Professor Tamara Walsh

Professor & Director ProBono Centre

School of Law
Faculty of Business, Economics and Law
t.walsh@law.uq.edu.au
+61 7 336 56192

Overview

Tamara Walsh is a Professor of Law and Director of the UQ Pro Bono Centre. She has degrees in both Law and Social Work, and her interest is in social welfare law and human rights. Her research examines the impact of the law on vulnerable people including children and young people, people experiencing homelessness, people on low incomes, people with disabilities, mothers and carers. Her research has spanned 20 years and has been widely published, both in Australia and internationally.

In 2008, Tamara designed and established the UQ Pro Bono Centre, along with Dr Paul O'Shea and Prof Ross Grantham. The UQ Pro Bono Centre facilitates student and staff participation in pro bono legal activities, particularly public interest research and law reform. It is now a flagship program of the UQ Law School.

In 2016, Tamara established the UQ Deaths in Custody Project, which she runs in partnership with Prisoners' Legal Service. This Project monitors deaths in custody across Australia, and administers a public website which is an important resource for researchers, coroners and members of the public: www.deaths-in-custody.project.uq.edu.au

In 2020, Tamara established the UQ/Caxton Human Rights Project, along with Bridget Burton at Caxton Legal Centre. This project is staffed by volunteer law students and makes information on every case that refers to the Human Rights Act 2019 (Qld) publicly available: https://law.uq.edu.au/human-rights-cases.

Tamara is currently undertaking an ARC Linkage project on human rights dispute resolution in Australia (2023-2025). She has recently completed an ARC Linkage project on the criminalisation of poverty and homelessness in Australia (2017-2021).

Tamara undertakes pro bono legal practice in the area of child protection, and she lectures in human rights law, and child and family law. Tamara also runs the UQ Law School's clinical legal education program.

Research Interests

  • Human rights law
  • Law and social justice
  • Social welfare law
  • Discrimination/equal opportunity law

Qualifications

  • Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Queensland University of Technology
  • Doctor of Philosophy, Queensland University of Technology
  • Bachelor (Honours), University of New South Wales
  • Bachelor of Law, University of New South Wales

Publications

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Grants

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Supervision

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Available Projects

  • The PhD program provides students with an opportunity to examine the legal and social impacts of human rights law, and explore in depth the effects of the law and legal systems on people experiencing social and economic disadvantage. Students could apply human rights law, and related scholarship, to a number of different legal areas and problems, including:

    • Social welfare
    • Child protection
    • Housing and homelessness
    • Criminalisation, policing and corrections

    For further information contact Professor Tamara Walsh, e: t.walsh@law.uq.edu.au.

View all Available Projects

Publications

Featured Publications

Book

Book Chapter

  • Walsh, Tamara (2024). Practical legal training in ‘child law’: lessons in collaboration, emotion and relationships. Teaching family law: reflections on pedagogy and practice. (pp. 86-100) edited by Henry Kha and Mark Henaghan. Abingdon, United Kingdom: Routledge.

  • Walsh, Tamara (2022). Homeless persons. Elgar encyclopedia of human rights. (pp. 1-20) Vienna, Austria: Edward Elgar Publishing. doi: 10.4337/9781789903621

  • Douglas, Heather and Walsh, Tamara (2015). Mandatory Reporting of Child Abuse and Marginalised Families. Mandatory Reporting Laws and the Identification of Severe Child Abuse and Neglect. (pp. 491-509) edited by Matthews, Ben and Bross, Donald C. New York, United States: Springer Netherlands. doi: 10.1007/978-94-017-9685-9_23

  • Walsh, Tamara and Douglas, Heather (2015). Mothers in crisis: mothers and the child protection system. Mothers at the Margins: Stories of Challenge, Resistance and Love. (pp. 89-107) edited by Lisa Raith, Jenny Jones and Marie Porter. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

  • Walsh, Tamara K. E. (2004). Professionalism. Professional liability and property transactions. (pp. 2-24) edited by Sharon Christensen and Bill Duncan. Sydney, Australia: The Federation Press.

  • Walsh, Tamara K.E. (2004). Professionalism. Professional Liability and Property Transactions. (pp. 2-24) edited by Sharton Christensen and Bill Duncan. Australia: Federation Press.

Journal Article

Conference Publication

Other Outputs

Grants (Administered at UQ)

PhD and MPhil Supervision

Current Supervision

  • Doctor Philosophy — Principal Advisor

Completed Supervision

Possible Research Projects

Note for students: The possible research projects listed on this page may not be comprehensive or up to date. Always feel free to contact the staff for more information, and also with your own research ideas.

  • The PhD program provides students with an opportunity to examine the legal and social impacts of human rights law, and explore in depth the effects of the law and legal systems on people experiencing social and economic disadvantage. Students could apply human rights law, and related scholarship, to a number of different legal areas and problems, including:

    • Social welfare
    • Child protection
    • Housing and homelessness
    • Criminalisation, policing and corrections

    For further information contact Professor Tamara Walsh, e: t.walsh@law.uq.edu.au.