Researchers
Research Fellows |
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Principal Research Assistants |
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Research Assistants |
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Research Fellows
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Mr Muhammad Eeqbal Farouque Hassim Eeqbal is a Research Fellow at the Asian Law Centre and a Lecturer and Subject Coordinator at the National Centre of Excellence for Islamic Studies Australia (NCEIS). Eeqbal started teaching Islamic Studies at the University of Melbourne in 2006, and has been much involved in course development at the NCEIS since the start of 2007. He lectures on the Qur’an and Hadith, their associated texts, Islamic law and Islamic education, at both undergraduate and graduate levels. He received a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours in Arabic/Islamic Studies and Indonesian Studies from the University of Melbourne, obtaining a Dean’s Award in the process. He is close to completing his PhD entitled 'Continuity and Resistance to Change: Muslim Educational Thought on Children's Motivation (750-1400 CE)'. Eeqbal's current research interests include: the history, theory and practice of Islamic education; Islamic law in Southeast Asia; Islamic legal theory; the history of Islam in Southeast Asia; and interpretation of the Qur'an and Hadith. He has presented papers and published on Islamic education and religious education in the Asia pacific, with publications on the origins of Salafism in Indonesia, the styles of circumstantial adverbials in the Qur'an and the Islamic literature of Ali Ahmad Bakathir forthcoming. He has also appeared on ABC Radio, commenting on religion and extremism. Eeqbal is a native speaker of Malay and English, is fluent in Indonesian and Arabic, and reads French as well.
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Principal Research Assistants
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Mr Jeremy Kingsley
Jeremy is currently a PhD Candidate in the Melbourne Law School, under the supervision of Professor Tim Lindsey and Professor Abdullah Saeed. In 2007-2008, he will be undertaking fieldwork in Lombok, Indonesia, as part of his doctoral research. This research is supported by an Endeavour Australia Cheung Kong Award and an ARC Federation Fellowship doctoral scholarship. Jeremy’s research interests include comparative legal studies, Indonesian law, Islamic jurisprudence and interdisciplinary research. Jeremy has written widely and has had articles published in the Arizona Journal of International and Comparative Law and the European Business Law Review, as a co-author of several chapters in edited collections on Islamic and Indonesian legal issues and writes regular opinion pieces in the Melbourne Herald Sun, the Australian and Straits Times (Singapore).
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Jemma Parsons joined the Asian Law Centre in 2007 as a Research Assistant for Professor Tim Lindsey's ARC Federation Fellowship, after completing a degree in Asian Studies (Indonesian) at the |
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Helen Pausacker joined the Centre in 1999. She is an Arts graduate of the University of Melbourne (BA (Hons), BLitt and Graduate Certificate in Gender and Development) and Monash University (MA) and is currently enrolled as a PhD student in the Law Faculty. Helen works as a Principal Research Assistant with Professor Tim Lindsey's ARC Federation Fellowship. Helen is involved in editing articles and translating Indonesian legal texts. Her research interests include charges of ‘pornography’ and prosecution of religious sects, both under the current Indonesian Criminal Code. Helen also researches Indonesian (particularly Javanese) culture, has trained as a dalang (shadow puppeteer) and is a member of two gamelan orchestras.
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Research Assistants
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Alfitri joined the centre in 2006 as a research assistant to Professor Tim Lindsey. He completed his Bachelor's degree (1999) and his Masters in Islamic Law (2004) at the State Islamic University (UIN) Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He completed his LLM (funded by an Australian Development Scholarship) at the Law School, the University of Melbourne in December 2006, focussing on on Asian and international law. After completing his study in Melbourne, Alfitri returned to Indonesia to continue his job as a lecturer at Samarinda State Institute for Islamic Studies (STAIN Samarinda). He teaches Islamic Criminal Law and Islamic Civil Law with an international law perspective. He is also continuing work on Professor Tim Lindsey’s ARC Discovery Project “Islamic Law in Contemporary Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei’. Alfitri’s research interests include Islamic law and international human right laws and their interplays in Muslim countries.
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Hean Leng joined the Asian Law Centre in 2008 as a Research Assistant to Dr Amanda Whiting and is currently completing his LLM. Prior to his study in Melbourne, he practised in the area of constitutional and human rights law, media law and general civil, commercial and criminal law in his four years as an advocate and solicitor in Malaysia. He tutored on a part-time basis in the University of Malaya, which he graduated from in 2002.
