Recap of Last Year at RegNet

RegNet has released its annual report for 2022, which is available to view online or download as a PDF. My Director’s note offers a preview of what it contains:

For more than 20 years, RegNet’s work has influenced academic debates while contributing key ideas for enhancing regulatory practice and supporting more equitable approaches to governance. 2022 was no exception in terms of our commitment to these goals.

In addition to important academic outputs, including many books, RegNet researchers shared important insights through a range of media and public forums. To support these activities, we launched Professor Sharon Friel’s Australian Research Council (ARC) Laureate-funded initiative, the Planetary Health Equity Hothouse and convened a timely symposium on Security, resilience and community in an age of catastrophe. Our colleagues remained engaged in important governance work, with PhD scholar Binota Dhamai elected Chair of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and Dr Virginia Marshall appointed to the board of the Climate Change Authority.

We welcomed many new members to the RegNet community in 2022. Associate Professor Jarrett Blaustein became our resident policing and global crime governance expert. Professor Alan Gamlen extended the School’s work into the important area of global migration governance. Megan Arthur and Nicholas Frank joined us as part of the ARC Laureate project on planetary health equity, and Maxfield Peterson came on board, supporting Associate Professor Christian Downie’s Governing Energy Transitions (GET) Lab.

With travel restrictions lifted, it has been exciting to see more visitors in person. We look forward to more joining us in 2023. In addition to new faces, RegNet’s vibrant research culture has benefitted from funding provided by Australian and international funding agencies, including several competitive external grants, philanthropic funding and seven awards from the ANU College of Asia and the Pacific’s Asia Pacific Innovation Program (APIP).

We celebrated many achievements in 2022—in fact, too many to list here. Professor Alan Gamlen won a highly competitive Future Fellowship to support his project, Mobility shocks: Understanding disruptions to Australian migration. Professor Sharon Friel was elected to the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences, Distinguished Professor and International Court of Justice Judge Hilary Charlesworth received the 2022 Peter Baume Award, the highest accolade for ANU staff, Dr Ashley Schram was recognised with the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Emerging Early Career Academics and Professor Anthea Roberts was named International Law research leader in The Australian’s 2023 Research Magazine. Our PhD scholars also received many well-deserved awards for their work.

Under Associate Professor Jarrett Blaustein’s leadership, we expanded the School’s educational offerings this year. In addition to refining the Master of Regulation and Governance, we created the Graduate Certificate and Master of Technology Governance, an innovative transdisciplinary program that addresses the distinct regulatory challenges accompanying the rapid growth of digital and physical technologies. We also launched our Regulation and Governance Clinic for graduate students to apply their knowledge and skills to real-world problem-solving and delivered executive training on leading regulatory systems for the Australian Public Service Academy.

RegNet’s vibrant activities would not be possible without the enthusiasm and commitment of our staff, students, visitors and collaborators. Our dedicated professional team has been terrific in supporting our endeavours, ensuring that our big ideas become realities. It has been inspiring to see everyone continue to perform at such a high level despite the ongoing challenges of the pandemic.

We are excited to share what the School has done over the last year in this annual report. You can stay up to date in real time by joining our mailing list, following us on Twitter or visiting us in person. And, if those outlets are not enough, we now have a LinkedIn page, too! (We are waiting to see what happens with Mastodon and Post., so stay tuned.)

Thank you for your ongoing interest in RegNet. We send our best for the year ahead.

Professor ­Kathryn­ (Kate) ­Henne
Director, School of Regulation and Global Governance (RegNet)