Julia Davis is an Associate Professor in Law and Program Director in Law and Legal Studies at the School of Law in the UniSA Business School. As Associate Professor in Law she teaches in the Honours program and researches in tort law, sentencing law and jury studies. As Program Director, she supports students in the law and legal studies programs.
Julia Davis holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (BA), and Honours degree in Law (LLB) and a PhD in law. Her current research focuses on developing new methods of measuring informed public opinion on sentencing and her research findings have been published both nationally and internationally, including in the British Journal of Criminology and in Punishment and Society. Over the period from 2007-... Read more
About me
Julia Davis is an Associate Professor in Law and Program Director in Law and Legal Studies at the School of Law in the UniSA Business School. As Associate Professor in Law she teaches in the Honours program and researches in tort law, sentencing law and jury studies. As Program Director, she supports students in the law and legal studies programs.
Julia Davis holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (BA), and Honours degree in Law (LLB) and a PhD in law. Her current research focuses on developing new methods of measuring informed public opinion on sentencing and her research findings have been published both nationally and internationally, including in the British Journal of Criminology and in Punishment and Society. Over the period from 2007- present, Associate Professor Davis and her research colleagues have been awarded three large research grants from the Criminology Research Council and the Australian Research Council to develop and apply an innovative method of using juries to gauge informed public opinion on sentencing. She was commended for her contributions to research excellence by the Business School in 2014 and is frequently invited to present the results of her research at national conferences and to share her findings with members of the judiciary.
Associate Professor Julia Davis has extensive teaching experience at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels and has taught Tort Law, Jurisprudence, Sentencing Law and Conflicts (Private International Law). She has a strong commitment to helping students to develop their legal, advocacy and communications skills and has been recognised many times for her leadership in teaching. She won the Vice-Chancellor’s Award for Teaching Excellence at the University of Tasmania for her innovative teaching practices, her achievements in developing imaginative and creative teaching and learning resources, and for her ability to enthuse, inspire and support her students. In 2012 and 2014 she was presented with Business School Awards for Excellence in Teaching and Learning. In 2012, as part of a new initiative by Oxford University Press, she published an innovative book entitled Connecting with Tort Law, which combined an exposition of the law with a detailed guide to the essential legal, study and problem solving skills that torts students must master. More recently, Associate Professor Davis has developed a new course honours course that takes students through the process of researching, writing and editing a scholarly article for publication in the University of South Australia Student Law Review. Associate Professor Davis is the supervising academic editor of this innovative journal, which aims to showcase original student research and create a multi-disciplinary dialogue between law students and the profession by inviting commentary from academics, lawyers, judges and practitioners from both Australian and international jurisdictions.
Associate Professor Julia Davis has engaged with judges and juries in local and national intermediate and supreme courts through her national research into jury sentencing and public opinion on sentencing and brings more than 19 years of experience in legal research and law teaching to the School of Law in the UniSA Business School.
About me
Doctor of Philosophy University of Tasmania
Bachelor of Arts University of Adelaide
Bachelor of Law University of Tasmania
Associate Professor Julia Davis has research interests in three main fields: the theoretical, practical and psychological aspects of sentencing; the philosophy of the criminal law; and the concept of justice. She has published chapters in books and articles based on her research on criminal law theory, sentencing, domestic violence and child sexual abuse in Australia, New Zealand, Britain and Europe.
Associate Professor Davis was part of a team led by Professor Kate Warner (University of Tasmania) that won a large Criminology Research Council research grant to conduct a Jury Sentencing Survey over the period 2007-2009. The study aimed to improve the measurement of public attitudes to sentencing by designing and implementing a jury survey... Read more
Research
Excludes commercial-in-confidence projects.
Gauging informed public opinion on sentencing sex offenders: A national study, ARC - Linkage Project, 01/07/2013 - 30/06/2019
Using jurors to gauge informed public opinion on sentencing, ARC - Discovery Projects, 01/01/2013 - 30/06/2017
Research
Research outputs for the last seven years are shown below. Some long-standing staff members may have older outputs included. To see earlier years visit ORCID or Scopus
Open access indicates that an output is open access.
