Rate My Professor Shireen Daft

Dr Shireen Daft is a Lecturer at Macquarie Law School, Macquarie University, and serves as the Deputy Director of the Centre for Environmental Law. She holds a BA LLB (Hons) from Macquarie University, an LLM specialising in Human Rights and Social Justice from the University of New South Wales, and a PhD from Macquarie University awarded in 2015. Her PhD dissertation, entitled ‘The Relationship between Human Security Discourse and International Law: A Principled Approach’, explores the ways in which human security discourse challenges, and is challenged by, the traditional structuring of public international law. Her research interests encompass international law, non-state actors and international law, international peace and security, human security, children and armed conflict, international humanitarian law, criminal justice across domestic, comparative and international contexts, and human rights and social justice, including environmental justice. She is currently examining the intersection of international humanitarian law, human rights law and criminal justice in the international community’s response to child soldiers and other children affected by armed conflict.

Daft has co-authored the book ‘Criminal Law Perspectives: From Principles to Practice’ (Cambridge University Press, 2021) with John Anderson, Brendon Murphy, Ben Livings, Wendy Kukulies-Smith and Natalia Antolak-Saper. She contributed the chapter ‘Human security and international law: why? How?’ to the ‘Research Handbook on International Law and Human Security’ (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2022). Other significant outputs include the report for the ‘Inquiry into gay and transgender hate crimes between 1870 and 2010’ (Australian Lawyers for Human Rights, 2019), and submissions to parliamentary inquiries on ‘Image-based abuse: you and the law’ (Sydney Morning Herald, 2018) and ‘Inquiry into Australia's faunal extinction crisis’ (Australian Parliament, 2018). She has received the Vice-Chancellor’s Awards for Excellence in Education (2025) and the Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Student-Nominated Award (2022). Daft convenes units including LAWS5087 – Law of Armed Conflict, LAW109 – Criminal Justice and Procedure, LAWS587 – War Law, LAW891 – Advanced International Law, and has tutored in international law and Jessup mooting. She delivered invited talks such as ‘Children in Military Detention and the Security Council: The Case for a Seventh Grave Violation’ (2022) and ‘Protecting the Vulnerable: Women and Children - International Humanitarian Law in Afghanistan’ (2022), and provided expert media commentary on chemical weapons, military dogs and environmental destruction in conflicts. She coaches moot court teams, including national Jessup champions.