Emilia Lisa Sterjova joined Melbourne Law School in 2023 as a PhD Candidate. Her PhD is about the rule of law, governance and anti-corruption. Her supervisors are Distinguished Professor Tim Lindsey and Associate Professor Amanda Whiting. Emilia is a practising Australian lawyer alongside her studies.
Emilia was elected to the City of Whittlesea in 2016 at the age of 19, the youngest in Victoria, and became Deputy Mayor at 20 years of age. She was elected as the youngest female Mayor in Australian history at the age of 22 in 2019/20 and led one of Australia’s largest local governments. In her role, she witnessed a collapse of governance and was inspired to study accountability measures of public officials in her PhD.
Emilia graduated from a Bachelor of Laws (Honours), Bachelor of Global Studies, and Diploma in Languages (Indonesian) at La Trobe University, and a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice at the College of Law in 2022.
Emilia was ranked in GradConnection’s top 100 Australian future leaders as published in The Australian Financial Review in 2022. She was ranked in the top 10 best non-native Malaysian public speakers in the world at the Malaysian Prime Minister’s World Championship of Public Speaking (Pidato Antarabangsa Bahasa Melayu) in 2017 & 2018. She was ranked in the top 25 under 25 Young Leaders in Victoria by the Herald Sun in 2018. She was ranked in the top 40 under 40 World Macedonian Leaders as declared in Washington DC by the United Macedonian Diaspora in 2018.
Emilia has studied the Indonesian language and culture since the age of 12. In her spare time, she volunteers as the educational officer of the Australia Indonesia Youth Association. Emilia also volunteers as the Vice President of the Graduate Researchers Association at the University of Melbourne.
Languages spoken: English, Macedonian, Indonesian