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Simon Butt joined the Asian Law Centre as a research assistant in 2005. His primary research interests are constitutional, criminal and commercial law in Indonesia, with a focus on judicial processes. He is fluent in Indonesian and completed his PhD at the University of Melbourne on the Indonesian Constitutional Court in 2007. Simon taught Indonesian law at the University of Sydney in 2007. He is currently conducting research into Indonesia’s Anti-Corruption Court under a grant provided by the Australian Indonesia Governance Research Partnership (AIGRP), managed by the Crawford School of Economics and Government of the Australian National University. He has consulted widely, including to the United Nations Development Program and the International Commission of Jurists.
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Faye Chan joined the Asian Law Centre in 2007 as a research assistant. She is a graduate of the University of Melbourne, with a B.A. (Hons) in Indonesian and Chinese Studies and a M.A. in History. Faye has spent the past 14 years in the Netherlands, where she freelanced as a proofreader of English manuscripts produced by European and Asian students/academics. Faye is currently undertaking a PhD for the University of Amsterdam, researching three generations of Peranakan Chinese women in Java and the Netherlands, spanning the entire 20th century. Her research interests include comparing gender & Islam issues between Southeast Asia and the Middle East.
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Tom Coghlan joined the Asian Law Centre in 2007 as a research assistant. He is currently completing his final year of an arts/law degree at the University of Melbourne. He has spent time in both Indonesia and East Timor, which has included completing a youth exchange program in Indonesia in 2005, and acting as an electoral observer at the 2007 Parliamentary election in East Timor. His research interests include Islamic law, and law and governance issues in Indonesia and East Timor.
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Melissa joined the Asian Law Centre in 2005 as a research assistant. She is also a research assistant for Professor Tim Lindsey's ARC Federation Fellowship. In 2006, Melissa completed Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Laws (Hons.) degrees at the University of Melbourne. She is currently completing her Articles of Clerkship at Lewis Holdway Lawyers.
Melissa's research interests include Indonesia law, the rights of minority groups (such as women and Christians) in Indonesia, as well as the impact of decentralisation and the influence of Islam on regional regulations. Melissa has had articles published in the Asian Journal of Comparative Law, the Australian Journal of Asian Law and the Singapore Journal of Legal Studies.
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Philippa Duffy joined the Asian Law Centre in 2008 as a research assistant to Pip Nicholson. She is currently in her last year of an Arts/Law degree at the University of Melbourne. Philippa is a member of the Melbourne Journal for International Law. |
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Melinda Han joined the Asian Law Centre in 2008 as a research assistant. She is currently in her fourth year of a Commerce/Law degree with a Diploma in Modern Languages (Japanese) at the University of Melbourne. Fluent in Korean, Melinda has worked as an interpreter and has undertaken legal work experience in South Korea. |
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Danny Haworth joined the Asian Law Centre as a research assistant in 2008. He graduated from Otago University, New Zealand in 2004 with BA (Hons), LLB, BCom. Danny’s main research interest is human consciousness. He is still discovering what areas of law capture his interest for future research.
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Wilfred joined the Asian Law Centre in 2007 as an editorial assistant to the Australian Journal of Asian Law. He is presently in his fourth year of an Arts (Media and Communication) / Law degree at the University of Melbourne. Born in Singapore, Wilfred spent the later part of his life in Australia. Wilfred speaks Mandarin and English fluently and is keen to further explore the legal systems of Asia. Wilfred is also currently Book Review Editor of the Melbourne University Law Review and was previously Submissions Editor. Wilfred was also a member of the Melbourne Journal of International Law.
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Penny joined the Asian Legal Centre in 2006 as a research assistant to Ms Stacey Steele. She is currently in her fifth year of an Arts/Law degree at the University of Melbourne. Penny has also undertaken a Diploma of Modern Languages (Japanese) at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests include urban and regional planning, constitutional law and local government. |
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Adam joined the ALC in 2007 as a research assistant to Adam is currently working on updating the Asia Law Online (ALO) database as well as helping create the Islamic Law Online (ILO).
