Rate My Professor Sarah Biddulph

Sarah Biddulph is Professor of Law at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne. She holds a BA and LLB from the University of Sydney and a PhD from the University of Melbourne. As an Australian Research Council Future Fellow from 2014 to 2018, she has advanced research on the Chinese legal system. Currently, she serves as Director of the Asian Law Centre, where she promotes collaborative, cross-jurisdictional research, policy development, and engagement with the judiciary and legal profession across Asia-Pacific. In this role, she launched the Asian Legal Conversations platform in 2020 to address shared regional challenges like those arising from COVID-19. She also initiated the Celebrating Asian Legal Careers seminar series in 2022 and supported initiatives for Afghan women judges in Melbourne through successful grant applications. Additionally, as Assistant Deputy Vice Chancellor - International (China), she leads China-related engagements, developed the University’s China Engagement Plan 2020-2024 approved by University Council in March 2020, and coordinates its university-wide implementation. Her policy contributions include work on academic freedom in international contexts, data and privacy, risk evaluation, and briefings for China engagements.

Her research centers on the Chinese legal system, with emphasis on legal policy, law-making processes, and enforcement mechanisms affecting the administration of justice. Specific interests encompass contemporary Chinese administrative law, criminal procedure, labour law, comparative law, police powers, human rights, criminal law, and regulations on social and economic rights. Key publications include the monograph Legal Reform and Administrative Detention Powers in China (Cambridge University Press, 2007), The Stability Imperative: Human Rights and Law in China (UBC Press, 2015), Law and Fair Work in China (co-author, Routledge, 2007), Legal Reforms in China and Vietnam: A Comparison of State, Family and Market Under the Law (co-editor, Routledge, 2010), and Handbook on Human Rights in China (editor, Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019). Her scholarship, cited over 1,100 times according to Google Scholar, has significantly influenced studies on Chinese law reforms, human rights, and stability maintenance. She teaches Law and Civil Society in Asia in the Melbourne JD program.