Appointment of New Castan Centre Director

Monash Law thanks Professor the Hon Kevin H Bell AM QC and Appoints Associate Professor Melissa Castan.

14 February 2022

Today we bid goodbye and many thanks to Professor the Hon Kevin H Bell AM QC who is finishing his time as the Director of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law at Monash Law Faculty.

Professor Bell was appointed as a Commissioner to the Yoorook Justice Commission in May last year,  and we wish him all the success with this important work with the Commission, being the first formal truth-telling process into injustices experienced by First Peoples in Victoria.

The last two years have been an important transformational period for the Centre, and with the benefit of Professor Bell's leadership, energy and ideas, we will continue to make a great contribution to human rights law and to the practical realisation of human rights, especially for the most vulnerable. Beyond leading the Centre, Professor Bell has made a substantive contribution to human rights law research and teaching; he has also led numerous submissions to parliamentary and international inquiries on significant issues including on homelessness, the rights of older persons and mental health. He has also fostered important partnerships for policy reform and been integral to our various programs including the human rights clinic at Monash Law Clinics.

We are also pleased to announce the new Centre Director, Associate Professor Melissa Castan, an esteemed human rights scholar and educator, who has worked in the Centre since its foundation. With support from the Deputy Director of Education, Dr Ronli Sifris and Deputy Director of Research, Associate Professor Maria O'Sullivan, and our leading human rights academics and scholars, we look forward to building on over 20 years of strengths and successes, and continuing the legacy of the late Ron Castan AM QC, after whom the centre is named.