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Ms Samara Hand

Ms Samara Hand

Lecturer

Bachelor of Laws, University of New South Wales;ÌýBachelor of Arts, University of New South Wales;ÌýMA in Understanding and Securing Human Rights, University of London

Law & Justice
Indigenous Law Centre

Samara Hand is a Lecturer in the School of Law, Society and Criminology and a PhD Candidate in the School of Global and Public Law. Her research interests span Indigenous rights and Indigenous public policy, international law and education. Samara’s PhD project focuses on Indigenous Peoples’ right to education within the context of histories of assimilatory schooling. Samara teaches in criminal law.

Samara was previously a visiting scholar at the University of Manitoba and taught at the University of Winnipeg, Canada. She is also a co-founder of the National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition, a youth-led organisation in Australia dedicated to backing the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to reclaim their rights in education.

Samara is admitted as a lawyer to the Supreme Court of Victoria. Prior to working at ºÚÁÏÍø´óÊÂ¼Ç Law & Justice, she worked as a Research Assistant to Professors Lorena Sekwan Fontaine, Kiera Ladner and Andrew Woolford, researching Indigenous language rights, genocide and processes of reconciliation. She also previously worked at the Aurora Education Foundation, the NSW Department of Education, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, the Department of Home Affairs, and the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Aid.

Samara is a Worimi/Biripi woman born on Awabakal Country and is deeply committed to nation-building and advancing Indigenous peoples’ right to education.

  • Book Chapters | 2024
    Hand S; Short D, 2024, 'Indigenous rights and reconciliation: lessons from Australia', in Handbook of Indigenous Public Policy, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 308 - 331,
    Book Chapters | 2024
    Hand S, 2024, 'The Limits of Transitional Justice in Settler Colonial Contexts', in The Oxford Handbook of Indigenous Peoples and International Law,
  • Journal articles | 2025
    Waite X; Hand S, 2025, 'First Nations’ histories in the Australian curriculum: how the national curriculum is failing to meet international law standards on Indigenous peoples’ rights', Australian Journal of Human Rights, 31, pp. 1 - 19,
    Journal articles | 2024
    Hand S, 2024, 'Australian Reconciliation and the Enduring Invisibility of Whiteness', International Journal of Transitional Justice, 18, pp. 237 - 249,
  • Conference Posters | 2023
    Hand S, 2023, 'Situating inclusion and compulsory education within the settler colonial project', Melbourne, presented at Australian Association for Research in Education, Melbourne, 26 November 2023 - 30 November 2023
  • Media | 2024
    Hand S; Tobin J, 2024, Subverting legal paternalism to deeply engage with young people,
    Media | 2024
    Hand S, 2024, Community-controlled schools create better education outcomes for First Nations students,
    Media | 2024
    Keynes M; Hand S; Thomas A; Marsden B, 2024, School exclusion: what this heartbreaking work tell us,
    Media | 2023
    Hand S; Keynes M; Thomas A; Marsden B, 2023, 3 key moments in Indigenous political history Victorian school students didn’t learn about,

Funder: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Connection Grant (Canada)

Amount: CAD$21,577

Date: March 2025 to March 2026

Title: Global Forum on Hate and Bigotry

Role: Co-Investigator

Ìý

Funder: James Martin Institute Policy Fellowship

Amount: AUD$10,000

Date: October 2024 to April 2025

Title: Addressing the school-to-prison nexus in NSW

Role: Joint Principal Investigator

My Teaching

Samara teaches Criminal Laws and Introducing Law and Justice.

Samara previously taught Sociology of Law at the University of Winnipeg, and a special topics course on decolonising the right to education, also at the University of Winnipeg.