Australian National University acknowledges, celebrates and pays our respects to the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people of the Canberra region and to all First Nations peoples of Australia on whose traditional lands we meet and work and whose cultures are among the oldest continuing cultures in human history.
The School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) is a world-class academic centre renowned for its pioneering research and education on regulation and governance.
For over 20 years, RegNet has influenced academic debates, contributing key ideas that have enhanced regulatory practice and led to more equitable approaches to governance. Today, the School continues to address the big issues that define our world through cuttingedge research and education.
RegNet carries out transformative research that develops innovative ways of responding to the complex and interconnected challenges of the 21st century. Our work is distinctly interdisciplinary and focuses on improving the governance of major social, economic, environmental and health issues. We embrace forward-looking and big-picture thinking, recognising that regulation is essential to understanding governance in our globalised world.
Our School’s character is unique: we are inclusive and cooperative in our approach while being bold and ambitious in our actions. A diverse network of experts sustains our vibrant community. Working collaboratively, we generate knowledge that informs policy, regulatory practice and public discourse in Australia, Asia, the Pacific and globally.
RegNet adopts an integrated and holistic approach to research, education and outreach. Robust research is the foundation for our education programs, which are designed to train the regulatory leaders of today and tomorrow. Our engagement work brings academics and practitioners together to address some of society’s greatest concerns – climate change, conflict and injustice, disruptive technologies, economic and health inequality and geopolitical contestation.
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It’s been an exciting five years serving as Director of RegNet, The Australian National University’s School of Regulation and Global Governance. So much has happened since 2020, and I am proud of the School’s continued commitment to research and teaching that aim to make a positive difference in the world. This year’s annual report captures colleagues’ ambitious work across a wide range of regulatory concerns and governance issues, showcasing the value of our collective embrace of interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches.
I remember writing my message for last year’s annual report, noting how 2023 provided important reminders that we live in uncertain times. 2024 was no different in that regard: while we watched the outcomes of several elections across the world, we managed some changes closer to home in Canberra.
In terms of highlights, we were thrilled to welcome our largest incoming cohort of PhD scholars to RegNet. We also had new staff
members join us: Associate Professor Nick Bainton and three new postdoctoral fellows, Michael Cabalfin, Art Cotterell and Hridesh Gajurel. Their work covers several important issues, which are detailed in the pages ahead.
Unfortunately, we were also deeply saddened by the unexpected passing of two dear colleagues, Professor Susan Sell and Dr Naing Ko Ko. Both were bright lights in the RegNet community, and this year’s annual report shares more about the wonderful contributions they made.
Managing the highs and lows of 2024, our scholars have continued to work on the major societal challenges affecting us regionally and globally and produced impactful research to support more equitable approaches to regulation and governance.
This annual report summarises the many things we have done together over the last year.
We celebrated many research achievements, notably Professor John Braithwaite’s prestigious International Balzan Prize. He was recognised for his important work in developing and promoting the practice, theory and evaluation of restorative justice. We also secured government support, international grants and philanthropic funding for new programmes of research on a wide range of topics, including emergency management in times of crisis and measures of regulatory burden and value. Our list of awards highlights these and other projects.
In 2024, RegNet continued its strong engagement with academic partners, civil society and government practitioners. Professor Alan Gamlen and the ANU Migration Hub held its second Migration Update, doing so in collaboration with the Department of Home Affairs and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM). We also expanded our secondment programme, enabling Associate Professor Christian Downie to spend six months doing policy-relevant work with the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW).
Professor Sharon Friel and her Laureate team hosted the second iteration of the Planetary Health Equity Future Leaders Program. For two weeks, early career participants from across Australia and the world gathered to discuss and develop governance strategies for supporting planetary health equity. We also partnered with collaborators from the ANU, Rutgers University, University of Connecticut and University of Pretoria to support a twoweek institute dedicated to developing and applying design justice principles to improve AI development and governance.
The School’s research-led educational offerings have continued to grow. In addition to our postgraduate degrees in the areas of regulation and governance and technology governance, our professional education programme, The Professional Regulator: Foundations, has taken off. Nearly 1,700 people have registered since we launched it last year with our co-design partner, the National Regulators Community of Practice (NRCoP).
2024 was a productive and busy year for our researchers and students. We are delighted to share what the School has achieved. Our successes depend on the collective action of individuals working together, and we are grateful for our professional team’s support.
We also invite you to look at our plans for the coming year. You can stay up to date in real time by joining our mailing list, following us on LinkedIn or visiting us in person.
Thank you for your ongoing interest in the work of RegNet. We wish you well in the year ahead.
Professor Kathryn (Kate) Henne Director, School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet)
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Associate Professor Nick Bainton
Associate Professor Nick Bainton joined RegNet earlier this year, bringing with him a wealth of experience and a strong dedication to examining the impacts of large-scale resource extraction in places like Papua New Guinea (PNG). His work, particularly in the ‘anthropology of mining’, has made significant contributions to the field over the past two decades.
View Associate Professor Nick Bainton’s profile and research interests
“I’ve maintained a deep focus on PNG and the wider Pacific where the extractive industries loom large and where the regulatory and governance failures surrounding these activities routinely harm local lives and environments.”
“In recent years, I have begun to think about these issues at a global scale, especially the ways in which the demand for critical minerals for an energy transition is giving the mining industry a bit of a free ticket and providing justification for more mining.”
Initially trained as an anthropologist, Associate Professor Bainton’s journey into the world of large-scale resource extraction began in PNG where he first set out to understand how local customary landowners made sense of ‘mining capitalism.’ His interest in PNG had first been sparked when he was younger and had the opportunity to spend time in PNG as a volunteer worker. “After a couple of years of living in PNG, the place was thoroughly in my blood and I knew I had to find a way to keep coming back to the Pacific,” he recalled.
With a bit of life experience under his belt, anthropology began to make more sense.
“It intuitively felt like a form of grounded philosophy, but with people in it,” he explained. So, he completed his undergraduate studies and then embarked on a PhD.
His interest led him to the Lihir islands, where he spent 18 months living in a bush material house in a small village. Immersed in the daily lives of the local people, he observed how their customary norms and practices were changing in response to the development of a massive gold mine on the island. At the same time, he spent a good deal of time inside the mining
fence engaging with company and government workers to understand how they made sense of their work and the impacts of the mine. Twenty years ago, this kind of ‘corporate ethnography’ was much less conventional.
His current research projects delve into the intersection between climate change and mining. He is particularly drawn to understanding how the extractive industries undermine local capacities to manage climate change impacts and achieve sustainability and justice. This issue is especially pronounced in the Pacific, where the legacies of extraction and the threat of climate change combine to create complex patterns of harm.
“I’ve been working with the concept of ‘double exposure’ to climate change and extractive capitalism,” Associate Professor Bainton explains.
