Asia Law and Policy Forum

From 17-19 June 2026, a conference on The Military as a Legal and Constitutional Actor: Sociolegal Perspectives & Approaches will be held at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Faculty of Law & Justice, Sydney, organised by Professor Melissa Crouch.

Workshop overview: Around the world, there are growing concerns about military coups and military rule, as well as the persistence of authoritarianism and the role of the military in the state. In many countries, the military is an institution that has either occupied, or been invited to occupy, civilian positions in the state and legal institutions. In the 21st century, during COVID-19, many governments around the world invited and enabled the military to assist with pandemic efforts, from enforcement of lockdowns to vaccine rollout. The military is also a visible legal actor or key influence on legal institutions and processes around the world, from Latin America, to Africa, Asia, and the US. In Asia, this phenomenon is salient in different forms in countries ranging from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and Myanmar, among others.[1] In many of these countries, individual military officers (active or retired) occupy positions in legislative, executive and judicial institutions. The presence and influence of the military raises key questions for legal scholars given that studies of modern legal systems often presume a civilian state with civilian actors.

This three-day workshop will offer opportunities for scholars to contribute to discussion and gain feedback on preliminary research into how the military uses or claims to use law and legal institutions. Participants will have the opportunity to present and receive advice on their work, contribute to exploratory discussions on this emerging area of research, including on methods; network with like-minded scholars and meet with senior scholars for career mentoring.

All scholars are welcome to apply, but for the travel bursaries, priority will be given to early/mid-career scholars, including those who are undertaking, or intending to undertake a PhD, who are from the Global South and who are currently based at universities and institutions in Asia and the Pacific, Australia or New Zealand. The country or jurisdiction that a participant chooses to present on is unlimited.

At the workshop, two days will be dedicated to conference presentations, discussion of draft papers and mentoring. A third day will focus on research methods, specifically the challenges of undertaking qualitative field work in illiberal, authoritarian and military settings. As part of the focus on methods, there will be a screening and discussion of the film-essay ‘Journey’ (2024), directed by Dr Visakesa Chandrasekaram, which focuses on studies and stories of Sri Lanka’s state-sponsored violence during the conflict and post-conflict times.

A list of indicative research themes that would be relevant to the focus of the workshop and could form the basis for applicants’ presentations, include:

• The military and constitutionalism
• The military, criminal law and transnational crime (terrorism, trafficking, drug smuggling etc)
• The military, immigration and border control
• The political economy of military involvement in governance
• The military in civilian courts
• Military-based political parties, and military involvement in elections
• The military and the use of law to respond to internal conflict
• The military and the regulation of natural disasters
• The military, crime and cities
• Research methods as it relates to law and the military
• Other topics related to the way the military uses and works through law and legal institutions (whether legally, or illegally)

We welcome empirically grounded projects on any jurisdiction that draw on history, anthropology, sociology, and other forms of interdisciplinary and sociolegal approaches.

Interested scholars should complete the application form, which requires:

• A brief explanation of why you would like to join the conference and how you would benefit from it, including your interest in staying involved in an ongoing research network on this topic (approx 300 words)
• Title of your paper and abstract of the research paper (max 800 word)
• Url link to current research profile (eg current institutional affiliation, publications), or your CV
• Indication of whether you are applying for a travel bursary (international or domestic), and if so what city/country you would be flying from/to
• quote for cost of economy airfare to Sydney

Successful participants will be asked to submit a 5-page outline of the paper they plan to present two weeks prior to the conference.

Details regarding bursaries: Funding is available for travel support based on a Law & Society Association (LSA) Advance Grant. Up to 10 bursaries will be available, with priority given to early/mid-career scholars and PhD candidates from the Asia Pacific region. An additional two bursaries are available for scholars travelling from outside of Sydney but within Australia. Preference will be given to early/mid-career scholars including PhD candidates. The travel bursaries for participants are intended to cover economy flights to Sydney, ground transport to/from Sydney airport, and 4 nights accommodation in Sydney (arriving 16 June, departing 20 June). Lunch and afternoon tea will be provided for participants at the workshop. The LSA will reimburse participants upon presentation of receipts such as flights and accommodation, (minus any bank or exchange fees). Participants are responsible for obtaining the appropriate visa and encouraged to apply well in advance; the organisers will provide a letter in support of visa applications.

Interested scholars based in Sydney who would like the opportunity to participate and present their work are also encouraged to apply.

Location of workshop: Faculty of Law & Justice, Kensington campus, Sydney, UNSW

Submission date: 2 February 2026, or until positions are filled. Early submissions are encouraged. Successful applicants will be notified by March 2026.

