Rate My Professor Yvonne Breitwieser Faria

Dr Yvonne Breitwieser-Faria is a Lecturer at Curtin Law School within the Faculty of Business and Law at Curtin University, where she also serves as Co-Director of Learning and Teaching. She has half a decade of experience teaching and coordinating public international law and criminal law subjects. Previously, she worked as a sessional academic at The University of Queensland from 2019 to 2024. Her academic background includes a PhD from The University of Queensland awarded in 2023 on the responsibility of states to prevent atrocity crimes, a Master of Laws (LL.M.) from the University of Vienna in 2015, and a Magistra iuris from the University of Vienna in 2014.

An interdisciplinary scholar specializing in atrocity law and public international law, Dr Breitwieser-Faria researches the interplay between states' legal obligations to prevent atrocity crimes and state responsibility. Her work explores the implications of climate change, human rights violations, and artificial intelligence for atrocity prevention. She is an external Fellow of the University of Queensland's Centre for Public, International and Comparative Law, a committee member of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law's International Peace and Security Interest Group, and part of the editorial team for ANZSIL Perspectives. Key publications include 'Environmental Protections during Armed Conflict as Supportive Mechanisms for the Prevention of Atrocity Crimes' (Journal of International Humanitarian Legal Studies, 2024), 'The Indirect Impact of Climate Change Litigation: Its Potential to Prevent Conflict and Atrocity Crimes Elsewhere' (The University of Queensland Law Journal Special Issue, 2023), 'State Responsibility for Breaches of Prevention Obligations: Is the Distinction between Obligations of Conduct and of Result Useful?' (Australian International Law Journal, 2021), 'Prevention of Atrocity Crimes: Legal Obligations of States and Due Diligence' (German Yearbook of International Law, 2020), and 'The Impact of Public Health Emergencies on Atrocity Prevention and the Conflict Landscape' (University of Tasmania Law Review, 2020). In 2025, she received the 9 News Best New Media Talent award at Curtin University's Research Excellence and Impact Awards for her highest contribution to The Conversation. She has presented at events such as the 6th International Conference on Genocide and contributed analyses on ICC arrest warrants for Taliban leaders and Russian actions in Ukraine.