“It helps me think about the feedback loops between the problem of runaway climate change and the dominant solution, where the call for a rapid transition to renewables justifies new forms of extraction, like seabed mining in the Pacific for example, to supply raw materials for supposedly ‘cleaner’ and ‘greener’ energy-systems.”
He recently secured a 3 million dollar grant from Imperial College London to lead research alongside Professor Peter Yu who is the ANU inaugural Vice-President (First Nations) and
the leader of the ANU First Nations Portfolio (FNP). Their project aims to establish the foundations for genuinely collaborative research with First Nations communities impacted by mining and energy transitions in Australia and beyond. They will focus on building First Nations research capability and collaborating with First Nations partners to co-develop a long-term research agenda that address major global challenges, such as the demand for critical minerals in a rapidly changing world.
This initiative will ensure that future research in this space is informed and enhanced by First Nations-led methods, insights and concepts. They plan to collaboratively explore issues of rights, resilience and sovereignty in the energy-extractives nexus. Associate Professor Bainton will work closely with Professor Peter Yu and other research-intensive units at ANU to build on the FNP’s connections and deepen relationships with First Nations groups in Australia. From here they will extend the collaboration to partner with other universities and First Nations groups in other countries.
Associate Professor Bainton is enthusiastic about his role at RegNet and is particularly excited about the depth and quality of scholarship at RegNet and the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues working on similar issues in the Asia Pacific. He sees RegNet as an ideal intellectual home, given its focus on regulatory and governance issues
and interdisciplinary research. He hopes to bring his extensive experience and insights to ANU, contributing to a robust and dynamic academic community.
“The timing feels right to join the ANU,” he said. “I’m looking forward to growing a bigger long-term program of work dealing with the pressures of resource extraction in our region and the broader questions about the relationship between the material substrate of our contemporary lives and future sustainability.”
The Planetary Health Equity Hothouse, an initiative led by ARC Laureate Fellow Professor Sharon Friel, focuses on governance issues related to three major and interconnected challenges—climate change, social inequity and premature death and disease. The aim is to promote the equitable enjoyment of good health within a stable Earth system; planetary health equity.
This year, the Hothouse welcomed its second cohort of early career researchers and PhD scholars to the Future Leaders Program. Twelve participants from across the globe and within Australia gathered for a twoweek intensive program, gaining insights into governance for planetary health equity. Alongside these learnings, participants honed their advocacy and communication skills under the guidance of a range of experts.
Key sessions during the program included a discussion on A governance for Planetary Health Equity led by Professor Friel, a Minds for the Future session with Francis Nona who is a 2023 Future Leader Fellow from the Carumba
Institute at Queensland University of Technology and a workshop on communicating expert knowledge by Associate Professor Will Grant from the ANU Australian National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science. Additionally, participants engaged in a session on policy advocacy with Chelsea Hunnisett, the Hothouse’s Government Relations Specialist, RegNet PhD scholar and 2023 Future Leader Fellow.
Throughout the program, participants navigated through stages of ‘forming, storming, norming and performing’ as they worked together in small groups to write articles for Croakey Health Media, now available on the Hothouse’s ‘Policy Engagement’ webpage. This cohort joins a vibrant network of Future Leader Fellows from 2023, which is expected to grow in the years to come.
One participant described the program as: “The program was incredibly rich. It has been insightful to learn from thought leaders from different angles as well as from a cohort full of experts itself. The conversations were thought-provoking, the collective thinking efforts were fruitful, the context was warm and human and the organisation was top notch”.
Professor Friel expressed her enthusiasm for the program, calling it “one of the highlights of my year.” She emphasised that early career researchers and PhD students are the future leaders in research and action for planetary health equity.
“Key to the pursuit of planetary health equity is capacity-building in technical expertise, knowledge mobilization and networks to drive structural change. Through the Future Leaders Program, we aim to make hope practical rather than despair convincing.”
The Global Humanities Institute on Design Justice AI (DJAI) was held on 30 June to 13 July 2024 at the Future Africa Campus of the University of Pretoria, South Africa. It was organised by a team of researchers from ANU, Rutgers University, University of Pretoria, University of Connecticut and Wayne State University.
Design Justice AI is an interdisciplinary collaboration exploring community-centred engagement with ‘generative AI’ – the statistical modelling and synthesis of human languages, communication, arts and cultures. The Global Humanities Institute, sponsored by the Consortium of Humanities Centers and Institutes and the Mellon Foundation, brought together emerging and senior scholars to work on strategies for reconsidering popular discourse surrounding generative AI and fostering inclusive and ethical technology development.
RegNet Director Professor Kate Henne worked with Professor Kath Bode to help co-organise the Institute. They facilitated sessions on design justice practices, racial and gender equity and questions of AI practices in different parts of the world. Professor Henne also gave a presentation with Professor Emma Ruttkamp-Bloem, Head of the Department of Philosophy at University of Pretoria, on challenges and opportunities related to AI regulation and governance. Dr John Noel Viaña and Will Orr, members of the ANU Justice and Technoscience Lab at RegNet, presented their work on design justice in generative AI for mental health and in dataset creation respectively.
Reflecting on the workshop, Professor Kate Henne was impressed with the depth of engagement and collaboration at the Institute, highlighting the importance of crossdisciplinary and cross-continental dialogues about these technologies.
“It was an amazing experience to speak with and learn from inspiring scholars and practitioners not only from different fields but also from different parts of the world.
Being together for two weeks at the Future African campus meant we could engage meaningfully and intensively. It was a special forum, one that enabled us to explore and appreciate the depth and range of everyone’s insights,” she said.
“A particular highlight was the Discotech, which is short for discovering technology. The event drew on design justice principles and practices that cultivate shared learning opportunities in the context of people’s neighbourhoods. It was great to listen to community and institute participants’ reflections on different technologies as we interacted with the tools together.”
Dr John Noel Viaña presented a talk titled From ChatGPT to ChatCBT: Design Justice in Generative AI for Mental Health. He illustrated how design justice principles, medical humanities insights and anti-racism discourses can help examine the ethical implications of using AI chatbots in mental health contexts, especially by people from racial and ethnic minority backgrounds.
He gained valuable insights into different approaches to studying AI and engaged in discussions with artists, computer scientists and humanities and social science researchers.
“I feel immensely privileged and grateful to be part of the DJAI in Pretoria. The twoweek workshop taught me not only how generative AI could promote social good, but also how certain applications could be environmentally damaging and be exploitative of workers from the Global South.”
“ While generative AI can be used to promote and preserve local and Indigenous languages, it can also encourage techno-solutionism and perpetuate bias towards marginalised groups. I am excited to share what I have learned with students in our technology governance courses.”
The next phase of the DJAI involves supporting laboratories that aim to incorporate design justice principles for AI-related research and practice, examining equity and ethical issues in design and deployment. Through collaborations with community stakeholders, researchers and students, these initiatives aim to promote machine learning systems that prioritise safety, accountability and inclusivity. Institute participants will also curate resources on design justice AI, including blogs, research templates, interviews, experimental datasets, recorded lectures, pedagogical practices and peer-reviewed articles. This ongoing work aims to foster awareness and deeper understanding of AI technologies and their social and cultural impacts.
