Professor Kath Gelber
Professor

Kath Gelber

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+61 7 336 53072

Background

Katharine Gelber is Deputy Executive Dean and Associate Dean (Academic) in the Faculty of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences at UQ. She is a former Head of the School of Political Science and International Studies (2019-2023), and a Professor of Politics and Public Policy. Her research is in the field of freedom of speech, and the regulation of public discourse. She has been awarded several ARC, and other, competitive research grants. In Oct-Dec 2024 she was a Leverhulme Visiting Professor at Cambridge University. In November-December 2017, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Global Freedom of Expression Project, Columbia University, New York. In Dec 2017, she jointly hosted, with Prof Susan Brison, a workshop at the Princeton University Center for Human Values on, 'Free Speech and its Discontents'. In 2014, with Prof Luke McNamara, she was awarded the Mayer journal article prize for the best article in the Australian Journal of Political Science in 2013. In 2011 she was invited by the United Nations to be the Australian Expert Witness at a regional meeting examining States' compliance with the free speech and racial hatred provisions of international law. She is the author of three monographs (Free Speech After 9/11, OUP 2016; Speech Matters, UQP, 2011, Speaking Back, John Benjamins, 2002), and three edited books (incl. Free Speech in the Digital Age, OUP 2019), as well as numerous journal articles.

Kath is a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences Australia, and a Fellow of the Queensland Academic of Arts and Sciences.

Selected publications:

Books

Brison, S and Gelber, K (eds) 2019 Free Speech in the Digital Age, Oxford University Press, New York.

Gelber, K 2016 Free Speech After 9/11, Oxford University Press, Oxford.

Gelber, K 2011. Speech Matters: Getting Free Speech Right, University of Queensland Press, St Lucia.

Panzironi, F & Gelber, K (eds) 2012. The Capability Approach: Development Practice and Public Policy in the Asia-Pacific Region, Routledge, London.

Refereed journal articles

Gelber, Katharine 2024 ‘Free speech, religious freedom and vilification in Australia’, Australian Journal of Political Science 59(1): 78-92, https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2023.2283008.

Gelber, Katharine and Murphy, M 2023 ‘The Weaponisation of Free Speech under the Morrison Government’, Australian Journal of Political Science, doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2023.2242304.

Brennan, K; D Duriesmith, E Fenton and K Gelber 2022 “Gendered Mundanities: Gender Bias in Student Evaluations of Teaching in Political Science”, Australian Journal of Political Science (published online 27 Feb 2022), https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2022.2043241.

Bowman, K and Gelber, K 2021 ‘Responding to Hate Speech: Counter Speech and the University’, Virginia Journal of Social Policy and the Law, 28(3): 248-275.

Gelber, K 2021 ‘Differentiating Hate Speech: A Systemic Discrimination Approach’, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy, 24(4): 393-414, DOI: 10.1080/13698230.2019.1576006 (published online 2019).

Gelber, K and O’Sullivan, S 2020 “Cat Got Your Tongue? Free Speech, Democracy and Australia’s ‘Ag-Gag’ Laws”, Australian Journal of Political Science, 56(1): 19-34, https://doi.org/10.1080/10361146.2020.1799938.

Gelber, K 2019 ‘Norms, Institutions and Freedom of Speech in the US, the UK and Australia’, Journal of Public Policy, online 25 June, http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0143814X19000187.

Gelber, K 2019 ‘Terrorist-extremist speech and hate speech: understanding the similarities and differences’ Ethical Theory and Moral Practice, 22(3), 607-622, doi: 10.1007/s10677-019-10013-x.

Gelber, K 2018 ‘Incitement to hatred and countering terrorism – policy confusion in the UK and Australia’, Parliamentary Affairs 71(1): 28-49, https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsx008.

Gelber, K 2017 ‘Diagonal Accountability: Freedom of Speech in Australia’, Australian Journal of Human Rights 23(2): 203-219.http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2017.1363371 (Published in Special Issue: ‘Democracy and Human Rights’)

Gelber, K 2017 ‘Hate Speech – Definitions and Empirical Evidence’, Constitutional Commentary 32: 101-111.

Gelber, K & McNamara, L 2016 'Anti-vilification laws and public racism in Australia: mapping the gaps between the harms occasioned and the remedies provided', University of New South Wales Law Journal 39(2): 488-511.

Gelber, K & McNamara, L 2016 ‘Evidencing the harms of hate speech’, Social Identities, 22 (1-3): 324-341. DOI: 10.1080/13504630.2015.1128810.

Book chapters (selected)

De Silva, Anjalee; Katharine Gelber & Adrienne Stone 2024 (in-press). ‘Academic Freedom in Australia’, in Scott-Baumann, A., Holmwood, J., & Pandor, H. (eds) How to Develop Free Speech on Campus: Talking to Others. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

Gelber, K 2022 ‘Free Speech in Australia’ in Paula Gerber & Melissa Castan eds., Critical Perspectives on Human Rights Law in Australia Thomson Reuters, Pyrmont: 517-534.

Gelber, K 2021 ‘Speaking Back’, in Adrienne Stone and Frederick Schauer eds., The Oxford Handbook of Freedom of Speech, Oxford University Press, Oxford: 249-265.

