Professor and Associate Dean Research, Faculty of Law & Justice; Vice-President, Asian Studies Association of Australia, UNSW Sydney
Melissa Crouch is Professor and Associate Dean Research at the Law School, UNSW. She established and runs the Southeast Asia Law & Policy Forum at UNSW Law. Her research contributes to the field of comparative constitutional law; law and society; and law and religion.
She has been awarded numerous grants and awards, including the Endeavour Australia Research Fellowship; University of Indonesia Visiting Fellowship; and the University of Melbourne Kathleen Fitzpatrick Visiting Fellowship. Melissa is Chief Investigator on an ARC Discovery Grant on "Constitutional Change in Authoritarian Regimes" (2018-2021). This study builds on two of her previous major research projects on constitutionalism: her doctoral research on constitutionalism, courts and religion in Indonesia, and her postdoctoral research on constitutionalism and the courts in Myanmar and Southeast Asia more broadly.
Melissa is the author of The Constitution of Myanmar (2019) (shortlisted for the Australian Legal Research Awards inaugural book award; see podcast by the New Books Network here) and Law and Religion in Indonesia: Conflict and the Courts in West Java (2014). She has published in a range of peer-reviewed journals including the Law & Society Review, International Journal of Constitutional Law and the Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. She is the editor of several volumes including: Women and the Judiciary in the Asia-Pacific (forthcoming CUP 2021); The Politics of Courts: Judicial Reform and Legal Culture in Indonesia (CUP 2019); 'Islam and the State in Myanmar: Muslim-Buddhist Relations and the Politics of Belonging' (OUP 2016), and The Business of Transition: Law, Development and Economics in Myanmar (CUP 2017). Melissa has worked with local and international organisations with a focus on constitutional and administrative law reforms and legal education in Southeast Asia.
Melissa is the Vice-President of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (ASAA), the peak academic body for Asian studies in Australia (2021-2022).
Experience
2014–present
Lecturer, Law Faculty, University of New South Wales
2019–present
Associate professor, Law Faculty, University of New South Wales
2021–present
Professor, Faculty of Law & Justice, University of New South Wales
2013–2014
Research Fellow, Centre for Asian Legal Studies, National University of Singapore
2012–2013
Postdoctoral Fellow, Law Faculty, National University of Singapore
2011–2012
Research Fellow, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne
Education
2012
University of Melbourne, PhD, Law
2007
University of Melbourne, BA/LLB
Publications
2019
The Constitution of Myanmar: A Contextual Analysis, Hart
2019
The Politics of Court Reform: Judicial Change and Legal Culture in Indonesia, Cambridge University Press
2017
The Business of Transition: Law Reform, Development and Economics in Myanmar, Cambridge University Press
2014
Law and Religion in Indonesia: Conflict and the Courts in West Java, Routledge
2014
Law, Society and Transition in Myanmar, Hart Publishing
2013
Trials of People Smugglers in Indonesia: 2007-2012, Policy Paper, University of Melbourne
2012
Law and Religion in Indonesia: The Constitutional Court and the Blasphemy Law, Asian Journal of Comparative Law
2009
Indonesia, Militant Islam and Ahmadiyah: Origins and Implications, Policy Paper, University of Melbourne
Grants and Contracts
2019
ARC Discovery Grant
Role:
Chief Investigator
Funding Source:
Australian Research Council
2014
Authority, Islam and Fatwa in Myanmar
Role:
Primary researcher
Funding Source:
Institute for Global Law and Policy (IGLP), Harvard Law School
2013
Law, Minorities and Governance in Myanmar
Role:
Primary researcher
Funding Source:
Centre for Asian Legal Studies
2012
Myanmar Engagement Fund
Role:
Co-researcher
Funding Source:
University of Melbourne
2009
Endeavour Research Scholarship
Role:
PhD
Funding Source:
Australia Awards
Professional Memberships
Asian Studies Association of Australia, Secretary
Association of Mainland Southeast Asia Scholars, Secretary
Research Areas
Comparative Law (180106)
Law And Society (180119)
Constitutional Law (180108)
Government And Politics Of Asia And The Pacific (160606)