For more details, visit the Design Justice AI’s website. Panel discussions are available through the Data Science for Social Impact research group’s YouTube channel.
We are thrilled to announce that Distinguished Professor John Braithwaite was awarded a prestigious Balzan Prize on 21 November 2024 by the President of Italy for his work on restorative justice. Balzan Prizes are awarded annually by the International Balzan Foundation to honour exceptional achievements in the humanities and natural sciences by individuals who have made significant contributions on a global scale.
Professor Braithwaite was recognised for his role in developing and promoting the practice, theory and evaluation of restorative justice. Within criminal law, restorative justice focuses on rehabilitating offenders through reconciliation with victims and the broader community. In education, it is about improved learning, fewer suspensions of students, less school bullying and more rewarding educational experiences. With peacebuilding, Braithwaite’s restorative diplomacy work is about preventing war, healing harms and repairing relationships at war’s end. His award highlights his contributions to contemporary restorative justice, his commitment to social institutions and to community-building. His dedication to fostering the cultural growth of younger generations in the values of restorative justice was also a significant factor in this recognition.
“It is an honour, though I am far from the most important contributor to the field of restorative justice. There have been many great ANU contributors, as Nelson Mandela first recognized when he autographed the sign to open the RegNet Center for Restorative Justice in 2000”, says Professor Braithwaite.
“I am grateful for the support from so many university colleagues and from my loving family. My then young son Ben, for example, would advise me to ‘tone down the Hippie stuff’ in my talks.”
Professor Braithwaite founded RegNet with Professor Valerie Braithwaite in 2000 and leads Peacebuilding Compared, a 35-year comparative project designed to follow all major armed conflicts around the world until 2030. The project aims to uncover key elements for successful and sustainable peacebuilding.
Watch Professor Braithwaite receive the Balzan Prize from The President of Italy at the Presidential Palace
View Distinguished Professor John Braithwaite’s profile and research interests
Michael Reyes Cabalfin is a Research Fellow and Lecturer at RegNet, contributing to the ARC Future Fellowships project Mobility Shocks: Understanding disruptions to Australian migration and studying the impact of international migration on house and rental prices in Australia. Michael is also the convener of the course Governing Global Migration and a guest lecturer on Quantitative Methods in the course Methods in Interdisciplinary Research.
Prior to joining RegNet, Michael completed a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science and a Master of Arts in Social and Development Studies at the University of the Philippines. He moved to ANU to complete a Master in Development Economics and obtained his PhD in Economics from ANU in 2015.
He has held various appointments within the academe and government, including as Supervising Research Specialist at the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), Assistant Professor in Economics at the University of the Philippines, Senior Economist at the Ateneo School of Government and most
recently as Economist V (Division Chief) at the Department of Finance. He was also a Fellow for the University of the Philippines President Edgardo J. Angara Fellowship.
Michael is an expert on the economics of education, labour and migration, applied econometrics, impact evaluation, economic growth and macroeconomic analysis. His expertise has been called upon to provide consultancy services to various national and international organisations including the Philippine Institute for Development Studies, the Philippine Competition Commission and the Asian Development Bank. He has also consulted as Technical Assistant for the World Bank and on Education Research and Data Analysis for UNICEF.
View Art Cotterell’s profile and research interests
Art Cotterell is a Research Associate at RegNet, focussing on the governance of emerging technologies. His particular expertise is the power, politics and policies that shape the regulation of space and nuclear technologies.
At RegNet, Art is the convenor of the National Nuclear Safeguards Education Program, a first-of-its-kind partnership with the Australian Safeguards and Non-Proliferation Office (ASNO). He teaches in the areas of regulating nuclear capabilities, regulating nuclear safeguards and nuclear safeguards practice.
Before joining RegNet, Art served as an executive level advisor with the Australian Government, working in the Deregulation Taskforce at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) and Department of Finance. At PM&C, Art was instrumental in delivering a key National Cabinet microeconomic reform to improve occupational mobility. He previously worked in international policy at IP Australia, representing the Australian Government at the World Intellectual Property Organization.
Prior to government, Art worked in client service delivery at community legal centres and later in the sector’s peak body. He established an annual census to develop an evidence-base on the sector’s work and unmet legal need. This helped reverse a multi-milliondollar funding cut and was referenced by media and an inquiry into access to justice.
Art has published in the Australian Intellectual Property Journal, The Conversation and SpaceWatch.Global, with a forthcoming policy brief proposing the concept of space mainstreaming. He is a frequent invited speaker at conferences and meetings of government and peak bodies.
Completing a PhD at the University of Adelaide on international outer space and intellectual property laws, Art holds bachelor’s degrees in Law (Honours) and Social Work from the University of New South Wales and a graduate diploma in legal practice from the Australian National University. He is admitted as a lawyer in the ACT.
View Hridesh Gajurel’s profile and research interests
Hridesh Gajurel is an ARC Laureate Research Fellow at the Planetary Health Equity Hothouse at RegNet, having started the role in November 2024. He was previously a Lecturer in Political Science and International Relations and a Postdoctoral Researcher and Research Manager at the University of Queensland. He is a political economist who specialises in comparative capitalism, corporate governance, financialisation and new institutional theory.
His current research interests include ideational change, the role of ideas in shaping corporate governance laws and practices, varieties of capitalism, pathways to a sustainable wellbeing-centred economy, the impact of financialisation on climate change and health equity and varieties of consumptogenic models. In his new role, Hridesh is investigating the institutional, ideational and political drivers of the consumptogenic system that is behind both climate change and worsening health inequities and identifying potential institutional pathways to a sustainable wellbeing-centred economy. Hridesh has experience in different varieties of both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Hridesh’s book manuscript, which builds on his PhD research and is currently under review, looks at how institutions and ideas shape the structural features of financial markets and how these, in turn, impact the stakeholders of publicly listed corporations. The book delves into the historical development of informal institutions and shared ideas in Germany and Japan and how and why the political-economic institutional settings in these two countries are more favourable to workers compared to the US and the UK, but in different ways.
Hridesh completed his PhD in political economy from the University of Queensland. He has two Master’s degrees, one from the Queensland University of Technology and another from Griffith University. He completed his Bachelor of Arts, majoring in economics, at Knox College in the United States.
The 2024 ANU Migration Update took place on 2 September 2024 at the iconic Shine Dome in Canberra. This high-profile event convened academics, policymakers and migration experts to tackle pressing migration issues, with a special focus on combating disinformation.
Hosted by The ANU Migration Hub at RegNet in collaboration with the Department of Home Affairs and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the event was particularly timely as 2024 is a ‘year of democracy,’ with half the world’s population set to vote and migration a central electoral issue in many places.
