Rate My Professor Marie Hadley

Dr Marie Hadley is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law and Justice, College of Human and Social Futures, at the University of Newcastle. She holds a Doctor of Philosophy from the University of New South Wales (2019), with her thesis 'The Politics of Cultural Appropriation Claims and Law Reform' receiving the PhD Excellence Award and shortlisted for the Australian Legal Research Award in the PhD category. She also earned a Bachelor of Social Science and a Bachelor of Laws (Honours) from Macquarie University.

Hadley's research specializes in intellectual property law, with a focus on copyright law and IP norms, investigating the relationship between law and society in contexts including visual imagery and artistic practices, graffiti, tattoos, and the unauthorised use of First Nations’ cultural imagery including Māori, Aboriginal, and Torres Strait Islander art. Utilizing socio-legal methods, interdisciplinary approaches, and collaborations with visual artists and humanities scholars, her outputs encompass journal articles, digital artworks, songs, curated walks, and exhibitions such as 'Grey Lines' (2025, with Dr Adam McDade). Key publications include 'Managing ownership of copyright in research publications to increase the public benefits from research' (2024, Federal Law Review), 'Protest art on contested statues igniting conversations about art, law, and justice' (2023, Nuart Journal), 'Ideological Vandalism of Public Statues: Copyright, the Moral Right of Integrity and Racial Justice' (2022, Griffith Journal of Law and Human Dignity), and 'The Australasian Coroner's Manual' (2015, book). She received the College Excellence Award for Early Career Research in 2025. Hadley has secured $141,070 in funding across 13 grants, serving as Chief Investigator on the ARC Discovery Project 'Artists and Generative-AI: Copyright and Private Regulation of Creativity' (2026-2030) and Postdoctoral Researcher on 'Producing, Managing and Owning Knowledge in the 21st Century University' (2020-2024). She teaches Legal System and Method, Intellectual Property Law, Internet Law, and Contracts I and II using arts-based pedagogies, and has supervised six HDR completions. Currently, she leads a cross-institutional project on creative and critical thinking in law.