2025 Faculty of Law Research Highlights

The past year was exceptionally active and impactful for research in the Law Faculty | Te Kaupeka Ture at UC, marked by strong publication outputs, policy influence, international engagement and public-facing scholarship across the Faculty. Colleagues have contributed to law reform, advanced interdisciplinary research, strengthened global partnerships and achieved significant recognition for their work.
 

Research Excellence and Publications
Faculty members continue to publish widely and influentially across domestic and international platforms. Recent outputs include major contributions to comparative procedural law, environmental and biodiversity governance, criminal justice, disaster law, food heritage, space law and polar law. Research addressing emerging challenges—such as marine carbon dioxide removal, ecosystem-based management, disaster management, climate litigation, artificial intelligence regulation and online safety—has featured prominently. These efforts are often explicitly interdisciplinary, drawing together law, criminal justice, science and policy as well as Indigenous knowledge and understanding.

Grants, Fellowships, and Strategic Funding
The Faculty has enjoyed notable success in securing competitive funding. Awarding bodies included the Borrin Foundation MBIE’s Endeavour Fund and Te Hiranga Rū | QuakeCoRE, supporting research on disaster law, violence against women following disasters, prison law, sacred sites, marine carbon governance, and climate resilience. Several early-stage “seed” grants enabled the exploration of new research ideas, postgraduate opportunities and international collaboration.

Law Reform, Policy, and Public Impact
Faculty expertise continues to inform law reform and public decision-making. Colleagues provided submissions on emergency management legislation, resource management reform, AI regulation, reproductive technology law and disaster preparedness. Several staff advised Ministers directly, served on statutory or advisory bodies, and received formal recognition for their contributions to policy development.

Media, Commentary, and Public Engagement
Faculty members were highly visible in national and international media, contributing expert commentary on AI, online safety, defamation, climate change, Palestine recognition, disaster response and environmental governance. Opinion pieces appeared in The Conversation, Newsroom, and other outlets, while staff featured regularly on RNZ and international broadcasters.

Innovative forms of engagement are also flourishing within the Faculty. A new podcast series, Law at the End of the World, has already attracted a strong audience, translating complex environmental and legal issues into accessible public dialogue. Faculty research has also been highlighted on institutional websites, podcasts, and public-facing platforms.

Conferences, Workshops, and Global Collaboration
Colleagues were active participants, organisers, and keynote speakers at conferences across Aotearoa New Zealand, Europe, Africa, North America, Asia, and the Pacific. These included major gatherings on climate law, feminist legal theory, space law, criminal justice, disaster risk reduction, food systems and ocean governance. In addition, Te Kaupeka Ture | The Faculty of Law hosted the Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand (LSAANZ) biennial conference in December 2025 with 200 delegates from across the region and the globe, meeting under the theme of “Rights, Relationality, Resilience, Reciprocity”. Earlier in the year the Faculty hosted of events to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the Bill of Rights culminating in a conference, “Bill of Rights Act: Legacy and Lessons - Where to now?”

Several staff also played leadership roles in organising international symposia and workshops, including landmark events on space law in Africa and strategic litigation against public participation (SLAPPs). Others contributed to United Nations–affiliated forums and high-level scientific and policy summits.

Research Led Teaching, Students, and Academic Community
Teaching excellence and student engagement remain central. Staff delivered guest lectures internationally, supervised prize-winning research, supported postgraduate conference participation and celebrated multiple doctoral completions. Students and early-career researchers were well represented at conferences and poster sessions often presenting alongside senior scholars.

Faculty members also contributed to professional education, judicial training, and specialist courses for law and criminal justice practitioners, reinforcing the Faculty’s role in lifelong legal education.

Research Groups

Criminal Justice
2025 was a strong year for criminal justice research in the Faculty of Law, led by the publication of Mental Health and Criminal Justice: A New Zealand Guide, a book edited and authored by Marozane Spammers and featuring contributions from both Criminal Justice and Law academics.

In addition, Criminal Justice staff and postgraduate students published a range of high-quality, high-impact research in leading journals and outlets, reflecting the breadth, depth, and real-world relevance of our work. These include publications on Workplace Burnout Among Australian and New Zealand Correctional Educators (examining staff wellbeing), Unique challenges faced by rural police officers: A scoping review and thematic analysis (examining police challenges), and He punga i mau ai | An anchor that holds the canoe: Exploring the sentencing of wāhine Māori in the criminal courts of Aotearoa New Zealand. Together, these outputs highlight the Faculty’s strong national and international profile in criminal justice scholarship.

LEAD Institute of Law, Emergencies and Disasters: 2025 in Review
2025 was a highly productive year for the LEAD Institute, strengthening its position as a leading centre for disaster law research, policy engagement, and global collaboration. Highlights included hosting senior international scholars and UNDRR leadership, deepening partnerships with Japan, and contributing to national law reform through select committee submissions and ministerial consultations. LEAD members were highly visible at major conferences, sector events, and public preparedness initiatives. The Institute’s impact was recognised through the University’s strong performance in the global sustainability rankings. New members, postgraduate researchers, and alumni achievements further reinforced LEAD’s interdisciplinary reach and international influence.

Overall, 2025 confirmed Te Kaupeka Ture o Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha as a Faculty that is deeply engaged with the pressing legal challenges of our time. It remains locally grounded and globally connected, academically rigorous but publicly engaged and committed to legal research that makes a difference.