Led by Professor Alan Gamlen, the main objective of the Migration Update was to provide accurate data and expert insights to counter the growing spread of migrationrelated disinformation, which often distorts public debate. By bringing together leading experts, the event aimed to elevate migration dialogue to an informed and factual level, influencing public opinion and policy decisions. The event featured participation from global leaders in migration research and governance, creating a platform for sharing the latest research and policy updates at local, national and international levels.
The event began with a Welcome to Country by Paul Girrawah House, a NgambriNgunnawal custodian, followed by opening remarks from Professor Rebekah Brown, ANU Provost. Dr Marie McAuliffe, Head of the Migration Research Division at IOM then delivered the keynote presentation. Dr McAuliffe provided a comprehensive overview of global migration trends and policy priorities.
The Hon. Matt Thistlethwaite MP, Assistant Minister for Immigration, delivered a keynote address outlining Australia’s approach to tackling migration challenges and enhancing border security while promoting inclusive migration policies.
The four panels covered global migration trends and governance, data innovations, critical issues like multiculturalism and climate-induced migration and strategies to counter disinformation in migration debates.
The event was a great achievement, shedding light on factual migration trends, dispelling myths and promoting a balanced, evidence-based narrative on migration. With leading experts participating, the discussions explored challenges and solutions in an engaging way, highlighting how crucial accurate data and open dialogue are in shaping migration policy; especially in a year filled with democratic elections worldwide.
The 2024 ANU Migration Update was a resounding success, strengthening the quality of migration debates and encouraging collaborative policymaking. Through robust discussion and the dissemination of research, the event made significant strides in promoting informed and thoughtful discourse around migration in Australia and beyond. As the world faces increasing migration challenges, the ANU Migration Hub remains a vital institution for fostering dialogue, research and policy innovation in this critical field.
In February they attended the Justice Innovations Summit held in Mānoa at the University of Hawai’i. The Summit explored innovative approaches to justice, with a focus on Indigenous and restorative forms of justice.
As part of the event, they organised a workshop on Protecting the Environment with Restorative and Other Justice Innovations, facilitated by Professor Forsyth and supported by restorative justice researchers and practitioners. The workshop offered participants a chance to share research on using restorative justice to protect the environment, Indigenous culture and local communities. Professor Forsyth presented the project findings, emphasising the importance of restorative regulation. Research Officer Tepper presented on coexistence with the more-than-human world. The workshop’s participatory discussion allowed for reflections on using restorative justice principles in environmental governance.
Professor Forsyth also facilitated a Plenary Roundtable on Environmental Protection, Lessons Learned and Indigenous and Western Approaches, where Research Officer Tepper discussed the importance of a socio-ecological approach to environmental restorative justice, drawing on multispecies justice to amplify the voices of the more-than-human world. This perspective was inspired by her collaboration with scholars at the University of the Basque Country on a related project about restorative justice, the environment and animals.
Professor Forsyth and Research Officer Tepper continued to present the project’s findings throughout the year. In May, Professor Forsyth presented at ANZSOG’s Governing by the Rules
course in Canberra, explaining how restorative regulation approaches could integrate with current regulatory frameworks, emphasising the importance of relationship-building and support for restorative champions.
In July, through the Basque University, Research Officer Tepper delivered an online presentation to a global audience on restorative justice’s role in human-wildlife coexistence and rewilding, followed by a podcast. Professor Forsyth gave a guest lecture in October on Participatory governance through environmental justice to students of restorative justice at the University of Amsterdam. In November, Research Officer Tepper presented at the World Mediation Forum XXII in Brazil on Restorative approaches to human-wildlife coexistence
At the Contemporary Restorative Justice Conference in Canberra in November, Professor Forsyth chaired a panel discussion and both she and Research Officer Tepper gave presentations covering environmental restorative justice’s development, restorative regulation, practical implementation and the value of socio-ecological, multispecies perspectives that include the interests of the environment and other species.
These presentations reflect the project’s expanding influence in advancing restorative approaches across environmental and regulatory contexts. By engaging diverse audiences, both locally and globally, Professor Forsyth and Research Officer Tepper continue to emphasise the potential of environmental restorative justice to support restorative regulation, strengthen socio-ecological resilience and include the voices of all beings.
From exploring how Australia and the United Kingdom can accelerate the global energy transition through to demonstrating an innovate application of AI, RegNet’s research engagement activities in 2024 show the depth of our international connections and the breadth of our transdisciplinary work.
Here are some of the year’s highlights.
This year Associate Professor Christian Downie was invited to undertake a secondment in the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW).
The Department was established in 2022 to deliver on the Government’s climate change and energy agenda and protect Australia’s environment and water resources.
Associate Professor Downie’s expertise is in the areas of energy politics, climate politics and foreign affairs and he has previously served as an advisor to several Australian Government agencies, including the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Associate Professor Downie was appointed to DCCEEW as a Principal Advisor on international climate and energy policy. In that role he worked across the international division providing analysis and insights on new policy proposals, ministerial briefs and cabinet submissions. For example, he produced a series of papers that examined the climate policies of some of Australia’s strategic international partners.
“It was terrific to be one of many people at ANU who are helping to bridge the gap between research and policy and to think about how we can take our research findings to help understand and address policy problems” said Associate Professor Downie.
The secondment provided an opportunity to translate insights from research findings into actional policy, such as a proposal Associate Professor Downie developed on how to elevate green trade.
“I am grateful for the unique opportunity to work with a group of smart, strategic and caring policymakers on some of the most pressing climate and energy issues facing Australia. It was great to be a part of it and there is so much more to do”.
Navigating complexity with Dragonfly Thinking: A 360° approach to decision-making
Inspired by the dragonfly’s remarkable 360-degree vision, Dragonfly Thinking leverages cutting-edge AI tools to help leaders and businesses tackle complex decisions from every possible angle.
Founded by RegNet Professors Anthea Roberts and Miranda Forsyth, this innovative start-up encourages a multifaceted approach to problem-solving, using multiple perspectives to create richer, more wellrounded analyses of complex issues.
At the core of Dragonfly Thinking are AI tools powered by Large Language Models, designed to apply Professor Roberts’s unique Risks, Rewards and Resilience (RRR) framework to real-world issues. Developed in collaboration with AI engineer Nick Lothian and software engineers Bernard Duggan and Hugh Edwards, these tools offer decision-makers an integrated perspective that balances diverse viewpoints, helping them act with both awareness and foresight.
In April, Professor Roberts brought Dragonfly Thinking to Harvard Law School, where she led a workshop for senior leaders from top companies and law firms. Through interactive case studies, she demonstrated how the RRR framework and Dragonfly Thinking’s tools enable participants to navigate the everevolving landscape of environmental and social challenges.
