Professor Simon Young is an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Western Australia Law School, having served as a full-time faculty member there from 2005 to 2014. He holds an AMusA from AMEB, a BA and LLB from the University of Queensland, an LLM from Queensland University of Technology, and a PhD from UWA, awarded the Robert Street Prize in 2005 for his postgraduate work on comparative native title. Before joining UWA, Young worked with a national law firm from 1992 to 1996 and at Queensland University of Technology Law School from 1996 to 2005. He is currently Professor of Law and Justice at the University of Southern Queensland, where he also serves as Deputy Director of the Centre for Heritage and Culture, and maintains his adjunct role at UWA.

Young's academic interests center on public law, particularly administrative law and government accountability, and Indigenous law and policy, particularly native title including comparative aspects. He has published books such as Commercial Implications of Native Title (co-edited with Bryan Horrigan, 1997), The Trouble with Tradition: Native Title and Cultural Change (2008), and Constitutional Recognition of First Peoples in Australia: Theories and Comparative Perspectives (edited, 2016). Notable articles include 'The Trouble with "Tradition": Native Title and the Yorta Yorta Decision' (University of Western Australia Law Review, 2001), 'Indigenous Rights in Freshwater: Mapping the Contested Space in Australia, New Zealand and Canada' (Environmental and Planning Law Journal, 2023), and 'Legal challenges to ICU triage decisions in the COVID-19 pandemic: How effectively does the law regulate bedside rationing decisions in Australia?' (University of New South Wales Law Journal, 2021). His scholarship appears in Australian, Canadian, and UK journals. Young has earned awards including UWA Blackstone Society Law Teacher of the Year (2008, 2013), UWA Faculty of Law Excellence in Individual Teaching Awards (2008), UWA School of Law Enhancing Student Learning Award (2023), a Fulbright Scholar exchange (2024) to the University of Wisconsin on First Nations water rights, and shortlisting for the 2020 Australian Legal Research Awards. He is a member of the Australian Institute of Administrative Law (since 2004) and serves on the editorial board of the International Journal of Agriculture Law and Sustainability (since 2023).

Professional Email: simon.young@uwa.edu.au