Tamara Walsh

Tamara Walsh is a Professor of Law at UQ. She has degrees in both Law and Social Work, and her interest is in social welfare law and human rights. Her research examines the impact of the law on vulnerable people including children and young people, people experiencing homelessness, people on low incomes, people with disabilities, mothers and carers. Her research has been widely published, both in Australia and internationally. In 2008, Tamara designed and established the UQ Pro Bono Centre, along with Dr Paul O'Shea and Prof Ross Grantham. The UQ Pro Bono Centre facilitates student and staff participation in pro bono legal activities, particularly public interest research and law reform. It is now a flagship program of the UQ Law School. In 2016, Tamara established the UQ Deaths in Custody Project, which she runs in partnership with Prisoners' Legal Service. This Project monitors deaths in custody across Australia, and administers a public website which is an important resource for researchers, coroners and members of the public: http://www.deaths-in-custody.project.uq.edu.au In 2020, Tamara established the UQ/Caxton Human Rights Project, along with Bridget Burton. This project is staffed by volunteer law students and makes information on every case that refers to the *Human Rights Act 2019* (Qld) publicly available: https://law.uq.edu.au/human-rights-cases Tamara is currently undertaking an ARC Linkage project on human rights dispute resolution in Australia (2023-2025) with Prof Dominique Allen (Monash University). Prior to this, she completed an ARC Linkage project on the criminalisation of poverty and homelessness in Australia (2017-2021). Tamara lectures in human rights law and children's law. Access to justice, Domestic human rights law, Law and Legal Studies, Law and society and socio-legal research, Law in context, Law reform, Legal institutions (incl. courts and justice systems), Legal systems, Public law, Welfare, insurance, disability and social security law, Youth justice, Human rights law, Law and social justice, Social welfare law, Discrimination/equal opportunity law

[2026] Solitary confinement of unsentenced children in Queensland watchhouses, and why it might be unlawful [2026] Who is raising children’s rights? References to children’s human rights in Australian case law [2026] Deaths in mental health care in Australia: an analysis of coroners’ reports [2025] 'Making Queensland safer'? A new wave of punitive populism in youth justice [2025] 'This Could Be Me': law students’ experiences of a rural, regional, remote (RRR) clinical program [2025] Problem-solving courts for children, do they work? Perspectives of youth justice practitioners in Queensland, Australia [2025] Embedding culturally safe processes, practices and perspectives in the programs and activities of the UQ Pro Bono Centre [2024] The first three years of Queensland’s Human Rights Act: h