Events

Join Melbourne Social Equity Institute and Melbourne Disability Institute to celebrate the launch of Refugee Displacement, Disability and Human Rights: the Production, Processing and Power of Data by Philippa Duell-Piening. This online event will feature a conversation between the author and three experts who will explore key themes of the book.

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The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities article 31, ‘Statistics and data collection’, is one of the first human rights articles about data production and processing. Dr Duell-Piening’s new book explores the legal and practical demands of article 31, how these have been interpreted and the practice of human rights research with marginalised communities.

The book’s analysis is assisted by a new conceptual framework that illustrates the relationship between visibility and power. The work demonstrates that data is not inert but powerful and may be used in ways that are helpful and harmful to rights holders. Through closely examining disability human rights data practices in refugee contexts, it concludes that human rights protections are being ignored in the urgency to create more data to identify and address inequality.

At this event, Dr Philippa Duell-Piening will be joined by Amir Brand-Abdi (human rights advocate), Professor Delia Ferri (Maynooth University ) and Jacek Saffell (International Committee of the Red Cross) to discuss the complexities of generating disability data in refugee contexts to meet operational imperatives, while safeguarding data subjects’ individual autonomy, choice, and control.

This event will take place via Zoom with professional live captioning. To discuss any other accessibility requirements please get in touch via social-equity@unimelb.edu.au.

2025 Seabrook Chambers Public Lecture

Australians rely on, and trust in, the impartiality and independence of our judiciary system. But we should not take this for granted.

Across the world, new threats to judicial independence are emerging. Ever-evolving technology, social media, fake news, artificial intelligence and resurgent political populism are posing new challenges.

Public confidence in Australia’s judiciary is high but this confidence needs protecting. Our faith in the courts and judicial system remain essential for the administration of justice and the rule of law. Australia is not immune to judicial controversies weakening public trust across our other democratic societies.

In this lecture, the Honourable Justice Lincoln Crowley of the Supreme Court of Queensland will break down the challenges facing judiciary independence and the administration of justice in Australia, and what can be done to counter these threats.