Overview
Dr Petra Mahy is both a lawyer and an anthropologist, and her research interests generally span the disciplines of socio-legal, comparative law and regulatory studies. She has particular interests in the legal and regulatory systems of Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, and the Pacific, and researches in the areas of labour law, company law, legal history and gender studies.
Petra is a Chief Investigator on the ARC Discovery Project Formal and Informal Regulation of Labour Disputes in Southeast Asia' (DP190100821) (2019-2025). This project is empirically investigating the operation and effectiveness of formal labour dispute resolution systems as well as informal disputing pathways and processes in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
At Melbourne Law School, Petra is a member of the Asian Law Centre (ALC); Centre for Indonesian Law, Islam and Society (CILIS); Centre for Employment and Labour Relations Law (CELRL) and the Melbourne Centre for Commercial Law (MCCL). She is also an Editorial Committee member of the Australian Journal of Asian Law.
In 2023-24, Petra spent twelve months as an Australian volunteer working as a legal advisor with the Office of the Vice President/Ministry of Justice, Republic of Palau. Petra's previous academic appointments were in the Department of Business Law & Taxation, Monash University, SOAS University of London and the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, University of Oxford.
Petra is a registered graduate supervisor and welcomes inquiries from potential students.
Teaching (2026)
The Melbourne JD