Events
Asian Law Centre (ALC) at the University of Melbourne
Featured events
Royal Commissions: Essential Nutrient or Junkie Drug?
Aug
6
5:30pm - 7:00pm
Public Lecture
James Merralls Fellowship in Law Lecture
In Royal Commissions: Essential Nutrient or Junkie Drug? Rachel Doyle SC will consider the powerful drug of Royal Commissions and inquiries.
Our governments are addicted to calling them, sometimes as a distraction or an attempt to delegate difficult policy decisions. The media and the public are addicted to the ease with which live streamed hearings can be consumed and reported upon. Class action lawyers gratefully seize upon their findings when issuing new proceedings.
Recent Royal Commissions have served vital purposes, including exposing institutional failures and permitting essential story telling in public by victims. But have we now become too reliant on contracting out the hard questions judges who conduct long hearings in air-conditioned rooms in our major cities?
** Please note: To complete your registration, you will need to log in or create a free account via our Cvent registration platform. If you don’t already have an account, you can create one from the login page before registering.
About the James Merralls Fellowship in Law Lecture
This lecture is named in honour of the late James Merralls AM QC, an alum of Melbourne Law School, who graduated LLB (Hons) in 1958. Mr. Merralls was a resident tutor in law at Trinity College between 1958 and 1972 and was Dean of the College in 1967 and 1968. Mr. Merralls made an enormous contribution to the Australian legal profession over the course of his career. In addition to an illustrious practice at the Victorian Bar, Mr. Merralls was a reporter for the Commonwealth Law Reports between 1960 and 1969 and was the editor from 1969 to 2016. He was publicly commended for his contribution to the Australian legal profession by many of our leading practitioners and judges, including successive Chief Justices of the High Court of Australia. The Australian legal profession owes a large debt of gratitude to Mr. Merralls.
The lecture is a collaboration between the Victorian Bar and Melbourne Law School. The Victorian Bar is the professional association representing more than 2200 barristers in Victoria. The Bar’s home is in the Courts precinct of Melbourne in the Owen Dixon Chambers, surrounded by chambers in other buildings. The Bar is a busy, thriving community comprising barristers, clerks, and support staff.
5.30 - 6.00pm Refreshments
6.00 - 7.00pm James Merralls Fellowship in Law Lecture
Melbourne Law School Alumni – please use this link to register for the lecture, including access to the alumni post-lecture reception.
From curiosity to change: how discovery science transforms our world
Aug
12
6:00pm - 8:30pm
Public Lecture
Join us for a panel discussion on the value of discovery science and the role of fundamental research in shaping the world around us.
Some of the greatest scientific breakthroughs began with questions that seemed abstract, obscure at the time. Yet history shows that foundational, curiosity-driven research regularly spark revolutions in human understanding and ultimately the way we live our lives and interact with the planet (and beyond).
In 2025, the University’s own Professor Richard Robson was awarded the Nobel Prize for discoveries that began as curiosity driven investigations into how molecules could be structured but ultimately paved the way for major advances in fields ranging from clean energy storage to catalysis. His achievement is a powerful reminder that transformative innovation often begins with curiosity.
Hear from researchers whose fields were reshaped by work like Professor Robson’s, and learn how foundational research in chemistry, physics, biology and mathematics leads to real-world impact – often in unexpected ways.
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The Science at Melbourne Conversation series is the premier public event series from the Faculty of Science. The event program seeks to share our knowledge and love of science with the wider community, engaging them in current research and empowering them to ask questions and act for a better world. The series runs throughout the year covering scientific research, discoveries, and theories that play exciting or unexpected roles in shaping and advancing our society.
