Farrah Ahmed

Farrah Ahmed is a Professor of Law at Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne. Her academic qualifications include an LLB from the University of Delhi and a Bachelor of Civil Law, MPhil in law, and DPhil in law from the University of Oxford. Before joining Melbourne Law School in July 2012, she was a Lecturer in Law at The Queen's College, University of Oxford. Within Melbourne Law School, she has served as Associate Dean for Research and as Associate Director (India) of the Asian Law Centre. She has held visiting appointments at several prestigious institutions, including the National University of Singapore, the University of Cambridge, University College London, the University of Oxford, and the University of Toronto. Additionally, she was a Laurance S. Rockefeller Visiting Faculty Fellow at Princeton University's University Center for Human Values during 2022-23.

Professor Ahmed's research interests encompass legal theory, constitutional law, administrative law, and family law, particularly examining judicial review, citizenship, secularism, religious freedom, and social rights. Her scholarship has appeared in prominent journals such as the Modern Law Review, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Cambridge Law Journal, and International Journal of Constitutional Law. Notable publications include her book Religious Freedom under the Personal Law System (Oxford University Press, 2016), for which she received the University of Melbourne's 2020 Woodward Medal in Humanities and Social Sciences alongside her article "Remedying Personal Law Systems." Other significant works are "Constitutional Statutes" (Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, 2017, with A. Perry), "The Autonomy Rationale for Religious Freedom" (Modern Law Review, 2017), "The Coherence of the Doctrine of Legitimate Expectations" (Cambridge Law Journal, 2014), and "Personal Autonomy and the Option of Religious Law" (International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family, 2010). She is a co-founding General Editor of the Indian Law Review. Furthermore, she contributes to public policy as a member of the Advisory Committee of the Australian Law Reform Commission since 2019 and as the Attorney-General's nominee for selecting tribunal members. Her work involves collaboration with public interest practitioners and organisations.

Professional Email: farrah.ahmed@unimelb.edu.au