Samuel White

Samuel White

Post Doctoral Researcher

Adelaide Law School

Faculty of Arts, Business, Law and Economics

Dr Samuel White is a Senior Lecturer at the Adelaide Law School, following his appointment as the inaugural Cybersecurity Postdoctoral Research Fellow. He concurrently holds positions as a Visiting Fellow at the Australian Defence Force Academy and as an Adjunct Associate Professor at the University of New England. In 2024, he was appointed an Associate Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and as the first Army Visiting Fellow to the Australian War Memorial. He is an Editor of the Adelaide Law Review and the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society.

Samuel has served as both a Royal Australian Infantry Corps and an Australian Army Legal Corps officer in a variety of tactical, operational and strategic level postings. These include platoon command in the 9th Royal Queensland Regiment; Staff Officer in the Directorate of Operations and International Law; Deputy Command Legal Officer - Headquarters Maritime Border Command; and as a Reserve Legal Officer within Special Operations Command. In 2024, he was selected as the SO2 First Nations Strategy at Army Headquarters, spearheading engagement with First Nation soldiers and officers.

His military experiences led him to write Keeping the Peace of the Realm (LexisNexis, 2021), which analysed the nature of section 119 of the Constitution and whether it created a shield, or empowerment, for Commonwealth interventions in State affairs. He is also the editor of a multi-volume series, called The Laws of Yesterday’s Wars (Brill Nijhoff) which critically questions how international the laws of war are. In 2021, he was recognised by the International Committee of the Red Cross as an ‘Emerging Voice’ for his scholarship in international humanitarian law.

He has particular research interests in international and domestic military law, and its intersection with other branches of law - industrial relations and disputes, administrative law and judicial review, as well as international and domestic criminal law. He has published numerous books, book chapters and journal articles on these topics.

  • Appointments
    Date Position Institution name
    2022 - 2024 Cybersecurity Postdoctoral Research Fellow University of Adelaide
    2021 - ongoing Adjunct Senior Research Fellow University of New England
    2020 - ongoing Associate Researcher University of Adelaide
    2019 - ongoing Australian Army Legal Corps Australian Defence Force
    2018 - 2019 Federal Court Associate The Hon. Justice JA Logan RFD
    2015 - 2019 Royal Australian Infantry Officer Australian Defence Force

  • Awards and Achievements
    Date Type Title Institution Name Country Amount
    2019 Achievement Solicitor & Barrister - High Court of Australia High Court of Australia Australia -
    2018 Achievement Solicitor - State of Queensland State of Queensland Australia -

  • Education
    Date Institution name Country Title
    2021 - 2023 University of Adelaide Australia PhD
    2020 - 2022 University of Adelade Australia LLM
    2019 - 2020 University of New South Wales Australia M. War Studies
    2018 - 2018 Australian National University Australia GDLP
    2017 - 2019 University of Melbourne Australia LL.M (Hons I)
    2012 - 2017 University of Queensland Australia BA/LLB

  • Research Interests
    Administrative Law Comparative Law Constitutional Law Human Rights Law International Law Strategic, Defence & Security Studies

  • Journals
    Year Citation
    2024 White, S. (2024). Virus, weapon, litter, industry: Generative metaphors that shape policy around emerging threats. Alternative Law Journal, 49(2), 142-148.
    DOI
    2024 White, S. C. D. (2024). Introduction. International Humanitarian Law Series, 67, 1-7.
    DOI
    2023 White, S. C. D. (2023). (Flint)lock, stock and two smoking barrels: A modern military interpretation of frontier economic warfare. Historical Encounters, 10(2), 52-62.
    DOI
    2023 White, S., Hofmann, B., & Liddy, J. (2023). NEITHER SUPERIOR NOR SUBORDINATE: AN EXPLORATION OF THE MILITARY JURISDICTION IN DOMESTIC OPERATIONS. Adelaide Law Review, 44(2), 441-502.
    2022 White, S. (2022). Colouring in the Grey Zone: Lawfare as a Lever of National Power. Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, 21(2), 77-106.
    2022 White, S., & Moore, C. (2022). CALLING OUT THE ADF INTO THE GREY ZONE. Adelaide Law Review, 43(1), 479-505.
    2022 White, S. (2022). Taking the King's Hard Bargain. Australian Law Journal.
    2021 White, S. (2021). Keeping the Peace of the iRealm. Adelaide Law Review, 42(1), 101-145.
    2021 White, S. C. (2021). iCan Help You: The Benefits of Artificial Intelligence to Military Forces Outside of Warfighting Operations. Australian Army Journal, 17(1), 79-97.
    2021 White, S. (2021). Authorisation and Accountability of Automated Government Decisions under Australian Administrative Law. AIAL Forum, 102(July), 84-96.
    2021 White, S. C. D. (2021). Aztec Laws of War. History In the Making, 9(1), 1-22.
    2021 White, S. (2021). A Shield for the Tip of the Spear. Federal Law Review, 49(2), 210-230.
    DOI Scopus1
    2021 White, S. C. D. (2021). Keeping the Peace of the Realm. Adelaide Law Review, 42(1), 101-145.
    Scopus2 WoS3
    2020 White, S. C. D., & Butler, A. (2020). Reviewing a Decision to Call Out The Troops. AIAL Forum, (99), 58-77.
    2020 White, S. C. D. (2020). God-Like Powers: The character test and unfettered Ministerial discretion. Adelaide Law Review, 41(1), 1-38.
    Scopus3 WoS2
    2020 White, S., & Kerkhove, R. (2020). Indigenous Australian laws of war: Makarrata, milwerangel and junkarti. International Review of the Red Cross, 102(914), 959-978.
    DOI Scopus3 WoS1
    2020 White, S. C. D. (2020). Military Intervention In Australian Industrial Action. Public Law Review, 31(3), 423-443.
    WoS1
    2019 White, S. C. D. (2019). A Soldier By Any Other Name - A Reappraisal of the Citizen In Uniform Doctrine. Military Law and Law of War Review, 57(2), 280-331.
    2019 White, S. C. D. (2019). Loose Lips Bring Ships. The Forge.
    2018 White, S. C. D. (2018). Hiding the Boats: The need for transparency in the Australian Government's border protection policy. AIAL Forum, 92, 12-36.
    2018 White, S. C. (2018). Achilles Throughout the Ages: Bringing to Heel the Myths of Hollywood. History In The Making, 6.
    2018 White, S. C. D. (2018). Justice Doesn't Come from the Briefcase of the White Man. Perth Journal of International Law, 3, 19-32.
    - White, S. (n.d.). Rusty Weapons in a Digital Battlespace. The University of Queensland Law Journal.
    DOI

