Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (2017)
Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (2023)
Companion of the Order of Australia (For eminent service to the law and to social justice, to the national and international advocacy of the rights of Indigenous peoples, and to the community., Scientia Professor Megan Jane DAVIS, 2025)
Megan Jane DavisACFAHAFASSAFAAL (born October 1975) is a Scientia Professor, international human rights lawyer and constitutional law expert.[1] She is currently the Harvard University Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Chair in Australia Studies and Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School.[2][3]
She holds the Balnaves Chair in Constitutional Law at UNSW[4] and is the Director of the Indigenous Law Centre, UNSW.[5]
Davis was a United Nations expert on the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2011-2016) and UN expert on Indigenous rights on the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (EMRIP) (2017-2022).
She was the first Indigenous woman from Australia to be elected via ECOSOC competitive elections to serve on a United Nations body and also served as Rapporteur and Chair of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.[6] Davis also served as deputy chair and Chair of EMRIP.[7]
During her two terms Prof Davis held portfolios including Administration of Justice and Gender and Women and was the focal point for UN Women and UN AIDS.[8] Megan was the Rapporteur of the UN Expert Group Meeting on an Optional Protocol to the UNDRIP as well as the author of a UNPFII study on a supervisory mechanism for UNDRIP (2014).[9] Megan was the UN Rapporteur for the 2012 International Expert Group Meeting on Combating violence against indigenous women and girls: article 22 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which produced the first major UN report on Indigenous women,[10] and was the UN Rapporteur for the International EGM on Indigenous Youth.[11]
Professor Davis specialises in Indigenous peoples and the law, democracy, and the constitutional recognition of First Nations.[12] She is especially known for her work on the Uluru Statement from the Heart.[13] She designed the Referendum Council’s deliberative process[14] that led to the Uluru Statement from the Heart and has been a leading expert on the recognition of First Nations peoples for two decades.
Professor Davis is a Sydney Peace Prize Laureate,[15] a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law,[16] the Australian Academy of Social Sciences, and the Australian Academy of the Humanities.[17] She is an Acting Commissioner of the New South Wales Land and Environment Court.
She was brought up by a single mother[22] and one of her earliest interests was the Australian Constitution[23] and the United Nations General Assembly.[24] She attended the University of Queensland, earning a law degree.[25] In this period she met and was mentored by Jackie Huggins, who convinced her to work for the Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action (FAIRA) in Brisbane, which led her to apply to the United Nations Fellowship.[25]
Davis was on the Australian Government's Expert Panel on the Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution in 2011,[28] and was a member of the Prime Minister's Referendum Council from 2015-2017.[20][29]
As a member of the Referendum Council, Davis was instrumental in assisting the development of the Uluru Statement From the Heart, designing the deliberative dialogues and chairing the Council's sub-committee for the First Nations regional Dialogues and the First Nations Constitutional Convention in 2017.[30]
She served on the Referendum Working Group, Referendum Engagement Group, and the Attorney General’s Constitutional Expert Group from 2022–2023 that advised on the Voice to Parliament referendum in 2023.[31] She is Co-Chair of the Uluru Dialogue – the group of First Nations leaders who lead the Uluru Statement from the Heart work.
Davis has extensive experience on Indigenous peoples and reform of regulatory systems including as a Commissioner on the QLD Commission of Inquiry into Youth Detention Centres in 2016 alongside co-Commissioner Kathryn McMillan KC.[36] She was also the Chair and author of ‘Family is Culture’, an inquiry into NSW Aboriginal Children in Out of Home care (2017-2019).[37]
In 2023 she wrote "Voice of Reason: On Recognition and Renewal" which was published by Quarterly Essay.[38]
Other roles
In 2017, Davis was appointed a Commissioner on the Australian Rugby League Commission.[39] In 2020 she was reappointed for another term.[40] Davis has described growing up in a "crazy rugby league family", and wanting to "give back to a game that gave so much to me and my family".[39] Davis is also a director on the North Queensland Cowboys Community Foundation Board, a Commissioner for South Australian Rugby League, and formerly a director on the Western Australia Rugby League Commission.[41]
Awards and honours
In 2013, Davis was named National Australia Bank/Women's Agenda Inspirational Ambassador Award.[42]
In 2014, Davis was awarded University of Queensland Indigenous Community Impact Award.[43]
In October 2018, Professor Davis was named overall winner of The Australian Financial Review 100 Women of Influence award[46] and was the winner of the public policy category. Prof Davis was also named as one of Australia’s 100 Women of Influence by the Australian Financial Review and Westpac in 2016 and 2013.
In 2018, Davis was named Indigenous Alumna of the Year by ANU.[47]
In 2021, Professor Davis was awarded honorary doctorate by University of Queensland.[48]
In 2021, the Uluru Statement from the Heart is awarded the Sydney Peace Prize, and in 2022, Professor Davis accepted the Sydney Peace Prize alongside Pat Anderson and Noel Pearson, on behalf of the Uluru Statement From the Heart.[49]
in 2022, Davis was named as one of Australia’s top 5 Legal Powerbrokers by the Australian Financial Review.[50]
Davis is listed on the Te Hononga Pūkenga ("the connection of experts") database of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, New Zealand's Māori Centre of Research Excellence.[51]
In 2023, Davis was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities.[52] In the same year, Professor Davis is named the Marie Claire “Powerhouse of the Year”[53] and awarded Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser Chair in Australian Studies at Harvard University and visiting Professor Harvard Law School for 2024-2025.[54]
In 2024, Professor Davis was awarded the 2024 PeaceWomen Award by the Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom (WILPF).[55]
^Support, Department of Youth Justice and Victim (27 November 2024). "About the youth detention review". Department of Youth Justice and Victim Support. Retrieved 22 January 2025.
^"Professor Megan Davis". Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. Retrieved 20 August 2019. Te Hononga Pūkenga - 'the connection of experts', was created by Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga to make Māori and Indigenous research expertise, location and contact information readily available...
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