Dr Madeline Taylor from Macquarie Law School has been announced as the Academic/Researcher of the Year and awarded the coveted Excellence Award at the Lawyers Weekly Women in Law Awards 2023.
More than 700 members of the legal profession attended the 12th annual Women in Law Awards on Thursday 23 November, with 30 winners chosen from 276 finalists. Lawyers Weekly received a record high of 834 submissions.
The Women in Law Awards recognise exceptional women in the Australian legal industry and, as the most highly regarded legal awards program in Australia, are the benchmark for excellence.
The judging criteria for the award categories acknowledge growth, development, diversity, leadership, innovation, business excellence and contribution to Australia’s legal sector. The Excellence Award is given to the highest-scoring individual winner.
Dr Taylor is a Senior Lecturer and Director of Research Training at Macquarie Law School, Deputy Director of the Centre for Energy and Natural Resources Innovation and Transformation, Co-Stream Leader of the Transforming Energy Markets Research Centre, and Honorary Associate at the Sydney Environment Institute. Dr Taylor’s current research focuses on establishing regulatory frameworks to underpin just and diverse decarbonisation technologies and land uses to support the transition to renewable energy.
These awards add to a growing list of recognitions for Dr Taylor including the Faculty of Arts Early Career Research Prize, awarded to her last year in recognition of the impact of her research into solar energy development siting on complex land uses. She was also awarded the 2022 Faculty of Arts Learning and Teaching Early Career Award for her work embedding climate change and other critical commercial law perspectives into her teaching. At the 2023 Academic Staff Awards, she was awarded the Vice-Chancellor’s Learning and Teaching Early Career Award.
Dr Taylor has published more than 33 articles, books, chapters and research reports on the socio-legal aspects of the energy transition and has advised government, industry and NGOs on issues relating to energy transition, regulation and policy.
“These awards I have received are a testament to all my female colleagues and students who motivate and inspire me every day,” says Dr Taylor.
“I am extremely grateful for this incredible recognition from Lawyers Weekly and the leading women in law. May we continue to work hard and support each other every day until we reach gender parity in all the highest places of the legal sector.”