Dr Madeline Taylor is Director of Research Training and Senior Lecturer at Macquarie Law School, Deputy Director of the Centre for Energy and Natural Resources Innovation and Transformation (CENRIT), and  Honorary Associate at the Sydney Environment Institute.

Madeline specialises in issues at the intersection of socio-legal aspects of energy and natural resources law, as well as property and commercial law. Her research advances the novel examination of transitioning energy regulation and energy policy from comparative and socio-legal perspectives, including the governance of energy and the division of rights and benefits between the state, energy developers, landholders, and communities. Her current research focuses on establishing regulatory frameworks concerning energy development, spatial planning, and energy justice, particularly concerning large-scale solar energy regulation, agrivoltaics, offshore wind, and hydrogen.

Madeline was awarded the 2022 Faculty of Arts Early Career Researcher Prize in recognition of her recent research and publications concerning solar energy development siting on complex land uses.

To date, Madeline has published widely on socio-legal aspects of the energy transition spanning over twenty five articles, books, and book chapters, as well as several research reports. She is currently working on several books, concerning Solar Energy and Agriculture Co-existence, Commercial Law, and Offshore Energy Law. Madeline has been a Visiting Scholar at the University of Bergen, Norway, The University of Groningen, The Netherlands, and the University of British Columbia, Canada. 

Madeline works with researchers in law, science, and the humanities in her role as a Climate Councillor for the Climate Council and with regional communities and the renewable energy industry in her role on the Management Committee of RE-Alliance on questions relating to the energy transition, property rights, and community-based governance. She is a member of the Executive Consultation Group of the OECD's Blue Dot Network, a member of the IUCN World Commission on
Environmental Law, and The International Association for Impact Assessment.

Madeline is a contributing author to the Lexis Nexis flagship energy law practitioner text Energy and Resources Law.

She has advised government, industry and NGOs on issues relating to the energy transition, energy regulation and policy and has provided expert submissions and reports to the Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA), the NSW Government, World Bank, NOPSEMA, and the Independent Planning Commission. She is a regular contributor to domestic and international media outlets on energy law and policy and has been featured as an expert on ABC's 7:30 Report and Landline.

Madeline was awarded the 2022 Faculty of Arts Learning and Teaching Early Career Award in recognition of her embedding climate change and other critical perspectives of commercial law in her teaching. She has diverse teaching experience in the areas of commercial law, energy law, property law and corporate law. Prior to joining Macquarie, Madeline held positions at the University of Sydney, Bond University, and the University of Queensland.

Dr Taylor's research interests concern interdisciplinary aspects of the nexus between energy and the law in facilitating the energy transition. Her research areas of interest include:

• Energy Law
• Energy Policy
• Agricultural Policy
• Agricultural Law
• Commercial Law
• Property Law
• Comparative Law
• Socio-Legal Regulation

Dr Taylor has taught across a range of subjects inncluding energy law, commercial law, property law and corporate law.

At Macquarie University, she currently convenes:

• Foundations of Commercial Law LAWS5021
• Commercial Law LAWS8023

Dr Taylor is open to consultations regarding prospective Higher Degree Research (Masters, PhD) and Postdoctoral project primary or associate supervision in the following subject areas:

• Energy Regulation and Policy: Regulatory responses to the energy transition; regulating new energy technologies onshore and offshore; energy storage; conflicts over resource use; energy justice; comparative energy law.
• Land protection and planning law: Impact assessments for energy projects; development approvals; land use planning for energy; property law tensions and landholder interests; co-location of multiple land use interests; agricultural land protection
• Commercial Energy Law: Leasing and licencing for energy development; energy governance and energy security; responses to impacts of climate change and energy resilience.

If you are interested in undertaking postgraduate or postdoctoral research with Dr Taylor please familiarise yourself with Macquarie University's HDR programs, and contact her via email.