Rate My Professor Catherine Renshaw

Professor Catherine Renshaw serves as Dean and Professor in the School of Law at Western Sydney University. She earned her Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Laws from the University of Sydney, Bachelor of Laws from the University of New South Wales, and Bachelor of Arts with Honours in History from the University of Sydney. Renshaw is admitted to practice as a solicitor in the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the High Court of Australia, and holds Associate Membership with the Law Society of New South Wales. Prior to academia, she practiced law at commercial firms Allens Linklaters and Sparke Helmore, and at the Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales. She also worked for a year in a refugee camp on the border of Mozambique and South Africa. Renshaw commenced as Professor at Western Sydney University in 2019, following four years as Deputy Dean of Law at Australian Catholic University. She previously held teaching and research positions at the University of Sydney, University of New South Wales, and University of Newcastle. At Western Sydney University, she has served as Associate Dean for Research, leading initiatives to enhance research productivity and excellence, developing strategies for student retention, implementing a support program for early career researchers, and contributing to the School of Law's achievement of a 2024 QS World Ranking for Law.

Renshaw's research field is international human rights law, with an internationally recognized track record in human rights law and democratization, particularly focusing on the Indo-Pacific region and Southeast Asia, including Myanmar. Her work also addresses the intersection between rights and the medical sciences in the field of ageing, rights of older persons, regulation, and ethics. She is a founding member of the Network for Law and Human Rights and the Australia-Myanmar Constitutional Democracy Project, which facilitated workshops promoting democratic reforms and human rights in Myanmar prior to the 2021 coup. Renshaw co-chairs the International Human Rights Law chapter of the Australian and New Zealand Society of International Law and serves on the Executive Council of the Asian Society of International Law. She has received numerous research grants for her work in Myanmar and elsewhere. Key publications include Human Rights and Participatory Politics in Southeast Asia (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2019), Nonsense on Stilts? Rescuing Human Rights in Australia (Connor Court, 2019), and "Recognition of the National Unity Government of Myanmar: why the world waits" (Global Governance, 2024). Renshaw has been awarded the Vice Chancellor's Award for Excellence (2023) and the Vice-Chancellor’s Medal for Excellence (2019).