Dragonfly Thinking’s groundbreaking approach has earned recognition and support from key innovation networks. The start-up has received
grants from the Canberra Innovation Network and was selected to join the prestigious CSIRO ON Accelerate 8 program, which supports high-potential research ventures, as one of three ANU teams (the team included Professors Roberts and Forsyth and Senior Project Officer Aishwarya from RegNet).
In June, while completing the CSIRO program, Dragonfly Thinking took home the top prize in Australia’s inaugural AI Sprint competition, beating over 250 teams with AI solutions addressing critical economic, social and environmental challenges. The victory brought $300,000 in R&D support to work with the Australian Institute of Machine Learning and CSIRO, driving further development of its tools. The start-up was also chosen for the Defence Trailblazers program and Commonwealth Bank of Australia’s x15 Accelerate program—further testament to its innovative edge.
Professors Roberts and Forsyth have also shared their insights with colleagues at ANU, leading a RegNet seminar on Dragonfly Thinking and the concept of ‘cyborging with AI,’ and presenting at the Complexity Leadership Lab’s first symposium. Dragonfly Thinking continues to push the boundaries of AI-driven decision-making, empowering today’s leaders to see through complexity with the clarity and depth of a dragonfly’s vision.
This year RegNet, though the College of Asia and the Pacific, entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Finance (Finance) to formalise ongoing collaborations between the two organisations.
This new agreement builds on years of existing relationships between RegNet and Finance to support regulatory reform policies with positive social impact. This has included a partnership with the Regulatory Reform Division, academic secondments and the joint creation and delivery of the Regulatable Seminar Series. The MOU provides a strong foundation for continuing this collaboration to support the Australian Government’s regulatory reform agenda and to promote excellence in regulatory reform research.
The agreement was formalised and signed on behalf of RegNet by ANU College of Asia and the Pacific Dean, Professor Helen Sullivan. Professor Sullivan commented that, “This MOU highlights our commitment to advancing regulatory policy through research, design and practice in the Asia-Pacific region. Continuing our longstanding engagement with the Department of Finance provides an excellent opportunity for our staff and students to contribute to the Australian Government’s reform agenda”.
This year, as one part of RegNet’s ongoing collaborations with Finance, Professor Veronica Taylor’s team won the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) Spirit of Service award for their work on digitizing Commonwealth statutory declarations. The project brought together Finance, the Attorney General’s Department and Services Australia to create a secure digital process using MyGov ID that significantly reduces the time and cost for people who rely on a ‘stat dec’ for employment or access to benefits. Professor Taylor led the applied research that provided the evidence base for the legislative and policy changes that made this possible.
This year, Professor Anthea Roberts and her team at RegNet celebrated the conclusion of an ambitious, multi-year project funded by the Department of Defence’s Strategic Policy Grants Program.
First launched in 2020, this initiative set out to examine the opportunities and threats lurking at the intersection of economics, security and technology—a timely endeavour, as global tensions rise and economic and technological changes accelerate.
Professor Roberts led the ANU Geoeconomics Working Group through a landscape of critical issues like economic statecraft, technological rivalry and supply chain resilience. The project sought to illuminate the delicate balance between leverage and vulnerability in Australia’s economic relationships, tackling questions that have only grown more urgent over the years. For instance, the team provided crucial insights on how Australian businesses responded to China’s economic pressure in 2020, a high-stakes moment that demanded rigorous analysis.
The project exceeded expectations, producing a wealth of academic articles, policy reports and accessible analyses that helped deepen the understanding of geoeconomic dynamics.
The team, including Professor Rory Medcalf, Professor Jane Golley, Associate Professor Andy Kennedy, Dr Darren Lim, Dr Jensen Sass, Dr Dirk Van Der Kley and Dr Benjamin Herscovitch, frequently collaborated with the Department of Defence and other government agencies. Their insights weren’t just theoretical—they directly informed policy decisions and enhanced Australia’s strategic approach to these pressing issues.
Public outreach was another cornerstone of the project. Team members regularly engaged in media appearances, public discussions and briefings with Australian parliamentarians, ensuring their findings reached audiences who shape—and are shaped by—these complex geoeconomic forces. The project informed critical policy debates at the highest levels and has strengthened Australia’s capacity to navigate a challenging global environment. As the world grows more interconnected, projects like this are vital in preparing Australia to meet the future’s challenges head-on.
In August, the Governing Energy Transition Lab at RegNet hosted a delegation from the United Kingdom’s Department for Energy Security and Net Zero to discuss international climate and energy finance.
A closed-door discussion brought together academic experts from ANU, government officials and finance practitioners to consider how to accelerate public finance into clean energy industries.
This was followed by a public panel discussion: A critical decade: accelerating the global energy transition. The panel featured RegNet’s Professor Howard Bamsey, Associate Professor Christian Downie and Dr Maxfield Peterson alongside representatives from both the UK Department for Energy Security and Net Zero and E3G, an independent climate change think tank.
Key themes included the role of public banks in the energy transition, recent international commitments by G20 governments to limit public finance for fossil fuels and the regulatory and governance barriers to deploying public finance into clean energy projects.
The conversation underscored the necessity of integrating climate goals into economic planning and served as a platform for dialogue on the challenges and opportunities in the energy transition, including for Australia and the UK.
The inaugural National Symposium for Traditional Australian Medicine was held in mid-November at NICM Health Research Institute in Sydney.
The joint ANU-Western Sydney University sponsored symposium was co-chaired by Aboriginal legal scholar and RegNet Research Fellow Dr Virginia Marshall and NICM Director Professor Dennis Chang. RegNet’s Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr Binota Dhamai and Research Officer Paul Marshall, both presented as well as serving on the organising committee.
The event explored and celebrated the rich heritage of Indigenous Australian medicine, bringing together First Nations scholars, academics and regulatory and healthcare professionals to share knowledge and insights about Traditional Australian Medicine.
Dr Marshall presented on the Australian Research Council Aboriginal medicines research project, of which she is lead Chief Investigator, as did the project’s other Chief Investigators Professor Emeritus Ron Quinn
(Griffith) and Distinguished Professor Emma Kowal (Deakin).
The Symposium featured distinguished presenters including Professor Sheryl Lightfoot (University of British Columbia), current Chair of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP). Researchers from universities across Australia, including ANU, shared their research alongside seven PhD scholars who gave rapid-fire presentations.
John Watson, Senior Nyikina Mangala Elder, Anthony Watson, Chair of the Kimberley Land Council and Gerry Turpin, from the Tropical Indigenous Ethnobotany Centre also participated on the First Nations Panel chaired by Dr Marshall. More detail on these can be found at NICM HRI | National Symposium On Australian Traditional Medicine
In 2014, RegNet entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Korea Legislation Research Institute (KLRI), a leading legal research institute and the only such government-funded research organisation in Korea to specialise in legislative policy and processes.
In 2024, KLRI President Yeong-soo Han, alongside other representatives from KLRI, visited RegNet to mark a decade since the MOU was first signed. One of the highlights of this decade was cooperation between RegNet and the Office of Global Law Research at KLRI to produce Global Collaborative Research 2016. This research program focussed on understanding regulatory issues across three domains: financial regulation; society, safety and health; and trade and investment.