  • Books
    Year Citation
    2022 White, S. C. D. (Ed.) (2022). The Laws of Yesterday's Wars - Volume II. Brill | Nijhoff.
    DOI
    2021 White, S. C. D. (Ed.) (2021). The Laws of Yesterday's Wars (Vol. 1, 1 ed.). Netherlands: Brill.
    DOI
    2021 White, S. C. D. (Ed.) (2021). The Laws of Yesterday's Wars (Vol. 1, 1 ed.). Netherlands: Brill.
    DOI

  • Book Chapters
    Year Citation
    2024 White, S. (2024). Mongol Laws of War. In International Humanitarian Law Series (Vol. 67, pp. 33-56). Brill | Nijhoff.
    DOI
    2022 White, S. (2022). Roman Laws of War. In S. White (Ed.), The Laws of Yesterday's Wars: Volume II.
    2022 White, S. (2022). Roman Laws of War. In S. White (Ed.), The Laws of Yesterday's Wars: Volume II.
    2022 White, S., & Kerkhove, R. (2022). Indigenous Australians. In S. White (Ed.), The Laws of Yesterday's Wars (Vol. 58, pp. 3-43). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill & The Hague Academy of International Law.
    DOI
    2022 White, S., & Kerkhove, R. (2022). Indigenous Australians. In S. White (Ed.), The Laws of Yesterday's Wars (Vol. 58, pp. 3-43). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill & The Hague Academy of International Law.
    DOI
    2021 White, S. (2021). The Late Middle Ages in Northern Europe. In S. White (Ed.), The Laws of Yesterday's Wars (Vol. 58, pp. 101-126). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill & The Hague Academy of International Law.
    DOI
    2021 White, S. (2021). The Late Middle Ages in Northern Europe. In S. White (Ed.), The Laws of Yesterday's Wars (Vol. 58, pp. 101-126). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill & The Hague Academy of International Law.
    DOI
    2021 White, S. (2021). The Aztecs. In S. White (Ed.), The Laws of Yesterday's Wars (Vol. 58, pp. 69-100). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill & The Hague Academy of International Law.
    DOI
    2021 White, S. (2021). The Aztecs. In S. White (Ed.), The Laws of Yesterday's Wars (Vol. 58, pp. 69-100). Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill & The Hague Academy of International Law.
    DOI

  • Internet Publications
    Year Citation
    2022 White, S. (2022). Hack Backs: How Indigenous Australian laws of war can apply online. ILA Reporter.
    2022 White, S. (2022). Killing the Queen's Enemies (And Keeping the Peace). AUSPUBLAW.
    2022 White, S. (2022). Student Symposium Profile Piece: Samuel White. SA Rights Research Centre.

Samuel teaches into the Defence Legal Training Modules (Masters level) in the core and elective subjects, as well as undergraduate Law courses. He supervises research projects in LAW3608 and is available to supervise undergraduate honours, Masters and co-supervise PhD students.

  • Position: Post Doctoral Researcher
  • Email: samuel.white@adelaide.edu.au
  • Campus: North Terrace
  • Building: Ligertwood
  • Org Unit: Adelaide Law School
Connect With Me
External Profiles