Professor Justine Nolan
Director, Australian Human Rights Institute
Justine Nolan is a Professor in the Faculty of Law and Justice at UNSW Sydney and Director of the Australian Human Rights Institute. Justine's research focuses on the intersection of business and human rights, in particular, supply chain responsibility for human rights and modern slavery.
Her 2019 co-authored book Addressing Modern Slavery examines how consumers, business and government are both part of the problem and the solution in curbing modern slavery in global supply chains. Other recent books include The International Law of Human Rights (OUP, 2017) and Business and Human Rights: From Principles to Practice (Routledge, 2016).
She teaches international human rights law and related courses on global law, development, globalisation and business and human rights. Justine works closely with business, government and civil society and has been a key driver of the Australian business and human rights movement. In 2019 she was named 'Academic of the Year' at the Australian Law Awards. From 2016-2019 she served as Associate Dean Academic at UNSW Law.
Oras Khalaf
Business Manager
Oras Khalaf has extensive experience in project management roles in both government and not-for-profit sectors. Before joining the Institute, Oras was a senior policy officer at the NSW Ministry of Health, working on drug and alcohol treatment programs with the local health districts and community organisations.
Oras has worked on mental health and suicide prevention with the primary health networks. She also worked in digital mental health at Settlement Services International, where she led the development, implementation, and evaluation of strategies to promote the well-being of newly arrived refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers across Australia.
Oras has tertiary qualifications in education, medical science, and psychology.
Drew Sheldrick
Communications Manager
Prior to joining the Australian Human Rights Institute, Drew led a media team in the NSW Government responsible for agencies including Cyber Security NSW, the Data Analytics Centre, the Registry of Births Deaths & Marriages, Revenue NSW, and Service NSW. He managed media strategy and coordination for initiatives including the COVID Safe Check-In, the 24-hour COVID-19 hotline, the state border permit system, Dine & Discover NSW, and financial assistance programs for people and businesses affected by the pandemic, bushfire and flood disasters.
Drew managed media and communications for the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney from 2016-2019 and is a former journalist and editor who's worked for News Corp Australia and SBS. He is a former editor of the Star Observer newspaper and his writing has appeared in Guardian Australia, ABC's The Drum and Crikey. For several years he was Editorial Manager of CCH/Wolters Kluwer's Political Alert service, based in the Press Gallery in Parliament House, Canberra.
Kylie Smith
Events Coordinator
Kylie Smith brings vast experience in event and program management, having worked across a broad range of sectors after beginning her corporate career as an event manager in the conference and medical industry.
Over the past 10 years Kylie has had extensive experience working with the large global charity Enactus Australia as the Community, Operations, and Events Manager; working with universities to deliver social impact projects aligning with the UN sustainable goals.
Kylie has successfully managed and facilitated regional and national showcase events, conferences, and competitions, both in person and online. She has established effective relationships with business leaders, international partners, universities, conference companies and a wide variety of suppliers, customers, and stakeholders.
Gillian Moon
Research lead, Australian Climate Accountability Project
Gillian Moon is Senior Visiting Fellow at UNSW Law & Justice and Research Lead for the Australian Climate Accountability Project. Previously a Senior Lecturer at the Law School, she specialises in the intersections between human rights law, climate change, international economic law and development policy. Her particular focus is the human rights dimension of climate impacts.
Gillian has taught, researched and written on topics at the intersection of international economic law (particularly the law of the WTO), human rights law, climate change law and development theory. For many years a solicitor practising in consumer financial services and social security law, she also has extensive experience in policy formulation, law reform and development strategy.
Samuel Pryde
Research Associate/Managing Editor of the Australian Journal of Human Rights
Samuel Pryde is a Research Associate at the Australian Human Rights Institute, currently working in the field of business and human rights. A recent graduate of the University of New South Wales, Samuel holds qualifications in Law and International Studies. He previously participated in the Institute's Global Student Fellowship at Jubilee Australia.
Samuel is currently the coordinator of the Institute’s research project evaluating the effectiveness of Australia’s Modern Slavery Act, having previously contributed to the project as both a volunteer and a research assistant. His research interests include modern slavery, ethical sourcing practices and corporate environmental accountability.
Gavan Blau
Research Associate
Gavan Blau is a Discovery Research Associate currently working on the ARC project, Strengthening remedies for modern slavery in Indo-Pacific fisheries. Gavan is known for his expertise in leading field research projects across Southeast Asia, where he has overseen numerous studies on topics such as labour conditions, migration policy, human trafficking, modern slavery and press freedom.
As a research consultant, Gavan has also played a strategic advisory role to leading CSO programs, UN agencies, trade unions, universities, governments, and companies. Gavan has an interdisciplinary background, having practiced as a lawyer and as an economist in Australia, before specialising in Economic Geography at the University of Amsterdam. Gavan has taught academically on the topic of qualitative research methods, which he believes are essential for understanding how complex legal systems work in practice and impact the people they govern.
Maria Nawaz
Project Lead, Australian Climate Accountability Project
Maria Nawaz is a human rights lawyer with expertise in climate justice, discrimination law, women’s rights, strategic litigation and law reform. Maria was previously the General Counsel at Grata Fund, where she incubated and supported strategic litigation in human rights, climate justice and democracy for over 60 public interest cases.
Maria was previously a Lecturer at UNSW Law, the Law Reform Solicitor at Kingsford Legal Centre, a Legal Officer at the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department and the Human Rights Fellow at Legal Aid NSW. She holds a Bachelor of International Studies/Bachelor of Laws from UNSW.
Susie Shaw
Administrator
Susie Shaw has held positions in government, primary and tertiary education, and brings extensive administration skills to support the team.
For the past five years, she has worked at UNSW and most recently has provided high-level administrative support in the Office of the Women in STEM Ambassador, an Australian Government initiative to address gender equity in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
She supported the Women in STEM National Awareness Raising Initiative (NARI) 2020 by coordinating planning, development and implementation of campaign activities, increasing the visibility of girls and women in STEM. She was also the Program Administrator for the UNSW Women in Science and Maths Champions Program, a 12 month career development program to support PhD candidates and early-career scientists who identify as women to become science professionals.