Academy Fellow

I am a leading Australian scholar in health law. My research engages with the challenges for law from global public health emergencies, and the legal, social and ethical implications of assisted reproduction, and genetics. Engagement with the legal and ethical issues related to rights has been an enduring theme in my research. My publications on assisted reproductive technologies have addressed the scope and detail of Australia’s regulatory frameworks for assisted reproduction, legal aspects of access to assisted reproduction, legal aspects of posthumous reproduction, surrogacy and Australian law, and legal aspects of saviour siblings. My research on legal aspects of genetics and genomics has engaged with the familial nature of genetic and genomic information and the significance of this information for others. My work on global public health emergencies has engaged with the role of WHO and the International Health Regulations (IHRs) for global governance of responses to public health emergencies, the relevance of IHR requirements on the development of domestic public health law, and the scope and application of Australian public health and emergency management laws. My research is interdisciplinary in nature, building on literature from a range of disciplines including history, medicine, and bioethics, to develop new insights for law and regulation.

I am currently Head of School and Dean of the School of Law and Justice at the University of Newcastle, and an Adjunct Professor in the School of Law at Queensland University of Technology (QUT) in Brisbane. Before joining the University of Newcastle in late 2023, I worked in the School of Law at Queensland University of Technology (QUT), and prior to that at Sydney Law School, University of Sydney. I am currently Deputy Chair of the Council of Australian Law Deans (CALD) (July 2025-). I have previously been a member of the ARC College of Experts, and from July 2024-July 2025 was Vice Chair, Legal Research for CALD. I am a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors. I am Editor of the ‘Health and Guardianship’ sections of The Laws of Australia and have previously been Deputy Editor of the Journal of Law and Medicine. I am a member of the Editorial Board for the Journal of Law and the Biosciences, which is published by Oxford University Press and a collaboration of Duke University, Harvard Law School and Stanford University. I have been a Plumer Visiting Research Fellow, St Anne’s College, Oxford (May 2014) and a Visiting Scholar, Petrie Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology & Bioethics, Harvard Law School (Oct/Nov 2017). I have a long-standing commitment to mentoring academic colleagues.

Fellow, Australian Institute of Company Directors (FAICD)

1.    B Bennett, I Freckelton, & G Wolf, COVID-19 Law and Regulation: Rights, Freedoms and Obligations in a Pandemic, (Oxford University Press, 2023).

2.    B Bennett and I Freckelton (eds) Australian Public Health Law: Contemporary Issues and Challenges (Federation Press, 2023).

3.    B Bennett and K Chelberg, “Ageing, Vulnerability, and Resilience in Disasters: Applying WHO’s Active Ageing Framework” (2024) Issue No 54, QUT Centre for Justice Briefing Paper Series. https://doi.org/10.5204/book.eprints.251063

4.    L Morowska, J Allen, W Bahnfleth, B Bennett, P.M. Bluyssen et al. “Mandating Indoor Air Quality for Public Buildings” (2024) 383(6690) Science 1418-1420

5.    E Dallaston, S Jowett and B Bennett, “Exceptionalism and the Development of Genomics Law and Policy in Australia” (2021) 47(2) Monash University Law Review 123-141.