Application: Please apply to participate in the workshop by filling in this form.

Contact person: Professor Melissa Crouch, UNSW, melissa.crouch@unsw.edu.au

List of contributing academics: A range of LSA members and other scholars will contribute to the workshop as chairs, discussants or mentors. An indicative list of scholars who may be involved includes: Professor Amy Cohen, Temple University Beasley School of Law; Professor Ben Golder, UNSW; Professor Bronwen Morgan, UNSW; Dr Christoph Sperfeldt, Macquarie University; Dr Elisabeth Kramer, UNSW; Associate Professor Jonathan Bonnitcha, UNSW; Professor Luke McNamara, UNSW; Associate Professor Marc de Leeuw, UNSW; Associate Professor Phillip Wadds, UNSW; Associate Professor Ntina Tzouvala, UNSW; Associate Professor Vicki Sentas, UNSW; Dr Visakesa Chandrasekaram, UNSW; Dr Coel Kirkby, University of Sydney; Dr Brendan Clift, UNSW.

Accommodation options

Participants will need to book their own accommodation. On campus, New College has some guest accommodation, while nearby apartments within walking distance or access via a short tram or bus ride include Avoca Randwick, The Alison, The Lurline (formerly Randwick Lodge) and Avonmore on the Park Boutique Hotel.

Location of workshop on campus: UNSW Faculty of Law & Justice, Sydney, is located in Building F8, on lower campus of the Kensington Campus. The closest entrance gates are Gate 2 High Street or Anzac Parade. See the UNSW campus map

Further details regarding logistics will be provided to successful applicants.

[1] Melissa Crouch ‘The Military Turn in Comparative Constitutional Law’ (2024) Annual Review of Law & Social Science.

The UNSW Southeast Asia network is led by Dr Elisabeth Kramer & Professor Melissa Crouch. The network represents scholars and students from across various faculties and schools at UNSW who research and teach on Southeast Asia.

The network succeeds the UNSW Myanmar Network, of the former Institute for Global Development. All scholars and students at UNSW are welcome to join the group in Outlook: unswsoutheastasianetwork@groups.unsw.edu.au (or they can contact Lis or Melissa), to share opportunities and events on Southeast Asia at UNSW. 

In 2025, a series of films were shown at UNSW Law.

Two of the award-winning films by Dr Visakesa Chandrasekaram were hosted by the Centre for Criminology, Law and Justice and the Asia Law & Policy Forum. The film duology revolves around two court cases, based on certain true events of two post-conflict scenarios in Sri Lanka, focusing on militarisation, justice, human rights, and women’s roles in reconciliation.

In July, ‘Paangshu (Earth)’ (2019) (Sinhala with English subtitles, 85 minutes) was shown. There will be a brief introduction to the film by the director, and then a short Q&A session between Melissa Crouch and the director at the end. The film synopsis is as follows: Babanona, a launderer belonging to one of the lowest castes, is summoned to an identification parade where she identifies the soldier who abducted her son during the 1988/89 insurgency. While the young public prosecutor shows little or no interest in Babanona finding her missing son, Namalee, the pregnant wife of the soldier, seeks forgiveness from the launderer. As the prolonged hearings in the dilapidated courthouse continue for months, shameful secrets are gradually unearthed by the defeated rebels, victorious soldiers, and those who were crushed in between. Trailer here.

In September, the second film screening was held, of the film Munnel (Sand) (2020), directed by Dr Visakesa Chandrasekaram, (Tamil with English subtitles, 100 minutes). There was brief introduction to the film by the director, and then a short Q&A session between Vicki Sentas and the director at the end. The film synopsis is as follows: Rudran, an ex-Tamil militant, returns home from military detention, looking for his lover Vaani who had disappeared during the war. Rudran’s mother, Sellamma, who is gifted with a ‘boon’ of soothsaying, tells the locals whether their kith and kin are alive or dead, but she refuses to say the same about Vaani. While men and women defeated in the war find solace in massive Hindu temples, Rudran initially refuses to pray, but later in an act of desperation, he joins a month-long pilgrimage seeking help from God Ayyappa, hoping to unite with his lover. Trailer here.

