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Dr Rebecca Ananian-Welsh
Dr

Rebecca Ananian-Welsh

Email: 
Phone: 
+61 7 336 52218

Overview

Background

Associate Professor Rebecca Ananian-Welsh is a constitutional law scholar, Executive Director of Public Law with the Centre for Public International and Comparative Law (CPICL), and Chief Editor of the University of Queensland Law Journal. Her research focuses on courts, national security and press freedom and she has published widely in these fields, including more than 25 journal articles and 4 books. At present, she is pursuing research projects around: the nature and future of courts; the intersections between the press, government and security; and the meaning of 'terrorist act' - all while watching and waiting for the latest case on the separation of judicial power.

Rebecca has been a visiting scholar at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and is an Honorary Senior Fellow at Melbourne Law School. Prior to joining UQ, She held positions at UNSW Law with the Laureate Fellowship Project 'Anti-Terror Laws and the Democratic Challenge' and the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law's Terrorism & Law Project, as a litigation solicitor with global law firm DLA Piper, and as a legal officer with the Federal Attorney-General's Department Canberra.

Availability

Dr Rebecca Ananian-Welsh is:
Not available for supervision
Media expert

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Arts, University of Wollongong
  • Bachelor (Honours) of Law, University of Wollongong
  • Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, University of Wollongong
  • Doctor of Philosophy, University of New South Wales

Research interests

  • National Security Law and Policy

  • Courts and judges

    The judicial branch, fair trial rights, open justice, and the interpretation and application of Chapter III of the Australian Constitution

  • Press freedom

    Particular focuses on the impact of counter-terrorism and national security law on press freedom, including: source protection, data privacy, the 'chilling effect', law enforcement and intelligence powers, and options for maximising both security and democracy.

Research impacts

Rebecca's research has been cited by the High Court and Federal Court of Australia, and has been recognised in numerous Faculty and School awards, as well as in an Academy of Social Sciences in Australia Paul Bourke Award for Early Career Research. Her book 'The Tim Carmody Affair: Australia's Greatest Judicial Crisis' (co-authored with Profs Gabrielle Appleby and Andrew Lynch) was shortlisted for a Queensland Literary Award,and her Sydney Law Review article 'The Inherent Jurisdiction of Courts and the Fair Trial' was shortlisted for the 2020 Article of the Year in the Australian Legal Research Awards.

Rebecca is dedicated to community engagement and impact, and has held positions with organisations including:

  • Australian Association of Constitutional Law National Executive Council and Queensland Chapter Committee.
  • Australian Judicial Officers Association Inaugural Standing Committee on Judicial Independence;
  • Centre for Public Integrity, Accountability Institutions and Transparency Committees.

Rebecca writes regularly for The Conversation, has given evidence to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, Independent National Security Legislation Monitor, Australian Law Reform Commission and other federal and state inquiries, and has contributed to numerous submissions to government with respect to national security and constitutional issues.

Works

Search Professor Rebecca Ananian-Welsh’s works on UQ eSpace

69 works between 2011 and 2025

61 - 69 of 69 works

2015

Journal Article

Judges in vice-regal roles

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Williams, George (2015). Judges in vice-regal roles. Federal Law Review, 43 (1), 119-146. doi: 10.1177/0067205x1504300105

Judges in vice-regal roles

2015

Book Chapter

Secrecy, procedural fairness and state courts

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2015). Secrecy, procedural fairness and state courts. Secrecy, law and society. (pp. 120-135) edited by Greg Martin, Rebecca Scott Bray and Miiko Kumar. Abingdon, United Kingdom: Routledge.

Secrecy, procedural fairness and state courts

2014

Journal Article

Judicial Independence from the Executive: A First-Principles Review of the Australian Cases

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca and Williams, George (2014). Judicial Independence from the Executive: A First-Principles Review of the Australian Cases. Monash University Law Review, 40 (3), 593-638.