Professor Veronica Taylor, who was RegNet’s Director when the MOU was first signed, commented on the visit:
“KLRI is deeply respected in Korea and internationally for the quality of its work on legislation and legislative reform. It is a privilege to be engaged with KLRI. We really value the opportunity for deep discussion about regulatory policy that anticipates and responds to digital and social change.”
Marking this long-term connection provided an opportunity to revisit RegNet and KLRI’s shared interests in regulatory governance developments in Asia and to discuss where we could collaborate into the future.
RegNet Scholar in Indigenous governance, Dr Binota Moy Dhamai, has achieved a significant milestone in advancing Indigenous Peoples’ rights.
Dr Dhamai has been serving as an expert member on the Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP), a subsidiary body of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC).
In June, Dr Dhamai was appointed by the HRC President as the Indigenous co-facilitator for two intersessional meetings, focusing on concrete measures to enhance Indigenous Peoples’ participation in HRC proceedings. This pivotal role, conducted under HRC Resolution 54/12, paragraph 16, made Dr Dhamai the first Indigenous co-facilitator at the HRC; a historic appointment signalling a shift towards Indigenous-led contributions in global governance.
His appointment, alongside State cofacilitators Canada and Australia, demonstrates the growing acknowledgment of Indigenous voices within the UN framework. For Indigenous Peoples, this step forward means moving beyond the confines of non-governmental organization (NGO) roles to engage as direct participants. The two intersessional meetings set a precedent that Indigenous Peoples could now advocate openly, representing their unique identities and concerns without intermediaries.
For the first time, Indigenous Peoples delegates displayed a ‘Peuples Autochtones’ (Indigenous Peoples) placard at the HRC session—a powerful symbol of their distinct cultural and historical narratives. This recognition marked a significant achievement, affirming their rightful place and voice on the global stage.
John Braithwaite
This open access book by Emeritus Professor John Braithwaite sets out simple solutions to managing complex catastrophes.
It focusses on four kinds of crises—climate change, crime-war cascades, epidemics and financial crises. These catastrophes are conceived as complex and prone to cascade effects. This book is optimistic in explaining that there are identifiable simple institutions that can be strengthened and some simple principles that can help humankind to control the expanding gamut of complex catastrophes that confront the planet through stable institutions and regulatory bodies. It draws on a wide range of current and past crises and challenges, from the Cold War to COVID-19 and from Weapons of Mass Destruction to restorative diplomacy with States like China, to provide an urgent and timely path forward.
Braithwaite argues that improved peacemaking and step-by-step progress toward abolition of Weapons of Mass
Destruction helps to prevent environmental, pandemic and financial catastrophes. His method across four kinds of crises is first to prioritize simple principles and simple institutions that prevent coupled catastrophes from cascading one to the other. The next step is to pursue requisite variety in responses by diagnosing dialectically when additional interventions will and will not add value for crisis control. Braithwaite argues that minimal sufficiency of deterrence, responsive regulation of risks and restorative diplomacy offer superior theoretical foundations than realism in international relations theory and in organizational crime control. The book speaks to those interested in criminology, public policy and international relations, political science, sociology, public health and economics.
View Emeritus Professor John Braithwaite’s profile and research interests
The 26 March 2024 book launch event, held as part of the RegNet Tuesday seminar series, was well attended by ANU staff and students. The Q&A session featured insightful questions and lively discussion, with Professor Miranda Forsyth as discussant.
“What might it mean to take the dead seriously as political actors?” asks Lia Kent in this exciting new contribution to critical human rights scholarship.
In Timor-Leste, a new nation-state that experienced centuries of European colonialism before a violent occupation by Indonesia from 1975 to 1999, the dead are active participants in social and political life who continue to operate within familial structures of obligation and commitment. On individual, local and national levels, Timor-Leste is invested in various forms of memory work, including memorialization, exhumation, reburial and commemoration of the occupation’s victims. Such practices enliven the dead, allowing them to forge new relationships with the living and unsettling the state-building logics that seek to contain and control them.
With generous, careful ethnography and incisive analysis, Kent challenges comfortable, linear narratives of transitional justice and
argues that this memory work is reshaping the East Timorese social and political order—a process in which the dead are active and sometimes disruptive, participants. Community ties and even the landscape itself are imbued with their presence and demands and the horrific scale of mass death in recent times— up to a third of the population perished during the Indonesian occupation—means TimorLeste’s dead have real, significant power in the country’s efforts to remember, recover and reestablish itself.
“An important intervention into transitional justice scholarship. Kent interrupts established narratives and problematises assumptions about victims and their temporal location in the past. Convincing, persuasive and eminently readable.”
—Caroline Bennett, University of Sussex
View Associate Professor Lia Kent’s profile and research interests
On 14 November 2024, Her Excellency
Inês Maria de Almeida, Ambassador of Timor-Leste to Australia, opened the book launch event with an introduction. Associate Professor Lia Kent then shared her reflections and joined a lively panel discussion alongside Associate Professor Nick Bainton and Professor Miranda Forsyth as chair.
