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About Laura
Dr Laura Smith-Khan is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law at the University of New England, specializing in Ethics and Professional Practice, Access to Justice, and Law and Language. She holds a PhD from Macquarie University (2019), MAppLing from Monash University (2014), GradDipLegalPrac from the Australian National University (2014), GradCertHigherEd from the University of Technology Sydney (2021), LLB (Hons) from the University of Sydney (2012), and BA (Languages) with Distinction from the University of Sydney (2009). Prior to her current role, she was a Chancellor’s Research Fellow in the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology Sydney. In 2023, she served as a visiting researcher at Ghent University in Belgium, and in 2024, she became the inaugural external affiliated member of the Centre for the Social Study of Migration and Refugees (CESSMIR) at Ghent University. Her doctoral research, supervised in both Law and Linguistics, examined language and credibility assessment in Australian asylum procedures and public discourse. Earlier, she worked as a full-time research assistant on a project investigating disability in forced migration contexts across six countries, sharing findings at the United Nations, with UNESCO, government agencies, and in peer-reviewed publications, including the book The Legal Protection of Refugees with Disabilities: Forgotten and Invisible? (Edward Elgar, 2017, with Crock, M., McCallum, R., and Saul, B.).
Smith-Khan's research focuses on the inclusion and participation of minoritized groups in legal settings, particularly migration processes, integrating sociolinguistics to address inequality. Her key interests encompass legal practice and the legal profession, migration, asylum and refugee law, and sociolinguistics. Selected publications include 'Incorporating sociolinguistic perspectives in Australian refugee credibility assessments: The case of CRL18' (Journal of International Migration and Integration, 2023), 'Securing the borders of English and Whiteness' (Ethnicities, 2023, with Piller, I. and Torsh, H.), and '‘I Try not to Be Dominant, but I’m a Lawyer!’: Advisor Resources, Context and Refugee Credibility' (Journal of Refugee Studies, 2021). She has received the 2022 Max Crawford Medal from the Australian Academy of the Humanities, Australia's premier award for early-career humanities scholars, along with the 2023 Early Career Researcher Excellence in Publication award from UTS Faculty of Law and multiple teaching awards. Smith-Khan co-founded and co-convenes the Law and Linguistics Interdisciplinary Researchers’ Network, presents to government inquiries, refugee decision-makers, and professional bodies, and has delivered invited international lectures, such as at the University of Antwerp (2023). Admitted as a lawyer to the NSW Supreme Court, she has supported refugees pro bono and serves on the Access Committee of Clarence Valley Council since 2022.
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