The third film, by a different director, was held on 5 August. Saffron Kingdom is a film by a Kashmiri director, Arfat Sheikh. For the people of Kashmir, 5 August marks a deeply significant and traumatic turning point. On this day in 2019, the Indian government unilaterally revoked Article 370, stripping Jammu & Kashmir of its semi-autonomous status. This was followed by a sweeping military siege and the world’s longest communications shutdown, altering life in the region. In recognition of these events and their implications for the region, we invite colleagues and students to a screening of Saffron Kingdom, a film by a Kashmiri director, Arfat Sheikh. The film goes for 84 minutes. After the screening, Melissa Crouch moderated a short Q&A with the director. The blurb of the film is below, and a trailer is available at this link. Given the recent conflict between India and Pakistan in May 2025, and the lack of perspectives from Kashmir, this film offers a unique and largely untold story of the history of the people of Kashmir and their contemporary struggles.  The film synopsis is as follows:  Saffron Kingdom tells the story of a Kashmiri family navigating decades of trauma, displacement, and resilience – from 1990s Srinagar to 2019 Atlanta – highlighting identity, justice, and survival. The movie traces the story of Masrat, who witnesses the violence of insurgency during her childhood, and then later, experiences the abduction of her husband in 2014, forcing her to flee to the United States of America with her son, Rizwan. In America, Masrat juggles her roles as a protective mother and a university researcher documenting their past. The movie explores the political upheaval in 2019, including the revocation of Kashmir's semi-autonomous status and a military siege, and highlights the enduring struggle for identity and justice amidst personal and political turmoil.

Intercultural Legal Dialogue: a conversation with scholars from the Global South

A series of panels will be held in 2025 as an opportunity to learn about and from scholars from the Global South, who are also undertaking their PhD at UNSW Law & Justice.

Given the position of UNSW Law & Justice as a Global North institution that is now home to many experienced Global South scholars, this panel will be an opportunity to build on conversations that can facilitate intercultural legal dialogue across legal and academic traditions, systems and cultures in and beyond the academy. The conversation will be a platform for deeper engagement with the plurality of scholarly epistemic locations, experiences, and practices of teaching and researching law. The hope is that it provides an avenue for greater reflexivity in attending to our own institutional roles and inter-personal collegial relationships.

We particularly invite and welcome academics at UNSW Law & Justice who supervise HDR candidates as well as those interested in supervising HDRs from the Global South. We also welcome and encourage the wider HDR community to attend in the spirit of facilitating and sharing teaching and research experiences. This event is undertaken in collaboration with the International portfolio and the HDR portfolio in the Faculty, and the former is supporting afternoon tea for the event.

Below is a list of the panel members for the event on 12 March 2025, and a tentative list of panel members for term 2 and 3.

Term 1

• Shanil Wijeshina is a lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of Colombo (currently on leave), where he teaches courses on the Interpretation of Statutes, Legal Method, Roman Law and Advanced Legal Writing to both LLB and LLM students. His research interests include comparative constitutional law and judicial decision-making and reasoning.
• Tirtawening (Tirta) is a lecturer at the Faculty of Law University of Indonesia (currently on leave). She is based in the Department of Law, Society and Development and teaches courses on Legal Anthropology, Law and Society, Sociolegal Research Methods, and Law, Justice and Migration. Prior to being a lecturer, she worked as a researcher on gender and law, legal pluralism, and children’s rights at The Center for Women and Gender Studies University of Indonesia.
• Vinitika is an Assistant Professor at Jindal Global Law School (OP Jindal Global University) (currently on-leave); where she teaches core courses like International Trade Law and Human Rights Law and Theory and electives on Trade and Environment, Trade and Development, and Environment and Economic Law. Her research is also situated in understanding how developing countries should be treated in this trade-and-environment and trade-and-development matrix.
• Aman is an Associate Professor of Legal Practice at Jindal Global law School, O.P. Jindal Global University [JGU], India [currently on leave] where he has primarily taught the core course in Public International Law and elective courses interrogating law’s relation with counterinsurgency, contested sovereignties, and international migration. Stemming from human rights work prior to 2020, his research work has engaged with questions in international law, and draws direction, comfort (and discomforts) from critical approaches to international law, and critical legal theory.

Term 2: Thursday 26 June at 3-4pm, staff common room (online option available). Key themes we will consider this time include: how and why they became academics; the key influences on their teaching practises; the intersection between university campuses and national politics; and the role of academics in times of political and social upheaval. Speakers include:

• Shohini is Associate Professor at the Jindal School of Banking & Finance (O.P. Jindal Global University [JGU], India (currently on leave), where she teaches courses on financial regulation, banking law, and technology law to both law and business students. Prior to that, she worked for several years in the field of legislative policymaking.
• Jessica Marpaung is a lecturer at the Faculty of Law at Pelita Harapan University, Indonesia. She has taught courses on human rights, constitutional law, and legal research methodology. In addition to teaching, she actively mentors and coaches moot court teams, focusing on human rights and public international law. Her research interests include law and gender, legal pluralism and human rights.
• Razzak is an Assistant Professor at Jagannath University, Bangladesh, where he teaches international human rights law and labour law. His research interest sits at the intersection of business and human rights.