Judicial Independence from the Executive: A First-Principles Review of the Australian Cases

2014

Other Outputs

A Purposive Formalist Interpretation of Chapter III of the Australian Constitution

Ananian-Welsh, Rebecca (2014). A Purposive Formalist Interpretation of Chapter III of the Australian Constitution. PhD Thesis, University of New South Wales, University of New South Wales.

A Purposive Formalist Interpretation of Chapter III of the Australian Constitution

2013

Book Chapter

Anti-terror preventive detention and the independent judiciary

Welsh, Rebecca (2013). Anti-terror preventive detention and the independent judiciary. Preventive detention: asking the fundamental questions. (pp. 137-158) edited by Patrick Keyzer. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Intersentia.

Anti-terror preventive detention and the independent judiciary

2013

Book Chapter

Secrecy and control orders: the role and vulnerability of constitutional values in Australia and the United Kingdom

Lynch, Andrew, Tulich, Tamara and Welsh, Rebecca (2013). Secrecy and control orders: the role and vulnerability of constitutional values in Australia and the United Kingdom. Secrecy, national security, and the vindication of constitutional law. (pp. 154-172) edited by David Cole, Federico Fabbrini and Arianna Vedaschi. Cheltenham, United Kingdom: Edward Elgar. doi: 10.4337/9781781953860.00018

Secrecy and control orders: the role and vulnerability of constitutional values in Australia and the United Kingdom

2013

Journal Article

Understood but undefined: why do Argentina and Brazil resist criminalising terrorism?

Welsh, Rebecca (2013). Understood but undefined: why do Argentina and Brazil resist criminalising terrorism?. Vienna Journal on International Constitutional Law, 7 (3), 327-348.

Understood but undefined: why do Argentina and Brazil resist criminalising terrorism?

2011

Journal Article

"Incompatibility" rising? Some potential consequences of Wainohu v New South Wales

Welsh, Rebecca (2011). "Incompatibility" rising? Some potential consequences of Wainohu v New South Wales. Public Law Review, 22 (4), 259-265.

"Incompatibility" rising? Some potential consequences of Wainohu v New South Wales

2011

Journal Article

A question of integrity: the role of judges in counter-terrorism questioning and detention by ASIO

Welsh, Rebecca (2011). A question of integrity: the role of judges in counter-terrorism questioning and detention by ASIO. Public Law Review, 22 (2), 138-152.

A question of integrity: the role of judges in counter-terrorism questioning and detention by ASIO

Funding

Past funding

  • 2019 - 2024
    Journalistic Freedom in Australia
    Research Donation Generic
    Open grant
  • 2017
    A fair go: Achieving fair process in Australian courts
    UQ Early Career Researcher
    Open grant

Supervision

Availability

Dr Rebecca Ananian-Welsh is:
Not available for supervision

Supervision history

Current supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Immigration Detention & The Separation of Powers: A First Principles Approach to Improved Governance

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Peter Billings

  • Doctor Philosophy

    A Critical Analysis of the Deployment of Indonesian Military Forces in Domestic Counterterrorism Operations

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Rain Liivoja

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Responsive Informality in Australian State and Territory Combined-Jurisdiction Tribunals

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Anthony Cassimatis, Professor Rick Bigwood

  • Doctor Philosophy

    Informality in State and Territory Combined Jurisdiction Tribunals

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Professor Anthony Cassimatis, Professor Rick Bigwood

  • Master Philosophy

    Preventive Justice and Cyber-Surveillance

    Principal Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Rebecca Wallis

  • Doctor Philosophy

    A National Indigenous Representative Body in Australia: Reception and Rejection of an Enduring Institutional Concept

    Associate Advisor

    Other advisors: Dr Dylan Lino, Professor Graeme Orr

Completed supervision

Media

Enquiries

Contact Dr Rebecca Ananian-Welsh directly for media enquiries about:

  • Constitutional Law
  • counter-terrorism
  • courts
  • human rights
  • judges
  • National Security Law
  • Press freedom
  • Public Law

Need help?

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communications@uq.edu.au