Peter Burdon

Professor Peter Burdon

Professor

Adelaide Law School

Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics

Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.


Peter Burdon (he/him/his) is Deputy Dean (Learning and Teaching) for the Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics. He has previously been Acting Dean, Deputy Dean and Associate Dean (Learning and Teaching) for the Adelaide Law School. Peter is a delegate for the National Tertiary Education Union and a member of the ALLY Network which promotes an inclusive and respectful university environment for all who identify as LGBTIQ.

Peter's research uses interdisciplinary materials from sociology, political science, economics, philosophy, history and environmental studies. Peter is an expert in environmental theory and has written and edited books on Earth Jurisprudence and Earth Democracy. In 2021 his monograph - Earth Jurisprudence: Private Property and the Environment - was translated into Mandarin and is distributed by Routledge and the Commercial Press. In 2017 Peter published a book on Hannah Arendt and the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann. He is currently completing a research handbook and a monograph on the Anthropocene.

In 2014 Peter was a visiting scholar at the University of California Berkeley, Center for Law and Society. In 2017 Peter was a visiting scholar at McGill University, Faculty of Law and a visiting professor at the McGill School of the Environment, Departments of Geography, and Natural Resource Sciences. In 2017 Peter was also a visiting professor at the Université de Montréal, Faculty of Law where he taught a course in legal theory for the inaugural LLD Innovation and Technology Program. Peter has also been invited to lecture at the University of Auckland, Faculty of Law; the University of Arizona, Faculty of Law and the School of Geography and Development; and San Francisco State University, Department of Political Science

Research Interests

  • Environmental Law and Theory
    • Earth Jurisprudence
    • Protest Law and Civil Disobedience
    • Climate Change Law and Policy
  • Political Theory
    • Hannah Arendt
    • Conservative Legal Thinking 
    • Marxist State Theory and Anarchist Political Philosophy
    • Classics - Greek and Roman Myth and History.
  • Legal Education
    • Critical Thinking and Democracy
    • Neoliberalism and the University

Orcid: 0000-0003-0967-4987
Scopus: 36503541200
Web of Science ResearcherID: N-6654-2017

  • Appointments

    Date Position Institution name
    2024 - ongoing Professor University of Adelaide
    2022 - ongoing Deputy Dean (Learning and Teaching) Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics
    2022 - ongoing Deputy Dean (Learning and Teaching) University of Adelaide
    2022 - 2022 Deputy Dean (Learning and Teaching) University of Adelaide
    2021 - 2021 Acting Dean University of Adelaide
    2021 - 2022 Deputy Dean University of Adelaide
    2016 - 2023 Associate Professor and Reader in Law Adelaide Law School
    2013 - 2016 Senior Lecturer in Law Adelaide Law School
    2011 - 2013 Lecturer in Law Adelaide Law School
  • Awards and Achievements

    Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
    2023 Award HDR Supervision Award: Adelaide Law School University of Adelaide Australia -
    2020 Award University Award for Outstanding Achievement University of Adelaide Australia -
    2020 Award Covid 19 Emergency Teaching Response University of Adelaide Australia -
    2020 Award Executive Dean Award University of Adelaide Australia -
    2019 Teaching Award Executive Dean Award: Embedding Indigenous Knowledges University of Adelaide Australia -
    2016 Award Executive Dean of the Faculty of the Professions Prize for Excellence in Teaching - - -
    2016 Award IUCN Academy of Environmental Law: Emerging Scholarship Award - - -
    2013 Award Citation, Early Career Award, Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia - - -
    2012 Award University Doctoral Research Medal - - -
    2012 Award Bonython Prize for the Best Orginal Postgraduate Thesis - - -
    2011 Award Executive Dean of the Faculty of the Professions Prize for Excellence in Teaching - - -
    2008 Scholarship FA & MF Joyner Scholarship in Law - - -
  • Education

    Date Institution name Country Title
    2012 - 2014 University of Adelaide Australia GCert.Ed (Higher Education)
    2008 - 2011 University of Adelaide Australia PhD
    2002 - 2007 University of Adelaide Australia LLB (hons)
    2001 - 2003 University of Adelaide Australia BA (history)
  • Research Interests

