Professor Matthew Harding appointed interim Dean of the Melbourne Law School

Professor Matthew Harding has been appointed Dean of the Melbourne Law School (MLS) for an interim period of 12 months.

Professor Harding is one of the world’s leading academic experts on the theoretical underpinnings of private law and the law of charities and other not-for-profit organisations, and has published extensively in these fields.

He has held numerous leadership positions at the University of Melbourne and in wider legal and academic circles. Since March 2021 he has been the inaugural director of the University’s Researcher Development Unit. From 2016 to 2020 Professor Harding was Deputy Dean and Head of Department at MLS. Prior to this he was Director of MLS’s Obligations Group.

Professor Harding has served as the Chair of the Charity Law Association of Australia and New Zealand, an editor of the Journal of Equity, a member of the editorial boards of Oxford Studies in Private Law Theory and the Third Sector Review, a member of the Charities Committee of the Law Council of Australia, and a member of the Advisory Board for the Judicial College of Victoria’s Scholarship for the Legal Community initiative.

He has held visiting appointments at the University of Toronto, Queen's University Belfast, the University of Otago, and the University of the Western Cape. In 2020 he was the Kwa Geok Choo Distinguished Visitor at the National University of Singapore.

“I am greatly looking forward to my new role and to continuing the excellent work of my predecessor Professor Pip Nicholson,” Professor Harding said.

“It is a great privilege to lead this law school, enabling and equipping the next generation of law students and supporting colleagues to carry out ground-breaking research for the public benefit.

“There is so much in the Law School’s activities to look forward to this year, including the work of three new research hubs: the Indigenous Law and Justice Hub, the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law and the Melbourne Forum for Criminal Law.”

Professor Harding will commence as Dean of the MLS on 18 April. The outgoing Dean, Professor Pip Nicholson, will commence in her new position of Deputy Vice-Chancellor (People and Community) and Deputy Provost on 26 April.