Dr Piers Gooding

Overview

Dr Piers Gooding is a Senior Research Fellow at the Melbourne Law School, and an Australian Research Council DECRA Fellow. His work focuses on the law and politics of disability, and particularly mental health, with an interest in algorithmic and data-driven technology.

He is the author of A New Era for Mental Health Law and Policy: Supported Decision-Making and the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2017) with Cambridge University Press, and is on the editorial board of the International Journal for Mental Health and Capacity Law. He is an affiliate of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute, where he served as Doctoral Academy coordinator between 2017-2022.

Piers has acted as a board member and advisor in a range of local, national and international bodies working on the rights of disabled people, and has advised policy-makers at national and international levels. This includes as an advisor to the UN Special Rapporteur for the Rights of People with Disabilities; the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health; the UN Economic and Social Commission of the Asia Pacific; the Council of Europe Bioethics Committee; and the World Psychiatric Association.

Prior to joining the University of Melbourne, Piers was a research fellow at the Centre for Disability Law and Policy at the National University of Ireland, Galway (2014-15). He has a background in law and humanities, with degrees from the University of Melbourne (BA First Class Honours in History and Cultural Studies) and Monash University (Doctor of Philosophy in Law).

Piers's academic publications have appeared in diverse publications such as the International Journal of Law in Context, Human Rights Law Review, New Criminal Law Review, Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica and the Health Sociology Review. He has written for diverse media publications, including Slate, The Irish Times, and The Big Issue, and has appeared in publications such as The Guardian, MIT Technology Review and the Sydney Morning Herald.