Law Foundation of South Australia Grant 2022-2024, $30,000 for 'Modernising the Real Property Act 1886 (SA)'

University of Adelaide, Faculty of the Professions and Adelaide Law School, Combined Cat 1 and Momentum Fund Grants 2013-2015, $20,000 for 'Psychology of Property' Pilot and ARC DP Projects

University of Adelaide, Learning and Teaching Award  2020, $5,000 with Anne Hewitt, Stacey Henderson, DavidCaruso, Kellie Toole, Margaret Castles, Gabrielle Golding, Maeghan Toews & David Plater.

University of Adelaide, Faculty of the Professions, Diversity and Inclusion Grant 2017, $2,000.

University of Adelaide, Faculty of the Professions and Adelaide Law School, Combined Cat 1 and Momentum Fund Grants 2013-2015, $20,000 for 'Psychology of Property' Pilot and ARC DP Projects.

University of Adelaide, Green Loan Fund 2014, $5,000.

University of Adelaide, Green Loan Fund 2013, $5,000.

My teaching style has been influenced by the educational writings of John Dewey, Paulo Freire, bell hooks, Mary Heath and Stephen Brookfield. I seek to create an educational space that is inclusive, democratic and which encourages critical thinking.

I teach the following courses:

LAW 1506 - Property Law

LAW 2561 - The Politics of Law

LAW 2526 - Legal Theory (Special Topic, Hannah Arendt & Eichmann in Jerusalem)

LAW 3505 - Aboriginal Peoples and the Law

LAW 7187 - Advanced Legal Research and Writing

  • Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2024 Principal Supervisor An analysis of the current legal status of non-human animals in Australia. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Frankie Madeleine Bray
    2023 Principal Supervisor Unfulfillable Promises: On the Limits of International Humanitarian Law Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Emma Louise Lush
    2022 Principal Supervisor Protecting Public Health Against Avoidable Harm from Medical Device Adverse Events Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Aminath Ali Mariya
    2021 Principal Supervisor The Modern Interface of Law and Science: CRISPR Technology Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Miss Olga Christine Pandos
    2021 Principal Supervisor Created Equal? Revisiting Equality's Philosophical Foundations Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Sawinder Singh
    2020 Principal Supervisor Consent to treatment in acute care health settings: clinical practice and patient autonomy Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Patricia Carlisle
    2014 Principal Supervisor Environmental Law: Ocean/Climate Science Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Ms Claire Marie Williams
  • Past Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)

    Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
    2021 - 2023 Principal Supervisor Disability Discrimination in Education: A Mixed-Methods Study Examining Complaints about Compulsory-Aged South Australian and Victorian Students with Disability-Related Challenging Behaviour Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Peta Spyrou
    2018 - 2023 Co-Supervisor 'Home" Among The Gumtrees: The Experience of Home Under Australian Real Property Law and in Property Theory Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Samuel Paul Tyrer
    2017 - 2022 Principal Supervisor Limiting Constraints on a Global Climate Change Regime: Neoliberalism and the Global Order of States Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Geoffrey William George Leane
    2017 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Posthuman Legal Subjectivity in the Anthropocene: Introducing the Cosmic Person Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Rev Jana Norman
    2017 - 2021 Co-Supervisor Towards a New Law School Curriculum in Australia Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Joshua Krook
    2017 - 2023 Co-Supervisor Rule of Law in the Classroom: Teacher Interpretation and Application of Policy Regarding Teaching Methods in Undergraduate Ideo-Political Subjects in China Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time Mr Michael Shaun Patrick Hooper
    2015 - 2019 Co-Supervisor Demystifying Critical Legal Studies Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Part Time James Gilchrist Stewart
    2014 - 2018 Principal Supervisor Lawful Cruelty: Six Ways in Which Australian Animal Welfare Laws Permit Cruelty Towards Nonhuman Animals Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Katherine Elizabeth Russell
  • Position: Professor
  • Phone: 83134446
  • Email: peter.d.burdon@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Ligertwood, floor 3
  • Org Unit: Adelaide Law School

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