Michael White

Michael White was born in Brisbane and later joined the Royal Australian Navy at a young age where he studied for 4 years at the RAN College, then did training at sea as a Midshipman, then studied for over a year at BRN College, Dartmouth, England. He then joined his first ship and served as a seaman officer in Asian, Pacific and European waters in various ships and submarines, as well as some shore establishments. He resigned as a Lieutenant-Commander in the RAN in 1969 in order to study law and then obtained degrees in Commerce and Law at University of Queensland. Later, in 1994, he was awarded a Doctorate of Philosophy (Law) (Bond University) for a research thesis on the international conventions and laws relating to marine pollution from ships.

He was admitted as a Barrister in 1974 in Queensland and practised as a barrister from 1974 to 1998 in several jurisdictions, being made Queen's Counsel in 1988, with a special interest in maritime law. He then moved to academia and from 1999 to 2005 he was a full time academic at the T.C. Beirne School of Law, as Reader in Law (Associate Professor) and the foundation Executive Director of the Centre for Maritime Law, later named the Marine and Shipping Law Unit. He became an Adjunct Professor in 2005 in the Law School and in 2006 was also appointed to join the Centre for Marine Studies due to the overlap of multi-disciplinary interests in marine environment.

In 2012 with the demise of the CMS and the creation of the Global Change Institute he was appointed as an Adjunct Professor in the GCI as well as in the Law School.

Research Interests:
Having some knowledge of the sea and ships and of government and regulatory structures in the maritime law fields, his research interests are in all aspects of marine and shipping law, law of the sea, fisheries and offshore oil and gas, with a particular interest in the marine environment.

- See more at: http://www.gci.uq.edu.au/staff/michael-white#sthash.nUqIUrDb.dpuf