Professor Kate Seear, PhD, LLB (Hons), BA (Hons)

Professor Kate Seear is Professor in the Deakin Law School. A practising lawyer, she has an interdisciplinary background (in law and sociology), and has held a series of prestigious fellowships including ARC’s DECRA, Future and (from 2026) Industry Fellowships. Her main areas of expertise are alcohol and other drugs, health, gender and the body. She has published five books and over 100 peer-reviewed articles on issues such as: drug policy and human rights; stigma and the law; harm reduction, hepatitis C, drug overdose and the law; family and sexual violence; victims of crime systems; feminist lawmaking methods; legal ethics and women's health. She is the Deputy Chair of Victoria's landmark Inquiry into Women's Pain, and a member of the Victorian Women's Health Advisory Council. Kate's research has resulted in a wide range of reforms to law, policy and practice, including drug law and policies designed to prevent the transmission of blood-borne viruses. Kate's previous roles were as Deputy Director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University; and as Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at Monash University.