John Braithwaite
2024 Balzan Prize for Restorative Justice
Gita Putri Damayana
2024 Ruth Daroesman Graduate Study grant
Binota Dhamai
Appointed co-facilitator to lead the dialogue between State and Indigenous peoples for the future work of the UN Human Rights Council Expert member of the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP)
Christian Downie
Secondment as Principal Advisor to the Australian Government Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water
Derek Futaiasi
Appointed Solomon Island’s Permanent Secretary for the Ministry of Provincial Government and Institutional Strengthening
Kate Henne
Google Academic Research Award for Large Language Model Development for Low-Resource Languages in Southeast Asia
Walter Johnson
Winner of the American Bar Foundation/Law & Social Inquiry Graduate Student Paper competition
Virginia Marshall
Appointed to the Advisory board of Australia’s Economic Accelerator
Anthea Roberts and Miranda Forsyth
Winner of Australia’s inaugural AI Sprint for Australia
Graduated from the CSIRO ON Accelerate 8 program for top 12 start-ups from Australian universities
Libby Salmon
ANU Gender Institute prize for Excellence in Gender and Sexuality Research
Veronica Taylor
The Institute of Public Administration Australia Spirit of Service Award (Team Prize)
Belinda Townsend
ANU Higher Degree Research Supervisor of the Month
Australian Research Council (ARC)
Overcoming violence and building peace amidst conditions of complexity in PNG and beyond
Australian National University
Hansen Scandinavian Friendship Research Grant 2023
2024 ANU Taiwan Studies Program Travel Grant
2024 Centre for China in the World (CIW) Travel Grant
ANU Early Career Researcher Travel Grant
Alan Gamlen
Herscovitch
ANU Gender Institute
Care and (re)making gender through everyday technoscience
The shaping of approaches and understandings of space capability: Perspectives and lessons from Tonga
Deejay
Innovative approaches to missing persons: Lessons from Bougainville
Lia Kent
Embedding ethics in the governance of transnational health research
John Noel Viaña
ANZSOG (Australia and New Zealand School of Government)
The Professional Regulator: Foundations program
Kate Henne and Veronica Taylor
Canberra Innovation Network in partnership with the ACT Government
Innovation Connect (ICON) Grant
Anthea Roberts and Miranda Forsyth
Commonwealth Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT)
Nuclear Safeguards Student Qualification (NSSQ) Program
Veronica Taylor, Kate Henne and Art Cotterell
Commonwealth Department of Home Affairs
Impact of natural and humanitarian disasters on irregular migration and irregular labour migration in the Bali process region
Alan Gamlen
Tetra Tech Coffey Pty Ltd
Papua LNG Upstream Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA)
Nick Bainton
Australian Research Council (ARC)
Industrial Transformation Training Centre on Radiation Innovation
Veronica Taylor
Imperial College London
Building a First Nations Research Agenda for the Rio Tinto Centre for Future Materials
Nick Bainton
National Endowment for the Humanities
Design justice labs: An international and interdisciplinary digital network for community-centred research on the ‘generative AI’ modelling of human languages, communication, arts and cultures
Kate Henne
National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)
NIHR Global Health Research Group on Oral Health
Sharon Friel
The Master of Regulation and Governance (MREGG) is a unique degree that equips students with the knowledge and skills to navigate environments where complexity, risk and transformative technologies are reshaping the ways in which we govern and regulate. The program draws on RegNet’s world-class research and innovative ideas in regulation and governance. MREGG students engage in an education program that emphasises interdisciplinary skills-building and our place in Asia and the Pacific.
Graduates from this program will be working in—or will join—government or private sector organisations charged with designing and applying regulatory policy solutions, often in partnership with diverse stakeholders.
Learn more and watch the program video
The Graduate Certificate of Regulation and Governance (CREGO) is designed to help regulators and professionals working with regulatory stakeholders understand and apply best practice approaches to regulation and governance. It provides tools necessary to navigate the complexity of current regulatory environments.
The program is for people who are currently managing regulatory portfolios and projects in government agencies, or who will do so in future. It also supports professionals who work with regulatory stakeholders, including business and industry, territory, state and federal government agencies, the legislature, community actors and the media.
Learn more and watch the program video
The Master of Technology Governance (MTEGO) is a transdisciplinary training experience that accommodates interests in various technology sectors and emphasises a stimulating curriculum of master classes with distinguished practitioners, global networks and multiple career pathways in Australia and overseas.
Students learn how to combine evidence informed insights on governance with cutting-edge research to analyse and address real-world problems at local, national or international and across various technologies. By integrating different disciplines and perspectives, students obtain tools to engage with complexity, uncertainty and innovation. It uniquely positions graduates to assess and respond to an array of technology governance challenges now and into the future, whether their careers take them to the public, private or non-profit sectors.
Learn more and watch the program video
The Graduate Certificate of Technology Governance (CTEGO) is designed for students seeking to start or advance their careers in data governance, digital transformation and technological change. It provides skills that are transferable to legislative and regulatory affairs, policy design and analysis, industry, civil society and advocacy.
The program trains students to anticipate and address real-world problems across various technology and industrial sectors. Students learn to combine evidence-informed insights on regulatory systems with cutting-edge research to tackle pressing and upcoming issues in technology governance across domains and at local, national, or international levels. By integrating different disciplines and perspectives, graduates are positioned to assess and respond to current and upcoming issues in technology governance and be resilient to new challenges as they arise.
Learn more and watch the program video
The criminological threats and governance challenges confronting police, justice, regulatory and security actors are increasing in our networked world. The significance and complexity of these issues are exacerbated in turn by the compounding effects of systemic crises—for example the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change—which generate significant disruptions and uncertainties. Combatting harmful and illicit activities in the face of disruptions and multiple crises therefore requires innovative and holistic strategies for conceptualising and addressing crime, risk and resilience and the Graduate Certificate in Crime, Risk and Resilience has been developed with this purpose in mind.
Graduates will develop knowledge and skills which will enable them to gain professional recognition as change agents and thought leaders across multiple sectors and domains that are working to prevent and reduce criminal harms in the face of growing complexity.
Learn more and watch the program video
The Professional Regulator program is Australia’s first professional development program for regulators, designed and delivered by RegNet, in partnership with the National Regulators Community of Practice (NRCoP) and the Australia New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG). The program provides professional development for regulators, regardless of regulatory sphere or jurisdiction, which results in a common foundation of current, modern regulatory practice, with increased professionalism and capacity of regulators around Australia.
The course is a practical six module online self-paced professional learning program. Participants will also have the unique opportunity to participate in a program of six seminars that will expand on the topics and themes explored in the six online modules. The seminars provide an opportunity for participants to learn with peers and will be facilitated by expert regulators.
Learn more
The Graduate Certificate of Nuclear Technology Regulation combines internationally recognised expertise in physics, law, engineering, public policy and regulation to enable students to develop a critical understanding of the role of nuclear technology in Australia, as well as how and why it should be regulated.
RegNet Professor Veronica Taylor, who has helped to develop the Graduate Certificate, describes it as equipping students to understand “Risk-based regulation developed in response to nuclear technology. Technologies with complex multigenerational effects, civilian and military applications and human and non-human oversight need robust regulation and governance. The Graduate Certificate of Nuclear Technology Regulation applies interdisciplinary insights to questions of how to manage risk, build ‘smart’ regulation and earn social trust for technology that is both contested and consequential for Australia and its region.”
Learn more
The Master of Public Policy Specialisation in Contemporary Regulation introduces students to the theory and practice of regulation and governance, providing tools that can be used to understand governance problems and to develop adaptive and effective responses at a local, national and global level.
The courses provide students with a solid foundation in the concepts, processes, institutions and practices of regulation and governance, enabling them to apply those ideas to a range of domains, including disruptive technology, global business regulation, restorative justice and climate and health policy.
Learn more
Jenna Imad Harb
Backstage labour on the frontlines: A feminist analysis of technology and the everyday repair work of humanitarian aid in lebanon
Jodette Kotz
Sticky or stuck: The role of policy networks in constraining change to Australia’s healthcare financing policy
Achalie Kumarage
Collective voice without collective bargaining: Women workers negotiating labour rights in Sri Lanka’s apparel industry
Alexandre San Martim Portes
Policy integration for sustainable development: An analysis of patent regulation in latin america
Heidi Tyedmers
Troubling kastom: Women, violence and justice in Vanuatu
Johannes van der Walt
How are multinational corporations operating in Australia reacting to greater tax transparency?
