Dr. Liesel Spencer

Dr Liesel Spencer has worked in the university sector since 2005. Her research interests are in public health law and food systems governance, focussing on regulation of food security. Liesel’s research has investigated how the food system is regulated in Australia and other countries in relation to: law and policy on food security; school food programs; social security (welfare) law as regulation of food security; the impact of the cost of living crisis on food security; and legal frameworks for urban agriculture. She is interested in diverse methodological approaches to research including empirical methods, comparative law and legal geography.

Liesel works closely with food system stakeholders including members of the public service, civil society, NGOs and industry. She has provided advice to federal, state and local government public servants on various legal aspects of the food system.

Liesel is a first-year teaching specialist and the recipient of multiple student-selected teaching awards, and has taught, convened and written curriculum for the subjects Torts Law, Public Health Law, Comparative Law, Legal Research, Introduction to Law and Statutory Interpretation, Professional Responsibility and Legal Ethics, and Civil Procedure; and has also taught Alternative Dispute Resolution, Legal Analysis and Critique, Criminal Law, Law Foundation, and Law of Business Organisations. She is admitted as a lawyer in the Supreme Court of New South Wales (but is not currently practising).

Liesel has extensive experience in faculty and university level governance. She has redesigned faculty-level policies for research excellence, workloads, and performance expectations and has experience in leading change management processes.