Associate Professor
Shih-Ning Then

Faculty of Business & Law,
School of Law
Biography
Associate Professor Shih-Ning Then commenced with the School of Law in 2008. Shih-Ning is a socio-legal academic who researches and teaches in the areas of medical law and ethics. She is an experienced interdisciplinary researcher who has published with medical practitioners, ethicists and other interdisciplinary scholars.Research:
Shih-Ning's research interests include:
- guardianship, substituted and supported decision-making
- regulation of biomedical science
- artificial reproductive technologies
- involvement of minors in a health context
- use of human tissues and tissue donation and transplantation
- health law.
Shih-Ning was a chief investigator on an ARC funded linkage grant looking at effective decision-making support for people with cognitive disabilities and continues to do interdisciplinary research in this area. She has been a member of the NHMRC Organ and Tissue Working Committee and has experience as a member of human research ethics committees and as a member of a clinical ethics consultation service. Shih-Ning is also part of the QUT team funded by the Department of Health that created End of Life Law for Clinicians, a legal education resource for doctors, nurses, medical students, allied health and other health professionals.
Shih-Ning would be interested in supervising PhD students in her areas of expertise and has been Higher Degree Research Coordinator for the Law School since 2018.
Background:
Shih-Ning graduated from The University of Queensland in 2003 with First-class honours in Law and a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Science. In 2009 she completed a Master of Laws in Innovation, Technology and the Law at the University of Edinburgh, graduating with Distinction and in 2015 completed a PhD at the University of Sydney. Prior to joining QUT, Shih-Ning worked as an associate to Justice Davies in the Queensland Court of Appeal, a lawyer at Minter Ellison Lawyer and as a legal officer for the Queensland Law Reform Commission.
Personal details
Positions
- Associate Professor
Faculty of Business & Law,
School of Law
Keywords
ACHLR, Health and Medical Law, Medical Ethics, Children as patients, Organ and tissue transplantation and donation, Substitute decision-making, Supported decision-making, End of life decision-making, Biomedical research
Discipline
Law, Other Law and Legal Studies
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2008
Qualifications
- Doctor of Philosophy (University of Sydney)
- Masters of Law (University of Edinburgh)
Professional memberships and associations
Australian Centre for Health Law Research: https://www.qut.edu.au/law/research/achlr
Law Lab: https://research.qut.edu.au/qut-law-lab/
Teaching
- LWN164 Health Care Law and Ethics
Selected publications
- Carney T, Then S, (2021) Support for Decision-Making as People Age With a Cognitive Impairment. In M Putnam & C Bigby, Handbook on Ageing with Disability, Routledge, pp. 186-195.
- Then S, Lipworth W, Stewart C, Kerridge I, (2021) A framework for ethics review of applications to store, reuse and share tissue samples, Monash Bioethics Review, 39 (1), pp. 115-124.
- White B, Willmott L, Feeney R, Neller P, Then S, Bryant J, Waller A, Yates P, (2021) Limitations in health professionals' knowledge of end-of-life law: a cross-sectional survey, BMJ Supportive and Palliative Care.
- Carney T, Bigby C, Then S, Smith E, Wiesel I, Douglas J, (2021) Paternalism to empowerment: all in the eye of the beholder?, Disability & Society.
- Then S, Jowett S, (2020) Removal and use of paediatric tissue for research purposes: Legal and ethical issues in Australia, Journal of Paediatrics and Child Health, 56 (3), pp. 359-363.
- Then S, Martin D, (2022) Transitions in decision-making authority at the end of life: a problem of law, ethics and practice in deceased donation, Journal of Medical Ethics, 48 (2), pp. 112-117.
- Carney T, Then S, Bigby C, Wiesel (Vizel) I, Douglas J, Smith E, (2019) Realising 'will, preferences and rights': Reconciling differences on best practice support for decision-making?, Griffith Law Review, 28 (4), pp. 357-379.
- White B, Willmott L, Then S, (2018) Adults who lack capacity: Substitute decision-making, Health law in Australia (3rd edition), pp. 207-270.
- Then S, Kerridge I, Marks M, (2018) Children as haematopoietic stem cell donors: ethically challenging and legally complex, Medical Journal of Australia, 208 (8), pp. 334-337.
- Then S, Carney T, Bigby C, Douglas J, (2018) Supporting decision-making of adults with cognitive disabilities: The role of Law Reform Agencies - Recommendations, rationales and influence, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 61, pp. 64-75.
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Shih-Ning, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Research projects
- Title
- Effective Decision Making Support for People with Cognitive Disability
- Primary fund type
- CAT 1 - Australian Competitive Grant
- Project ID
- 78473752
- Start year
- 2016
- Keywords
Supervision
Current supervisions
- CONSTRUCTION OF DEMENTIA IN AUSTRALIAN AGED CARE PUBLIC DISCOURSE AND LAW
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Kieran Tranter - The Transition to Adulthood of People with Severe Cognitive Impairments in Australia: A Socio-Legal Examination
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Elizabeth Dickson - The patriarchy and the post-enhanced world: will women finally be equal?
PhD, Mentoring Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Andrew McGee, Dr Sam Boyle - Regulating Research Integrity
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Fiona McDonald, Dr Peta Stephenson - Parental consent and whether it applies in the context of non-therapeutic male circumcision in Australia
MPhil, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Steph Jowett