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Dr Renato Costa is a Lecturer in Law at The University of Queensland, Director (Comparative Law) of the Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law and an editor of the University of Queensland Law Journal (UQLJ).

Dr Costa joined the T. C. Beirne School of Law as an LLM student in 2018, under an Australian Government-funded scholarship. Before undertaking his studies at the University of Queensland, he practised law at one of Brazil's most prominent law firms. Dr Costa graduated with an LLB from the Faculty of Law at the Catholic University of Pernambuco, in Brazil. He holds a PhD and an LLM from T.C. Beirne School of Law at the University of Queensland.

Dr Costa specialises in constitutional and comparative law. His research focus is constitutional theory and specific aspects of the Australian constitutional system, including the rule of law, federalism, constitutional history, religious freedom and human rights, political and legal theology, and jurisprudence. He has published a growing body of journal articles, book chapters, and edited books in the fields of constitutional theory, comparative constitutional law, federalism, and jurisprudence. His research focuses on constitutions as systems of legal and social ordering, with particular attention to federalism, constitutional structure, and the relationship between law and political theology. He has contributed to international scholarly discussions through conference presentations across Australia, Europe, and beyond, including participation in major forums such as ICON: the International Society of Public Law and the Australasian Society of Legal Philosophy. His most notable publications in these fields include: Federalism in a Turbulent Era (Edward Elgar, 2026) (edited with Nicholas Aroney); Raízes do Federalismo Australiano: Discursos Selecionados de Sir Henry Parkes (Editora Contracorrente, 2024) (with Bruno Santos Cunha); and a range of peer-reviewed articles in leading journals, including Law and Philosophy, The Journal of Legal Philosophy, and Revus: Journal for Constitutional Theory and Philosophy of Law. He has also contributed chapters to international edited collections, including the Global Review of Constitutional Law.