Gelber, K 2020. ‘Post-memory and Artefacts: The Gelber/Altschul Collection’, in N Marczak and K Shields eds. Genocide Perspectives VI: The Process and the Personal Costs of Genocide. Sydney: UTS ePress: 53-68. https://doi.org/10.5130/aaf.

Gelber, K 2020 ‘Capabilities and the Law’, in E Chiapperro-Martinetti, S Osmani & M Qizilbash eds The Cambridge Handbook of the Capability Approach Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 643-659.

Gelber, K 2020 ‘Free Speech Debates in Australia: Contemporary Controversies’, in Helen J. Knowles and Brandon T. Metroka eds., Free Speech Theory: Understanding the Controversies, Peter Lang: 187-208.

Gelber, K and Brison, S 2019 ‘Digital Dualism and the “Speech as Thought” Paradox’, in Brison, S and Gelber, K (eds) Free Speech in the Digital Age, Oxford University Press, New York.

Gelber, K & Stone, A 2017 ‘Constitutions, Gender and Freedom of Expression: the Legal Regulation of Pornography', in Helen Irving ed. Constitutions and Gender, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham: 463-481, DOI: 10.4337/9781784716967.

Gelber, K 2016 ‘Critical Race Theory and the constitutionality of hate speech regulation’, in R Dixon & G Appleby (eds) The Critical Judgments Project: Re-reading Monis v The Queen, Federation Press, Sydney: 88-102.

Availability

Professor Kath Gelber is:
Not available for supervision
Media expert

Fields of research

Political science

Qualifications

  • Bachelor of Arts, University of Tasmania
  • Bachelor (Honours) of Arts, University of Sydney
  • Doctor of Philosophy, University of Sydney

Research interests

  • The harms of online speech

    Prof Gelber is investigating whether, and how, the harms of hate speech can be applied to online speech. This project will clarify how online speech can harm in new ways, and can harm new targets. This will produce new findings that can be used to assess the regulation of online speech in order to protect target communities from harm.

  • Free speech online

    With Prof Susan Brison (Dartmouth), Prof Gelber has undertaken a research project looking at how people exercise their freedom of speech online, and whether (and how) the online environment changes how we think about fundamental aspects of free speech theory.

  • Free Speech After 9/11

    This ARC-funded project (2012-2015) compares free speech-limiting provisions enacted or amended in the context of counter-terrorism laws in the US, the UK and Australia.

  • Hate speech laws in public discourse in Australia

    With Prof Luke McNamara (Wollongong), this is a large ARC-funded research project examining the impact of hate speech laws on public discourse in Australia since they were introduced twenty five years ago.

  • International hate speech laws

    Prof Gelber has an interest in international hate speech laws, their operation and their effectiveness. She has published widely in these areas, and is currently participating in a number of research projects on this topic.

Research impacts

Professor Gelber has extensive international and national engagement and collaboration with universities, industry, government and non-government organisations. She has worked closely with external agencies including human rights commissions and industry to provide advice on the regulation of harmful and allegedly harmful speech including online. She has regularly been invited to make submissions to government and parliamentary inquiries into policy areas including counter terrorism, censorship regulations and anti-vilification laws. She gives regular media interviews on radio, television and in newspapers.

Search Professor Kath Gelber’s works on UQ eSpace

122 works between 1999 and 2023
All (122) Journal Article (61) Book Chapter (25) Conference Publication (23) Book (8) Other Outputs (5)

121 - 122 of 122 works

2000

Journal Article

Implementing Racial Anti-vilification Laws in New South Wales 1989-1998: A Study

Gelber, Katharine (2000). Implementing Racial Anti-vilification Laws in New South Wales 1989-1998: A Study. Australian Journal of Public Administration, 59 (1), 13-23. doi: 10.1111/1467-8500.t01-1-00136

Implementing Racial Anti-vilification Laws in New South Wales 1989-1998: A Study

1999

Journal Article

Treaties and Intergovernmental Relations in Australia: Political Implications of the Toonen Case

Gelber, Katharine (1999). Treaties and Intergovernmental Relations in Australia: Political Implications of the Toonen Case. Australian Journal of Politics and History, 45 (3), 330-345. doi: 10.1111/1467-8497.00068

Treaties and Intergovernmental Relations in Australia: Political Implications of the Toonen Case

Past funding

  • 2019 - 2020
    Hate Speech in the Asia Pacific
    Content Policy Research on Social Media Platforms call for proposals
    Open grant
  • 2019 - 2024
    Assessing the harms of online speech
    ARC Discovery Projects
    Open grant
  • 2012 - 2015
    Freedom of speech in the post 9/11 era
    ARC Future Fellowships
    Open grant
  • 2011
    Democratic dialogue and capabilities: New opportunities in post-reconciliation era Australia (ARC Linkage Project administered by the University of New South Wales)
    University of New South Wales
    Open grant
  • 2011
    The impact of hate speech laws on public discourse in Australia (ARC Discovery Project administered by University of Wollongong)
    University of Wollongong
    Open grant

Availability

Professor Kath Gelber is:
Not available for supervision

Supervision history

Completed supervision

Enquiries

Contact Professor Kath Gelber directly for media enquiries about:

  • Academic freedom
  • Australian politics
  • Freedom of speech
  • Hate speech
  • Hate speech online
  • The rights of donor conceived people

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