Associate Professor
Shih-Ning Then

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.