Dr Holly Doel-Mackaway has worked in the children’s rights field for over 25 years as an academic, lawyer and social worker. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on international children’s rights law, children’s participation, Indigenous children’s rights, child protection, girls’ rights and juvenile justice. Her research across several major grant projects spanning five continents seeks to advance children’s rights globally. Her involvement in a 2024 Australian Research Council Linkage Grant application, ‘Child-Centred Evidence to Drive Meaningful Social Change for Children,’ involves four universities and four child rights NGOs and seeks to generate evidence to drive policy and prompt action for children in Australia and the Pacific. The application has received positive assessor comments and the outcome is pending.

Dr Doel-Mackaway is the Co-Editor-In-Chief of Australia’s leading human rights journal, the Australian Journal of Human Rights. She also plays an active role with the legal profession across the Asia-Pacific region in her role as the Expert Counsellor for Children, Indigenous People and Gender for the LAWASIA Human Rights Committee. Additionally, she serves as an elected member of the Macquarie University Academic Senate and co-leads the Children’s Rights, Participation and Protection Research Stream in the Faculty of Arts. Dr Doel-Mackaway collaborates with a range of human rights NGOs and regularly comments on child law matters in the media.

Dr Doel-Mackaway teaches Child and Elder Law, Legal Research Methodologies, International Human Rights Law and Constitutional Law and in 2021 was recognised as an educator of impact winning the student-nominated Vice-Chancellor's Learning and Teaching Award for her teaching excellence. Students nominated her for the same award again in 2024.

Her 2022 book ‘Indigenous Children's Right to Participate in Law and Policy Development’ (Routledge) presents a model for reforming and developing Indigenous-related legislation and policy in Australia and internationally. The model provides guidance about how to seek, listen to and respond to the voices of Indigenous children and young people. This model was employed by the Nossal Institute for Global Health and used by the Australian National Children’s Commissioner in their respective research endeavours. Dr Doel-Mackaway received the Macquarie University Executive Dean's Award for Excellence in Higher Degree Research for the field research with Aboriginal children and young people that underpins the book.  

Before becoming an academic, Dr Doel-Mackaway worked as a lawyer across more than 20 countries for the United Nations and various international non-government organisations, providing specialised advice on international children’s rights law. She held senior legal and managerial positions with a range of child-focused agencies including UNICEF, Save the Children and the NSW Department of Community Services. Dr Doel-Mackaway has also operated a child rights consulting practice for 15 years providing children’s rights research, training, legislative and policy advice nationally and internationally on matters relating to child protection, girls’ rights, the commercial sexual exploitation of children, children engaged in armed conflict and child rights-based approaches to research and development.

Dr Doel-Mackaway holds a PhD in Law (Macquarie University), a Bachelor of Laws (1^st class honours from UTS), an honours degree in Social Work (Sydney University) and was admitted as a solicitor to the NSW Supreme Court in 2004. Prior to becoming a lawyer Dr Doel-Mackaway worked as a social worker supporting women and children who had experienced domestic violence and sexual abuse.

• Children's Rights and Children and the Law
• Juvenile Justice
• Children and Young People's Participation
• Rights of the Girl Child
• Constitutional Law
• International Human Rights Law
• Indigenous Studies
• Gender and Feminist Studies
• International Development and Research Ethics

Past Supervisions

• Joanna Mitchell (MRes) - 'The Participation of Children in Australian Administrative Tribunals' (Principal Supervisor)

Current Supervisions

• Emily Kwok (PhD) - 'Child Participation in Cross-Border Child Protection Issues in Australia, MENA Region and the United States of America' (Principal Supervisor)
• Joanna Mitchell (Phd) - 'Children's Voices in Commonwealth Administrative Review' (Principal Supervisor)
• Phillip Rodgers-Falk - 'Human Rights, Indigenous Peoples’, and the ‘Law’: The ‘Race’ within Christian ‘Discovery’ and Territorial Acquisition (‘sovereign’ claims): The Australia Circumstance'

Prospective PhD Students

Holly is available to supervise PhD and Masters research in the following areas and welcomes inquiries from prospective students:  

• Children's Rights
• Children's Law
• Juvenile Justice
• Children and Young People's Participation
• Rights of the Girl Child
• Constitutional Law
• International Human Rights Law
• Indigenous Studies
• Gender and Feminist Studies
• International Development and Research Ethics

LAWS5005 Child and Elder Law (convenor) 

LAWS5910 Research Methodologies in Law (convenor) 

LAWS5019 International Human Rights Law

LAWS300/8070 Constitutional Law 

Past teaching: 

LAWS8070 Constitutional Law (convenor)

LAWS8008 Administrative Law (convenor)

LAWS8012 Independent Research Project in Law, Governance and Policy (convenor)

ABST1000 Introduction to Indigenous Australia

LEX101 Law, Human Rights and Global Governance