Melissa Crouch

Melissa's research contributes to the fields of law and society; comparative constitutional law; and law and religion. Melissa is Chief Investigator on an Australian Research Council Discovery Project on "Constitutional Change in Authoritarian Regimes". She runs the Asia Law & Policy Forum.

Melissa is the author of The Constitution of Myanmar (2019) (shortlisted for the Australian Legal Research Awards inaugural book award; see New Books Network podcast) 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 Law & Society Review, Law & Social Inquiry, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies and International Journal of Constitutional Law. She is the editor of several volumes, including Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia (OUP 2023) and Women and the Judiciary in the Asia-Pacific (CUP 2021). In 2022, she won the Podgorecki Prize for outstanding scholarship of an early career socio-legal scholar, awarded by the Research Committee on the Sociology of Law, the International Sociological Association. She has also been awarded the Endeavour Australia Research Fellowship; the University of Indonesia Visiting Fellowship; and the University of Melbourne Kathleen Fitzpatrick Visiting Fellowship. In 2023, she will be a Visiting Research Fellows at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Japan. She is also on the editorial board of Law & Social Inquiry (2023-2025).

Melissa has worked with local and international organisations with a focus on public law and legal education in Asia. She is the President of the Asian Studies Association of Australia (2023-2024), the peak academic body for the study of Asia in Australia. She is also co-director with Theunis Roux of the project on Constitutionalism in the Global South.

Grants

2021-2023, Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade Sri Lanka Knowledge & Linkages for an Inclusive Economy Grant on 'Reimagining Vulnerability in the Light of COVID 19 in Sri Lanka, in partnership with Dr Mario Gomez, International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Sri Lanka

2019-2020, Australia-ASEAN Council grant, ‘Fostering Women’s Empowerment through Digital Entrepreneurship’ with Felix Tan, Carmen Leong, Minako Sakai, Wing Wah Tham

2019, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung grant for workshop on Protecting Rights, Addressing Inequality: Constitutional Writs in Asia

2019, ASAA Workshop Grant for bursaries for students to attend the 'Women in Asia Conference' at UNSW

2019, Australian Academy of Humanities, grant to support the Early Career Workshop of the Women in Asia Conference at UNSW

2019, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung grant for workshop on the Women in the Legal Profession and Judiciary in Asia Panel Stream

2018-2021, ARC Discovery Grant, Chief Investigator, "Constitutional Change in Authoritarian Regimes: The Case of Myanmar"

2017-2019, UNSW IGD Myanmar Seed Funds, "Constitutional Reform and the Peace Process in Myanmar"

2016-2019, Asian Development Bank, Professional Legal Education in Corporate and Commercial Law in Myanmar

2016, New Colombo Plan funding for UNSW Myanmar Law Ambassadors Program (scholarships for law students).

2016-2017, ANU Indonesia Project Research Grants and UNSW Indonesia Seed Grant, with Dr Fritz Siregar, University of Indonesia, Jakarta. Project: ‘Administrative Justice in Indonesia’.

2016, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS), Australia-Myanmar Constitutional Democracy Project, Workshops with the Constitutional Tribunal of Myanmar, (with T Roux).

2015-2018, Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) Australia-Myanmar Constitutional Democracy Project on Building Constitutionalism in Myanmar (with W Sadurski, T Roux, M Krygier and C Renshaw).

2015, Faculty Research Grant, Project: From Military Rule to Rule of Law in Myanmar; Early Career Grant; Faculty Workshop Support Scheme, UNSW Law: The Business of Transition in Myanmar

2014-2015, Harvard Law School's Institute for Global Law and Policy (IGLP) Research Grant, Project: ‘Authority and Islam: An Ethnography of Fatwa in Myanmar’

2013-2014, Research & Conference Grant, Project: ‘Law, Governance & Minorities in Myanmar’; and Myanmar Law Reform Project Fund (for workshops in Myanmar), Centre for Asian Legal Studies, National University of Singapore

2012–2013, Postdoctoral Research Support Funds, Law Faculty, National University of Singapore

2012, Myanmar Engagement Fund, University of Melbourne, with Professor Tim Lindsey

2010, Melbourne Abroad Travelling Scholarship; MA Bartlett Research Scholarship Fund Competitive Funding; and Research Support Funds, the University of Melbourne

Awards

2024, Senior Fellowship, The Baldy Centre for Law & Social Policy, the State University of New York at Buffalo (6 months)

2023, Visiting Research Fellowship, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Japan (3 months)

2022, Podgorecki Prize for outstanding scholarship of an early career socio-legal scholar, awarded by the Research Committee on the Sociology of Law, International Sociological Association.

2022, Visiting Scholars Scheme, Faculty of Law, University of Diponegoro (Semarang, Indonesia)

2021, Visiting Scholars Scheme, Faculty of Law, University of Brawijaya (Malang, Indonesia)

2021, Postgraduate Supervisor of the Year Award 2021, Postgraduate Council and Graduate Research School, the University of New South Wales

2021, Finalist, Australia Indonesia Award (Education) of the Australia Indonesia Association

2020, Shortlisted for the inaugural Australian Legal Research Award's Book Award of the Council of Australian Law Deans, for the book The Constitution of Myanmar: A Contextual Analysis

2019, National Library of Australia, Asia Studies Visiting Fellowship, "Legal Legacies of Authoritarian Regimes"

2018, Kathleen Fitzpatrick Visiting Fellowship in Comparative Constitutional Law, Melbourne Law School, University of Melbourne

2017, University of Indonesia Resolv Visiting Scholars Fellowship, Faculty of Law (Jakarta, Indonesia)

2012, International Institute of Asian Studies, Visiting Fellowship, the Netherlands

2009, Endeavour Australia Research Fellowship

2008-2011, Australian Research Council Federation Fellowship ‘Islam & Modernity in Southeast Asia' (FF0668730) Doctoral Scholarship and Travel Scholarships