Dr Carrie McDougall

Senior Lecturer

Email c.mcdougall@unimelb.edu.au Find an Expert Find an Expert

LocationRoom 0950

Overview

Dr Carrie McDougall re-joined Melbourne Law School in 2018, after nearly a decade working for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT).

While at DFAT she served first as a Legal Specialist and Assistant Director of the International Law Section. In this role she provided advice on the jus ad bellum, international criminal law, international humanitarian law, the responsibility to protect and the protection of civilians. This included advice on Australian operations in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan, and on the full suite of legal issues considered during Australia’s term on the United Nations Security Council. Carrie regularly represented Australia in international meetings, including the International Criminal Court’s Assembly of States Parties, and played a critical role in international negotiations, including those relating to the downing of Flight MH17.

Immediately before re-joining the Law School, she served as the Legal Adviser at Australia’s Mission to the United Nations in New York. Among other things, she represented Australia in the UN General Assembly’s Sixth Committee, where she served as Vice President, and led Australia’s engagement on the Responsibility to Protect. She also played a significant role in negotiations on the establishment of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria.

Prior to joining DFAT, Carrie was a Research Fellow at Melbourne Law School, working with the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law and the Australian Civil Military Centre to draft Guidelines on the Protection of Civilians by Peace Support Missions for the African Union. Before that, Carrie held positions as a Law School Sessional Lecturer and Solicitor.

Carrie holds a PhD in international criminal law from Melbourne Law School. She graduated as University Medallist with First Class Honours in Law and Arts from the University of Tasmania. She is admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria and the High Court of Australia.

Carrie is the author of The Crime of Aggression under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Cambridge University Press, 2012). The jus ad bellum and international criminal law are her primary areas of research, along with international humanitarian law.