Dr Regina Jefferies

Dr Regina Jefferies

Post-Doc Fellow
Law & Justice
School of Global & Public Law

Dr Jefferies is a lawyer and Laureate Postdoctoral Fellow at the Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, ARC Laureate Evacuations Research Hub at the University of New South Wales. She is also an affiliate of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University. Dr Jefferies specialises in international human rights law and international refugee law, with a focus on transnational legal theory, the law of state responsibility, and the application of international legal norms in transboundary and multi-jurisdictional settings. Her research publications have examined the role of street-level bureaucrats, sub-state entities, and international organisations in the implementation and contestation of international legal norms.

Her current work as part of the ARC Laureate Evacuations Research Hub critically explores international law in relation to the concept of 'evacuations' in a variety of transboundary contexts, including disasters, climate change, conflict, and emergencies.

Dr Jefferies has extensive experience in the practice of asylum and refugee law before United States administrative agencies and the United States federal courts. She holds a PhD from the University of New South Wales; a Master of Studies from the University of Oxford in International Human Rights Law; a Juris Doctorate from Arizona State University; and a Bachelor of Arts in International Affairs from The George Washington University.

  • Books | 2018
    Jefferies RM; Chan RL, 2018, Jefferies and Chan's Immigration Simulations: Bridge to Practice, West Academic Publishing, https://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1640206035
  • Journal articles | 2023
    Jefferies R; Barratt T; Huang C; Bashford A, 2023, 'Regulating Movement in Pandemic Times', Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 20, pp. 633 - 638, http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11673-023-10292-1
    Journal articles | 2023
    Jefferies R; McAdam J, 2023, 'Locked In: Australia’s COVID-19 Border Closures and the Right to Leave', Australian Year Book of International Law, 41, pp. 185 - 231, http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/26660229-04101002
    Journal articles | 2023
    Wood T; Barbour B; Hammerschmid A; Ioffe Y; Jefferies R, 2023, 'CASE LAW SUMMARIES', International Journal of Refugee Law, 35, pp. 233 - 237, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/eead021
    Journal articles | 2022
    Gleeson M; Wood T; Barbour B; Jeffries R; Moodley R, 2022, 'Case Law Summaries', International Journal of Refugee Law, 34, pp. 82 - 92, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/eeac026
    Journal articles | 2022
    Jefferies R; McAdam J; Pillai S, 2022, 'Can we still call Australia home? The right to return and the legality of Australia’s COVID-19 travel restrictions', Australian Journal of Human Rights, 27, pp. 211 - 231, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2021.1996529
    Journal articles | 2021
    Gleeson M; Wood T; Barbour B; Jefferies R; Moodley R, 2021, 'Case Law Summaries', International Journal of Refugee Law, 33, pp. 671 - 681
    Journal articles | 2021
    Golder B; Hush A; Jefferies R; Johns F; Nolan J, 2021, 'Foreword', Australian Journal of Human Rights, 27, pp. 399 - 401, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/1323238X.2022.2039056
    Journal articles | 2021
    Jefferies R; Ghezelbash D; Hirsch A, 2021, 'ASSESSING REFUGEE PROTECTION CLAIMS AT AUSTRALIAN AIRPORTS: THE GAP BETWEEN LAW, POLICY, AND PRACTICE', Melbourne University Law Review, 44, pp. 162 - 211
    Journal articles | 2021
    Jefferies R, 2021, 'Bringing externalization home: the International Civil Aviation Organization and ‘entry screening’ in Australia', Globalizations, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14747731.2021.1989152
    Journal articles | 2021
    Jefferies R, 2021, 'Transnational Legal Process: An Evolving Theory and Methodology', Brooklyn Journal of International Law, 46, pp. 311 - 311, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3990378
    Journal articles | 2021
    Wood T; Barbour B; Gleeson M; Jefferies R; Moodley R, 2021, 'Kwatra v Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs [2021] FCA 58 (4 February 2021)', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REFUGEE LAW, 33, pp. 497 - 505, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/eeab048
    Journal articles | 2020
    Barbour B; Gleeson M; Jefferies R; Moodley R, 2020, 'BFH16 v Minister for Immigration and Border Protection [2020] FCAFC 54 (31 March 2020)', INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF REFUGEE LAW, 32, pp. 507 - 518, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/eeaa026
    Journal articles | 2020
    Jefferies R; Ghezelbash D; Hirsch A, 2020, 'Assessing Refugee Protection Claims at Australian Airports: The Gap Between Law, Policy, and Practice', MELBOURNE UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW, 44, pp. 162 - 211, http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3746085
    Journal articles | 2019
