The Law School is proud to celebrate the achievements of its newest research graduates. Anna Chapman and Jeremy Coggins were awarded their PhDs at a graduation ceremony addressed by fellow alumnus Adam Kimber SC, South Australia’s Director of Public Prosecutions. Both academics at other institutions, they join the rapidly growing list of students to have completed their doctoral studies at Adelaide Law School.

Dr Anna Chapman is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the University of Melbourne and an acknowledged expert in the fields of employment and discrimination law. Her thesis, supervised by Professor Rosemary Owens and Professor Andrew Stewart, analyses a range of legal initiatives designed to address the conflict that employees may experience between paid work and responsibilities to care for others. Although welcome, Anna concludes that they do not go far enough in recognising the diversity in work and care practices that can (for example) be found in same sex or indigenous communities.

Dr Jeremy Coggins is a Lecturer in the School of Natural and Built Environments at the University of South Australia. He completed his thesis under the supervision of Professor Andrew Stewart and Kath McEvoy. It explores the statutory regimes introduced around Australia to secure payment for construction work, including through interim adjudication of payment claims. Besides identifying differences in the various schemes, the thesis reviews their performance against a set of criteria drawn from the general literature on dispute resolution. Jeremy concludes by presenting a proposal for a new and nationally uniform approach to security of payment legislation.

Both Anna and Jeremy received official commendations for their excellence of their theses. We wish both these fine scholars well as they further develop both their research and their academic careers.

Photo: Dr Jeremy Coggins and Dr Anna Chapman, flanked by supervisors Andrew Stewart and Rosemary Owens