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Rozanna Latiff joined the Asian Law Centre in 2007 as a research assistant for Professor Tim Lindsey's ARC Discovery Project "Islamic Law in Malaysia, Brunei and Singapore". She is predominantly working on Islamic law and administration in Malaysia. Rozanna was born and raised in Malaysia and Singapore and is fluent in both English and Malay. She is currently in her fourth year of a Law/Arts (Media and Communications) degree at the University of Melbourne. Her research interests include law in Malaysia, Islamic law and comparative media studies.
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Monica joined the Asian Law Centre in 2008 as a research assistant to Ms. Stacey Steele. She is currently completing a Bachelor of Arts and Law at the University of Melbourne. Monica is particularly interested in Japanese law and culture, and is undertaking a Japanese language major within her Arts degree. In the future she seeks to further her study of foreign legal systems, as she sees this as a useful way of understanding, developing and critiquing Australia’s own legal system. |
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Simon Lee joined the Asian Law Centre in 2007 as a research assistant. He is currently completing Law/Japanese at the University of Melbourne. Simon was born and lived in the Republic of Korea until the age of eight and moved to various countries including New Zealand and Australia. He is fluent in Korean, English and Japanese. His research includes the Korean legal education system. He is currently working on a research paper that analyses how and why Korean legal education underwent reform in the recent 21st century. His interests are solo-vocal performance and travelling.
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Ms Maki Nakajima joined the Centre as Research Assistant to the Japanese program in August 2004. Maki is a graduate in law from Seikei Law Faculty in Tokyo, Japan, and worked in the corporate sector in Japan before coming to Melbourne where she completed her LL.M. at the Melbourne Law School in 2003. She is now resident in Tokyo and is assisting Stacey Steele and Malcolm Smith on special projects. Her main research interests are in commercial law, comparative law, and, of course, Japanese Law.
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Nic is currently completing a bachelors degree in Laws/Asian Studies Nic developed his passion for Indonesian constitutional law, public law, international criminal law and human rights while completing a year-long in-country studies program based at the Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM), Jogjakarta. He speaks Bahasa Indonesia with near-native fluency and also studied traditional Sundanese drums at one of Indonesia's most highly regarded arts institutes, STSI-Bandung. His interests include politics, human rights and good governance. |
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Simon Pitt joined the Asian Law Centre in 2005 as a research assistant to Associate Professor Pip Nicholson. Simon is currently in his third year of a Commerce/Law degree at the University of Melbourne, and is fluent in French. Simon is also undertaking a Diploma of Modern Languages in Chinese (Mandarin), works as a volunteer at the Disability Discrimination Legal Service, and is an Assistant Editor of the Melbourne University Law Review.
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Jothie Rajah is a PhD candidate at the Asian Law Centre of the Law School, The University of Melbourne. She is a graduate of the Faculty of Law, National University of Singapore, where she also graduated with Honours in English. Jothie has taught with the Legal Writing and Research Skills Programme of the Faculty of Law of the National University of Singapore, where she has also lectured on Hindu Legal Traditions. She has also taught with the English departments of the National University of Singapore, the Institute of Education and Open University, Singapore. Jothie has been a member of the consultancy team working on the official translations of Lao laws, a United Nations Development Project.
In Melbourne, Jothie has guest lectured in postgraduate programmes at the Melbourne Law School and has tutored with the Department of Management at the University of Melbourne.
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Nick joined the Asian Law Centre team in late 2007 as a research assistant. He is currently completing his postgraduate law program at the |
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Lucy Watts joined the Asian Law Centre for the summer of 2008, as a research assistant to Stacey Steele. She is currently a student at the University of Tasmania, where she will graduate with a Bachelor of Arts (Japanese) and Laws. Additionally, in 2006 she completed a Graduate Diploma in Japanese at Kinjo Gakuin University, Nagoya. Her interests are Asian Law, specifically that of Japan, corporate governance issues and international relations.
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Kevin Zhou joined the Asian Law Centre in 2007 as a research assistant. He is currently completing his Juris Doctor at the Faculty of Law, the University of Melbourne. As a native Chinese speaker, Kevin is fluent in Mandarin and English. He received his Bachelor degree from Beijing Normal University. Prior to his study in Melbourne, he worked as a partner’s assistant in a Chinese law firm. His academic interests include comparative law, commercial law and fiscal law. He is also interested in Chinese law reform. |