    Jefferies R, 2019, 'Data Quality and the Law of Refugee Protection in Australia', Court of Conscience, 13, pp. 63 - 63
    Journal articles | 2019
    Jefferies R, 2019, 'Research Access and Adaptation in the Securitised Field of Australian Refugee and Asylum Law', Journal of the Oxford Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, 2019, pp. 49 - 53, https://joxcsls.com/publications/vol-2019/issue-1/research-access-and-adaptation-in-the-securitised-field-of-australian-refugee-and-asylum-law/#_ftn1
    Journal articles | 2012
    Jefferies RM, 2012, 'One of These Things is Not Like the Other: An Analysis of Marriage Under the Immigration and Nationality Act', Law Journal for Social Justice, https://ljsj.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/jefferiesfall2012ljsj.pdf
    Journal articles | 2006
    Jefferies RM, 2006, 'The Supreme Court of Arizona: Its 2004-2005 Decisions', Arizona State Law Journal
    Journal articles | 2005
    Jefferies RM, 2005, 'The Equitable Application of International Law: Revised Principles for a Solution to the Maasai Land Dispute', Arizona State Law Journal
  • Reports | 2024
    McAdam J; Jefferies R, 2024, Ensuring Protection in Humanitarian Emergencies: A Framework for Australia, Policy Brief 15, https://www.unsw.edu.au/content/dam/pdfs/law/kaldor/2024-09-policy-brief-15-emergency-protection.pdf
    Reports | 2023
    McAdam J; Jefferies R, 2023, Submission to the COVID-19 Response Inquiry
    Conference Presentations | 2021
    Jefferies R, 2021, 'Street-level Bureaucrats in a Transnational Legal Process: Using Social Network Analysis to Visualise “Hidden” Decisions in Australian Asylum Law', presented at Osgoode GLSA Graduate Student Conference 2020-2021, 19 February 2021
    Other | 2020
    Gleeson M, 2020, Case Law Summaries (Australia and New Zealand), Oxford University Press, http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ijrl/eeab005
    Conference Presentations | 2020
    Jefferies R; Crisp J; FitzGerald D; Richard AC, 2020, 'Immigration, Asylum, and National Security: A Comparative Perspective', presented at 2020 Ambassador William C. Battle Symposium, Miller Center, University of Virginia, 26 October 2020, https://millercenter.org/miller-center-presents/immigration-asylum-and-national-security-comparative-perspective
    Reports | 2020
    Jefferies R; Ghezelbash D; Hirsch A, 2020, Assessing Protection Claims at Airports: Developing procedures to meet international and domestic obligations, The Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, http://dx.doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/27960, https://www.kaldorcentre.unsw.edu.au/publication/policy-brief-9-airports
    Conference Presentations | 2020
    Jefferies R, 2020, 'Ethics around researching Forced Migration', presented at Research Methods Workshop, Forced Migration Research Network and Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law, UNSW Sydney, 27 November 2020
    Conference Presentations | 2020
    Jefferies R, 2020, 'Habitus and Transnational Legal Process in Australian Asylum Law', presented at Law and Society Association Annual Conference, 28 May 2020
    Conference Presentations | 2019
    Jefferies R, 2019, 'Street-level Bureaucrats, Discretion and Data: Pre-Screening Protection Claims at the Border', presented at Kaldor Centre Annual Conference 2019, 26 November 2019
    Conference Presentations | 2017
    Jefferies RM, 2017, 'The Case for Judicial Enforcement of the Fundamental Obligation of Non-Refoulement in the United States', presented at International Meeting on Law and Society, Mexico City, Mexico, 20 June 2017 - 23 June 2017

John S. Lancy Distinguished Alumni Award, Arizona State University Law Journal (2021)

PLuS Alliance International Interdisciplinary Researcher (2018-2019)

National Advocate of the Year, Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota (2018)

Special Recognition Award, Advocates for Human Rights (2017)

My research explores the pathways, drivers and effects of legal consciousness and norm internalisation in decision-making within transboundary human rights frameworks. The overarching theme of the work is tackling complex – and often hidden – problems in international law and policy through the multi-method generation of original data and analysis to inform and influence policy implementation and development. The research links the fields of International Refugee Law, Human Rights Law, and Administrative Law, while drawing interdisciplinary connections with sociology and policy implementation studies. I combine doctrinal review with empirical and data-driven social science methods to narrow the gap between legal theory and practice, while exploring and developing mechanisms to address “wicked problems” in the migration and refugee law space. My current research agenda consists of two distinct, but related projects: (1) an investigation of international legal compliance which will produce empirical data identifying agents and pathways of internalization in the implementation of transnational refugee law; and (2) an interdisciplinary exploration of how the use of technology influences policy development and State operational compliance with legal norms in the migration and asylum framework.