Professor Amanda Kennedy

Biography

Amanda Kennedy (PhD, LLB (Hons 1), B.Com, Grad.Dip. Legal Practice, Grad. Cert. Law Teaching, Lawyer (NSW)) is Head of School (Interim) and Professor of Law at the Queensland University of Technology School of Law. She joined QUT as a Professor of Law in 2019 and has held a range of senior leadership roles within the School, including Director of Engagement and Graduate Education, Deputy Head of School, and Interim Head of School since January 2025.

An internationally recognised scholar in agri-environmental and natural resources law, Amanda's expertise spans environmental justice, land use conflict, mining and resources law, and sustainability governance. Her research has attracted over $1 million in competitive and commissioned funding, including Australian Research Council Discovery and DECRA grants. She has published her work in both domestic and international journals and books, including a monograph with Routledge, Environmental Justice and Land Use Conflict: The Governance of Mineral and Gas Resource Development. More recently, her research has expanded through interdisciplinary collaboration with environmental and health scientists, including through the THRIVE Indoor Air Quality program at QUT, contributing legal and regulatory expertise to multidisciplinary research on environmental health and regulatory governance. Amanda is currently Chair of the Governing Board of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law and Deputy Co-Chair of the LAWASIA Environmental Law Committee.

Amanda's teaching spans undergraduate and postgraduate programs concerning environmental law and natural resource governance, mining and resources law, and animal law. She has contributed to a textbook on Environmental, Planning and Climate Law in Queensland, in addition to leading an edited monograph on teaching and learning in environmental law. With a particular interest in embedding sustainability within the core law curriculum, Amanda has also previously served as Co-Chair of the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law's Teaching and Capacity Building Committee (2017–2023). She has led international pedagogy workshops and capacity-building programs for environmental law educators and judicial officers across the Asia-Pacific, in partnership with international development organisations and regulatory bodies.

Amanda's contributions to teaching have been recognised through the LexisNexis-Australasian Law Teachers Association Citation for Excellence and Innovation in the Teaching of Law (2014), the IUCN Academy of Environmental Law Emerging Scholar Education Award (2016), and appointment as Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (UK) (2019). Amanda is also actively engaged with scholarship at the intersection of artificial intelligence, professional identity and the future of legal practice, with a particular interest in how law schools must respond to technological transformation in preparing graduates for a rapidly evolving profession.