developing substantive expertise in refugee law. Meet our current PhD candidates:

Refugee Cultural Heritage and the Cultural Rights in International Law' (Daniel Ghezelbash/Lucas Lixinski)

Ms Al Shallah’s research project is a study of the framework for the protection and safeguarding of refugee cultural heritage and the cultural rights of refugees. Her research and writing focus is natural sites and cultural objects. Her research cuts across three areas of international law, which are international cultural heritage law (ICHL), international human rights law (IHRL) and international refugee law (IRL). She researches and writes from her perspective as an emerging scholar from a refugee source country living as a migrant in a cultural context that departs from her heritage.

‘Building National Asylum Systems from the Ground Up’ (Guy S. Goodwin-Gill/Sangeetha Pillai)

Mr Barbour’s research seeks to analyse the institutional set-up of different refugee status determination typologies, alongside the many other aspects of operationalising a holistic refugee protection system, in order to inform the establishment and development of new State asylum systems.

See Brian Barbour's academic profile and publications.

'Data Driven and Computation Methods of Understanding Australia’s Refugee Status Determination Procedures' (Daniel Ghezelbash/Lyria Bennett Moses/Amin Beheshti)

Mr Dorostkar’s research examines how Australia’s refugee status determination procedures operate across each stage of the process using a computational and data driven methodology. The research collects and analyses data from the Department of Immigration, Administrative Appeals Tribunal and the Federal Circuit and Family Court to track the lifecycle of refugee cases, with the overarching purpose of seeking to improve both the fairness and efficiency of refugee status determination procedures in Australia.

'Refugee protection and multi-State responsibility in the Asia-Pacific: a conceptual framework for accountability under international law’ (Jane McAdam AO/Guy S. Goodwin-Gill)

Ms Gleeson's research looks at whether and how international law regulates the conduct of States, or provides a remedy, in situations where two or more States contribute to harmful outcomes for refugees and asylum seekers, specifically within the context of forced displacement in the Asia-Pacific region.

See Madeline Gleeson's academic profile and publications.

'Exclusion from Refugee Protection: Individual Responsibility for Contravening the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations' (Sarah Williams/Sangeetha Pillai)

Mr Hammerschmid's thesis investigates the scope of Article 1F(c) of the 1951 Refugee Convention and its nexus with international human rights law, international criminal law, and international humanitarian law. The overall aim of the thesis is to articulate a complete and coherent analytical framework for applying the uncertain and underexplored provisions of Article 1F(c) in both domestic refugee status determinations and in refugee status determinations conducted under the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

'Refugee community sponsorship in Australia: Prospects and pitfalls' (Jane McAdam AO/Rosalind Dixon)

Mr Hoang's research examines the prospects and potential pitfalls of utilising community/private sponsorship of refugees as an additional or alternative pathway for the resettlement of refugees to Australia, drawing upon historical and comparative perspectives.

See Khanh Hoang's academic profile and publications

‘The challenges of international responsibility-sharing for refugees and internally displaced persons: A global framework for corporate autonomy in humanitarian matters?’ (Claire Higgins/Guy S. Goodwin-Gill)

Ms Malafosse’s project analyses how the concept of responsibility-sharing for refugees could be approached and operationalised while fully integrating the business sector. It explores the possibilities for the development of a global framework on corporate humanitarian initiatives and responsibilities, in which businesses can systemically empower refugees through work and participate in safeguarding their labour rights.

See Camille Malafosse's academic profile and publications.

'Rethinking the role of "external processing" in the European Union: what would a principled "regional" approach look like?' (Jane McAdam AO/Justine Nolan)

Ms Moodley’s doctoral research is focused on assessing the legal feasibility of the EU introducing ‘regional’ measures to process asylum seekers before they reach Europe during ‘mass influx’ situations. Relevantly, her study seeks to explore whether such an idea, if undertaken as a complementary pathway to protection in the EU (that is, without prejudice to the right to claim asylum on the territory of EU member states), is capable of operating in compliance with international and EU human rights law, and if so, what that might look like in practice. 

See Riona Moodley's academic profile and publications.

'The future of climate-related internal displacement in Australia – how should Australia respond to climate displacement within its territory? A duty to relocate? (Jane McAdam AO/Amelia Thorpe)

Ms Pailthorpe’s research investigates how Australia’s federal, state/territory and local governments should respond to people who are displaced within Australia in the context of climate change and disasters (e.g bushfires, floods, and other extreme weather events including heat waves), asking as its central question:  ‘Do Australian authorities have a duty to relocate people who are at risk of displacement in the context of climate change and disasters?’ In exploring this question, Ms Pailthorpe’s research considers recent planned relocation policy responses by Governments within Australia in response to sudden onset climate disasters and focuses on the legal issues that emerge in considering planned relocation (including land swaps and buy-back programs)

'Displacement in the context of climate change and the right to life: examining the law-making potential of strategic litigation' (Jane McAdam AO/Amelia Thorpe)

Ms Talbot’s research examines the law-making potential of strategic litigation to respond to emerging, disruptive human rights challenges. It will do this through the prism of impacts of displacement in the context of climate change and disasters on the right to life. As a thesis based on international law, the focus will be on the responsibility of governments.

See Anna Talbot's academic profile and publications.

‘Gendering the International Law Criteria for Return of Refugees: the case of Sudan’ (Jane McAdam AO/Christine Forster)

See Natasha Yacoub's academic profile and publications.