Term 3: Wednesday 24 Sept, 3-4pm (after faculty board).

• Ibrahim was a lecturer of constitutional law at Faculty of Law, Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia, where he taught undergraduate courses such as Indonesian Constitutional Law, Comparative Constitutional Law, and Legal Philosophy. His research area includes constitutional law, law and society, and law and religion, with a particular focus on Indonesia.
• Sonia Qadir worked as an associate attorney for Justice Project Pakistan (a top human rights law firm) as well as a civil law firm working on land acquisition cases, and as a legal consultant for the provincial Commission on the Status of Women. She has also served as an Adjunct Faculty at LUMS, where she taught a course on politics and history.
• Amarnath is former Assistant Lecturer at Jindal Global law School, O.P. Jindal Global University [JGU], India. He has taught courses on Gender & Society, International Human Rights, Constitutionalism in Emerging Societies, and Legal Research Methodology. He is currently a PhD Scholar at the Faculty of Law & Justice, University of New South Wales. His research interests include socio-economic rights, law & the informal economy, urban governance, and constitution-making in post-conflict societies.

The panels led to the publication of this blog series: 

• Intercultural Legal Dialogue: The Experiences of Academics from Asia studying in Australia, Melissa Crouch
• “Solidarity as Care” and “Solidarity Despite”: Intercultural Legal Dialogue with Shohini Sengupta
• Carrying Many Roles: Reflections as a Law Lecturer in Indonesia, Intercultural Legal Dialogue with M. Ibrahim
• “Socially Responsive Legal Education”: Intercultural Legal Dialogue with Md Abdur Razzak
• “Not always a smooth fit’: Intercultural Legal Dialogue with Jessica Marpaung
• ‘A Small Act of Kindness’: Intercultural Legal Dialogue with Vinitika Vij

This project involves UNSW partnerships and collaborations with academics and universities in Indonesia to support and mentor scholars and students of law and society, and law and development through conferences, seminars, and trainings.

In 2025, events include the following:

March 2025: Seminar by Justice Arsul Sani, judge of the Indonesian Constitutional Court

April 2025: Seminar by Ms Magdalena Sitorus, author and activist, on the victims of the 1965 violence

July 2025: Indonesian Law and Society Work in Progress Seminar
Seminar on current issues in criminal procedure reform in Indonesia

October 2025: ‘Is Reformation Dead?’
Seminar with Suciwati, Indonesian human rights activist, and Irvan Wiradinata, in collaboration with Aliansi Gusur (Aliansi Gerakan Sydney Bersuara)’

UNSW Law & Justice is currently home to the following Indonesian law academics, civil servants and activists, including Tirtawening (University of Indonesia), Md. Ibrahim (formerly of UGM), Jessica Marpaung (UPH), Ali Salmande (Banten), Abdul Halim (judge of the Islamic Court), Raisa Annisa (formerly of KPK; in ADA); Erasmus A. T. Napitupulu (ICJR), and Titis Anindyajati (Constitutional Court). The Faculty also regularly welcomes many Indonesian students into our LLM program, particularly through the LPDP and Australia Awards scholarship programs.

UNSW has hosted several conferences and seminars as well as visiting scholars from Indonesia. In 2014, UNSW co-hosted with the University of Sydney a conference on the Constitutional Court in Indonesia. In 2017, UNSW co-hosted a series of roundtables on judicial independence and electoral reform in Jakarta. In 2018, UNSW hosted two international workshops, one on court reform in Indonesia and the other on the 2019 elections. In 2019, UNSW hosted a work-in-progress seminar on Indonesian law and society.

In 2021, UNSW collaborated with the Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society (Leiden), the University of Indonesia, and University of Brawijaya, to support the Socio-legal Studies Conference and masterclass. In 2022, Melissa Crouch contributed to the Socio-legal Studies program (Hukum dan Masyarakat) of the Faculty of Law, the University of Indonesia. Other previous collaborations through conferences and workshops include with the Law Faculties at Atmajaya University, University of Brawijaya (Malang), University of Diponogoro (UNDIP) (Semarang), University of Airlangga, Gadjah Mada University, Trisakti University, Jentara Law School; the Indonesian Student Association for International Studies (ISAFIS); the Faculty of Law, the University of Indonesia.