Dr Susan Kneebone

The United Nations estimates more than 24 million people are currently displaced from their homes because of armed conflicts around the globe.

The unprecedented number of people on the move has placed new emphasis on the immigration and refugee systems of many western nations, and some, such as the UK are looking to model their policy on the Australian experience.

Few academics have ventured so deeply into Australia's labyrinthine immigration laws as Monash Professor of Law Dr Susan Kneebone, and she has become a vocal part of an international network of academics and refugee advocates working to improve government and community recognition of the rights of refugees.

A deputy-director of Monash University's Castan Centre for Human Rights Law and a member of the Refugee Council of Australia, Dr Kneebone says her work has been driven by concern at a system she believes marginalizes and unfairly treats a group of disadvantaged people.

In her critical investigations of Australia's Refugee Review Tribunal and the controversial Pacific Strategy, Dr Kneebone has argued that asylum seekers were discriminated against, and that government policy focused on deterrence rather than protection and the right to seek asylum.

"There is an unrealistic onus on refugees to prove their fears of persecution, torture or retribution if they are forced to return home," she said.

"As a result some people can be left waiting in limbo for years for their cases to be heard.

"The human rights of asylum seekers must be respected as far as possible."

With initial funding and support from the Monash Institute for the Study of Global Movements, Dr Kneebone has produced a number of books, been awarded more than $300,000 worth of Australian Research Council Discovery Grants, been involved in UNHCR consultations, contributed to Australian senate committees, advised both sides of federal politics and spoken at major immigration law forums domestically and in the UK, Europe, Canada.

Dr Kneebone is also engaging more with the Asia-Pacific and the refugee problems facing Australia's near-neighbours such as Thailand and Malaysia.

In 2008 she helped establish a regional network on human rights, the Asian Pacific Refugee Rights Network - a group founded by Monash student Alison Nah, a PhD candidate under Dr Kneebone's supervision.

Dr Kneebone is also currently completing a unique study of the legal issues surrounding human trafficking, including women, in the Asia Pacific region, and the regulation of labour migration.