Year | Output |
---|---|
2021 |
Open access
1
5
|
2021 |
2
|
2019 |
Open access
10
8
|
2018 |
Open access
1
1
|
2018 |
9
|
2018 |
|
2018 |
Open access
2
|
2018 |
4
|
2017 |
Open access
5
|
2017 |
19
31
|
2015 |
Open access
|
2014 |
|
2013 |
|
2012 |
25
32
|
2011 |
|
2011 |
Open access
13
7
|
2009 |
Open access
|
Research
Associate Professor Julia Davis has research interests in three main fields: the theoretical, practical and psychological aspects of sentencing; the philosophy of the criminal law; and the concept of justice. She has published chapters in books and articles based on her research on criminal law theory, sentencing, domestic violence and child sexual abuse in Australia, New Zealand, Britain and Europe.
Associate Professor Davis was part of a team led by Professor Kate Warner (University of Tasmania) that won a large Criminology Research Council research grant to conduct a Jury Sentencing Survey over the period 2007-2009. The study aimed to improve the measurement of public attitudes to sentencing by designing and implementing a jury survey to be administered after guilty verdicts, by giving jurors sentencing information and using the survey results to assist policy makers to respond to informed public opinion with the ultimate goal of improving confidence in the criminal justice system.
In November 2012, Associate Professor Davis and her research colleagues, Professor Kate Warner (from the University of Tasmania) and Professor Arie Freiberg (from Monash University) were awarded an ARC Discovery grant of $400,000 to extend and develop the jury survey methodology in Victoria over the years 2013-2015.
In 2013 Associate Professor Davis was part of a national team of researchers who were awarded an Australian Research Council Linkage grant of $252,124 to conduct a national study aimed at gauging informed public opinion on sentencing for sex offences by surveying the views of jurors in sex offence trials in all higher courts in Australia.
Associate Professor Davis's contribution to research was recognised in 2014 by the Business School in a commendation in the category of research excellence.
External engagement & recognition
Organisation | Country |
---|---|
Australian National University | AUSTRALIA |
Curtin University | AUSTRALIA |
Monash University | AUSTRALIA |
Tasmania Law Reform Institute | AUSTRALIA |
Tasmanian State Government | AUSTRALIA |
University of Canberra | AUSTRALIA |
University of Melbourne | AUSTRALIA |
University of Tasmania | AUSTRALIA |
External engagement & recognition
Engagement/recognition | Year |
---|---|
Adjunct Associate ProfessorFaculty of Law, University of Tasmania |
2016 |
AssessorAustralian Research Council (ARC) |
2016 |
Adjunct Associate ProfessorFaculty of Law, University of Tasmania |
2015 |
AssessorAustralian Research Council (ARC) |
2015 |
Adjunct Associate ProfessorFaculty of Law, University of Tasmania |
2014 |
AssessorAustralian Research Council (ARC) |
2014 |
Adjunct Associate ProfessorFaculty of Law, University of Tasmania |
2013 |
AssessorAustralian Research Council (ARC) |
2013 |
Adjunct Associate ProfessorFaculty of Law, University of Tasmania |
2012 |
Adjunct Associate ProfessorFaculty of Law, University of Tasmania |
2011 |
Adjunct Associate ProfessorFaculty of Law, University of Tasmania |
2010 |
Adjunct Associate ProfessorFaculty of Law, University of Tasmania |
2009 |
Adjunct Associate ProfessorFaculty of Law, University of Tasmania |
2008 |
Dr Davis has a strong commitment to helping students to develop their legal, advocacy and communications skills. She has been recognised many times for her leadership in teaching by the University of Tasmania, culminating in 2006 with the presentation of the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Teaching Excellence for her innovative teaching practices, her achievements in developing imaginative and creative teaching and learning resources, and for her ability to enthuse, inspire and support her students. She has also been recognised by the Business School at the University of South Australia many times for teaching excellence and received recognition in the categories of Top Performing Continuing Staff in 2012 and Top Mid Career Teacher in 2014.
In 2012 she published an innovative textbook, Connecting with Tort Law, with Oxford University Press, designed to support students in their skills development and their understanding of this foundational area of the law.
One of Dr Davis's special interests is the use of film technology in assisting student learning. In 2005 she wrote and produced an interactive DVD package on communication and advocacy skills entitled More Than Words, which is now used in several Australian and international universities. This DVD is supplemented with a complete package of student learning resources to assist students to develop their skills.
More recently, Dr Davis has introduced a new course in 'Writing for Publication' which takes students through the process of researching, writing and editing a scholarly article. As foundation editor of the University of South Australia Student Law Review, Dr Davis has supervised and mentored the student editors of the journal, which was launched in 2015.
Teaching & student supervision
Teaching & student supervision
Supervisions from 2010 shown
Thesis title | Student status |
---|---|
Cyberbullying, associated harm and the criminal law | Completed |