Connecting research and teaching across Australia and Aotearoa

Professor Lee Godden—formerly of the University of Melbourne— is the new dean of Te Kauhanganui Tātai Ture—Faculty of Law.

A leading researcher in environmental law and property law and its intersections with Indigenous peoples’ rights to land and resources, Professor Godden is delighted to be joining what she describes as “an outstanding faculty of law with a high-standing research reputation”, and with a strong focus on quality teaching and student support.

“I do feel very honoured to be taking up the role. I am aware that there are some very eminent people who go before me as dean”.

Part of the attraction for Professor Godden in coming to Wellington is the opportunity to work with communities and with Faculty of Law members, including those with a background in Te Tiriti o Waitangi principles, who are working in te Tiriti research.

Building on her PhD thesis, she has undertaken research and publications over 25 years at the interface of environment, property, and native title in Australia, but also comparative research in Aotearoa New Zealand, Canada, South-East Asia, and South Africa on these issues.

In her time at Melbourne, she was part of a university-wide multidisciplinary group, led by Indigenous scholar Professor Marcia Langton, working on a 10-year project looking at agreement-making between settler institutions, settler law, and Indigenous peoples. “Agreementmaking has been an important aspect of my work, where you’re navigating a wide range of interests, not all of them always congruent.”

Later, as an Australian Law Reform Commissioner (2013–15), she led a review of the Native Title Act, the Australian legislation governing Aboriginal land claims. Professor Godden hopes that her experience and research background will assist her in contributing to the co-governance discussion in Aotearoa. She emphasises that she would “never presume to speak for Aboriginal law or to speak in relation to iwi and Māori law and custom. That is always for those peoples with authority in their communities to do.”

Further, she has a longstanding interest in the law of the peoples across the Pacific in relation to environmental protection. “This crosses into my research on the utilisation of traditional ecological knowledge in environmental law.” More recently, she has undertaken projects working with communities and government on the integration of Indigenous peoples’ decision-making into structures such as co-management of biodiversity and water law.

As environmental law and property law cover a wide spectrum, Professor Godden’s other research interests include climate change and energy transition, “I’ve worked on renewable energy transition and electricity markets, which is a hot topic. Ensuring a ‘just transition’ is going to be a big issue for every nation.” This research dimension extends to issues of climate change adaptation and disaster planning.

As the director of a research centre, she has fostered the research of many early career researchers, “with many former PhD students now academics.” She is very keen to continue a mentoring role in her new position.

“I’d like to be seen as very strongly engaged with, and supportive of, the research and teaching of my colleagues.”

Professor Lee Godden