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What project are you working on that excites you?

I am working with Thomas Mulder and Prof Jane McAdam on the recently launched Evacuations Research Hub, which will provide the first sustained, integrated legal analysis of how, when and why evacuations are carried out. As part of this work, I recently had the opportunity to co-author a Policy Brief with Jane, proposing an equitable and comprehensive framework for humanitarian emergencies in Australia, including evacuation, visa and reception policies, by drawing upon historical and comparative international practice.

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What do you hope to achieve with your research/impact & engagement in the next year?

I hope that in the next year, our Hub team will be able to advance evacuations as a genuinely important topic in international law, which will increasingly affect people, regardless of migration status, but in ways which very much exacerbate structural inequalities with intersectional effects. While evacuations may often be lifesaving (and required under international law), who designs evacuation policy and makes the decision to evacuate, for example, where a disaster affects Indigenous communities? What role does human agency play in relation to the exercise of power in evacuations? While we may not have answers to these, or other, questions in the next year, I hope that we will be well on our way to exploring them with many other scholars.

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What research/impact & engagement achievement are you most proud of and why?Ìý

The research and engagement achievement I’m most proud of is unearthing the policy and practice of Australian Border Force officials towards asylum seekers at Australian airports. I wondered how people were encountered and processed, but even practitioners did not seem to have a clear handle on the details of airport processing. Through the use of FOI, I was able to access that detail, which resulted in a co-authored article in MULR, as well as two Kaldor Centre Policy Briefs, and many media and political engagement opportunities that (frustratingly) took a very different approach to framing the issue.Ìý

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Do you have a regular research practice that you can share?Ìý

I have discovered that taking walks (usually, to a cafe) and getting time on trails are an essential part of my practice. Whether I'm reading or writing, having the space to reflect and draw connections between concepts and materials has helped me with everything from how to structure a particular piece, to drafting an argument.Ìý

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Are there any research/impact & engagement questions or problems you need help with?ÌýIs there a particular topic you would like to connect with other scholars on?

I am very interested in collaborating with colleagues on approaches and topics that intersect with the concept of evacuations as a form of displacement. My focus is on the transnational and relational process-oriented aspects of evacuation, including the actors that influence the development of, and implement, evacuations law and policy. I would be very keen to connect with other scholars working from relational and critical approaches to the development of international law.