MREGG
Master of Regulation and Governance
CREGO
Graduate Certificate of Regulation and Governance
Isabelle Patterson
Andrew Tudehope Brianna McKeown
Professor Susan K. Sell, who passed away on 25 December 2023, was a cherished member of the Australian National University (ANU) and School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) community since 2016. Her impactful research advanced key ideas and concepts in international political economy, intellectual property, trade, investment and the economy of health, shedding light on how these issues affect our lives. Susan authored several influential books, including Private Power, Public Law: The Globalization of Intellectual Property Rights and Who Governs the Globe? with Professor Deborah Avant and Professor Martha Finnemore. Her most recent book, The Global Battles Over Intellectual Property Protection and Enforcement: Cat and Mouse, is forthcoming with Oxford University Press.
While at the ANU, Susan embarked on an innovative programme of work concerned with explaining the distinct contours and impacts of 21st century capitalism. Beyond her professional accomplishments, she was known for her warmth and positivity. Her laughter and encouragement filled the corridors of RegNet, making it a brighter place for everyone. She served on the ANU College Research Committee, dedicating many hours to supporting and promoting the work of early career researchers across the College of Asia and the Pacific. She always found time to offer advice, encouragement and support for their growth. Her colleagues recall her generosity, not just with her time, but with her spirit.
RegNet School Director, Professor Kate Henne recalls how Susan’s warmth shaped her interactions and her ability to connect with people on a personal level.
“Susan was always the first to check in if she noticed someone wasn’t their usual upbeat self. When you needed a critical insight into a research problem, she always had the constructive feedback that answered your
question. She also had the most colourful words of encouragement. Like many others, I will always smile thinking of Susan chatting with colleagues as she walked down the halls of RegNet,” she says.
Susan’s former student and current RegNet staff member Dr Nick Frank is deeply grateful for the guidance and the belief she instilled in him.
“Susan was my academic mother, mentor, friend and colleague. The single biggest lesson that I have taken from Susan—apart from not taking myself too seriously—is to rigorously trace the causal chain from the macro features of the political economy to social and environmental outcomes,” he says.
One of Susan’s strengths was her passion for bridging academia with real-world impact. Her consultancy work for organisations like the Ford Foundation, the Open Society Institute and the World Health Organization underscored her commitment to making a positive impact on a global scale. She served as an advisor for the United Nations SecretaryGeneral’s High-Level Panel on Public Health and Access to Medicines, leveraging her expertise to advocate for equitable access to healthcare globally. Her work on the board of Geneva-based IP-Watch also exemplified her dedication to supporting under-resourced delegations in negotiations.
As we remember Susan, we will continue to keep her legacy of advocacy and collaboration alive. Her life reminds us that scholarship is about more than knowledge; it is about using that knowledge to make a meaningful impact. Susan’s kindness, mentorship and groundbreaking research are now a lasting part of our ANU community and beyond. Her influence lives on in every scholar she inspired, every student she guided and every colleague who was fortunate enough to work alongside her.
With full hearts, we pay tribute to Dr Naing Ko Ko, who passed away on 11 April 2024. Naing Ko Ko was a Burmese and Mon scholar, ANU RegNet alumnus (PhD, 2023) and a human rights advocate whose courageous spirit and tireless struggle for the people of Burma (Myanmar) defined his life.
As part of the ‘88 generation of student protesters, he was imprisoned and tortured in Yangon’s infamous Insein Prison, where he demonstrated remarkable determination by learning English in secret, using makeshift materials. After his release, Naing Ko Ko fled to Thailand in 1998, where a Prospect Burma scholarship enabled him to earn a BA at Rangsit University.
He later completed an MA in Politics at the University of Auckland, receiving Amnesty International’s Human Rights Defender Award. He then pursued a Master of International Studies as a Rotary Peace Fellow at the University of Queensland, graduating in 2013. His PhD journey began at RegNet in 2014, where he worked with Professors Veronica Taylor, Peter Larmour, Grant Walton and Sean Turnell.
Naing Ko Ko’s scholarship focused on human rights politics in Myanmar, producing numerous op-eds and academic articles. He returned to Myanmar in 2013 to support Professor John Braithwaite’s Peacebuilding Compared project and later undertook PhD fieldwork on regulating corruption in
Myanmar’s banking and public finance sectors. His thesis, How Can Myanmar Effectively Regulate Corruption in its Banking and Public Finance Sectors?, combined hope with realism, addressing military corruption and offering insightful recommendations on constitutional reform.
In 2015, Naing Ko Ko returned to Myanmar to support Aung San Suu Kyi after the National League for Democracy’s (NLD) electoral victory. He was an advisor to the NLD-led government, providing professional development for Members of Parliament and advising on anti-corruption and economic policies. His plans to take up a regulatory role in Myanmar were shattered by the 2021 military coup. Forced into hiding, he and his family lived under constant threat of arrest and his cancer went undiagnosed. With help from friends, human rights organisations and governments, Naing Ko Ko escaped to New Zealand in 2023, though by then his illness was advanced.
Despite health challenges, Naing Ko Ko completed his PhD and graduated in person in December 2023. He was very proud to have his family present for the ANU graduation and a celebration with the PhD cohort at RegNet. Although he held multiple degrees, this was his first and only opportunity to walk the stage at a university graduation. It was a fitting public celebration of Naing Ko Ko’s great intellectual courage and commitment to democracy, accountability and equity.
Estimated media outlet circulation (newspaper)
2,786,000
Estimated broadcast audience
659,000
The upper and lower limit of the estimated people reached for this news coverage:
Between 37,213,784 and 4,748,409
Total number of items across online news, newspaper, tv, radio, magazine and social media
825
Publications
89
Edited by Peter Drahos
Available for download and purchase at press.anu.edu.au
This volume introduces readers to regulatory theory.
Aimed at practitioners, postgraduate students and those interested in regulation as a cross-cutting theme in the social sciences, Regulatory Theory includes chapters on the social-psychological foundations of regulation as well as theories of regulation such as responsive regulation, smart regulation and nodal governance. It explores the key themes of compliance, legal pluralism, metaregulation, the rule of law, risk, accountability, globalisation and regulatory capitalism. The environment, crime, health, human rights, investment, migration and tax are among the fields of regulation considered in this groundbreaking book. Each chapter introduces the reader to key concepts and
ideas and contains suggestions for further reading. The contributors, who either are or have been connected to the Regulatory Institutions Network (RegNet) or the School of Regulation and Global Governance, as it is now known, at The Australian National University, include John Braithwaite, Valerie Braithwaite, Peter Grabosky, Neil Gunningham, Fiona Haines, Terry Halliday, David Levi-Faur, Christine Parker, Colin Scott and Clifford Shearing.
Our collaborative and open-access book Regulatory Theory has been downloaded more than 44,600 times across 126 countries.
School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet)
@ANURegNet
ANU College of Asia & the Pacific CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGYTRANSITIONS
The School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet) is a world-class academic centre renowned for its pioneering research and education on regulation and governance.