Projects per year
Personal profile
Biography
Associate Professor Madeline Taylor is an Australian Research Council (ARC) EC Industry Fellow, Co-Lead of the Energy, Communities, and Market Regulation Stream of the Transforming Energy Markets Research Centre, Honorary Associate at the Sydney Environment Institute and Member of the Sydney Institute of Agriculture.
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.
Madeline is an Australian Research Council (ARC) EC Industry Fellow (2025-2028) working with her Industry Partners NSW Department of Primary Industries and Spark Renewable on their project entitled "The Foundational Australian Agrivoltaics Regulation Model (FAARM) Project".
She is a CI in the Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery Project "Just Transmission" (2025 - 2028) led by A/Prof Jonathan Pickering alongside Professor David Schlosberg and A/Prof Amanda Tattersall. The project aims to develop strategies for a just and coherent approach to constructing new electricity transmission infrastructure in Australia
Madeline was awarded the 2022 Faculty of Arts Early Career Researcher Prize and was a 2023 Highly Commended Finalist for the Vice Chancellor's Research Excellence Early Career Researcher Award in recognition of her research and publications concerning solar energy development siting on complex land uses. Madeline is one of the four 2023 Clean Energy Council Chloe Munro Scholarship for Transformational Leadership - Executive Ready Scholars.
To date, Madeline has published widely on socio-legal aspects of the energy transition in leading and impactful energy journals and publication outlets. In 2024, she was named as a Finalist in the 2024 Australian Financial Review Higher Education Awards in the Emerging Leadership category. In 2023, she received the Lawyers Weekly 2023 Women in Law Academic/Researcher of the Year Award and the 2023 Women in Law Excellence Award as the highest-scoring overall award winner and is the first academic to have won the award.
Madeline works with researchers in law, science, 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 Co-Lead of the IUCN IWCEL Climate Change Law SG Inclusive Energy Transformation Cluster, The International Association for Impact Assessment, Co-Editor in Chief of OGEL Energy Law Journal, and is a contributing author to the Lexis Nexis flagship energy law practitioner text Energy and Resources Law in Australia.
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 and the 2023 Vice Chancellor's 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.
Research interests
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
Research student supervision
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.
Teaching
Dr Taylor has taught across a range of subjects including energy law, commercial law, property law and corporate law.
At Macquarie University, she previously convened the following units of study:
- Foundations of Commercial Law LAWS5021
- Commercial Law LAWS8023
Community engagement
External positions
Editorial Board, Humanities & Social Sciences Communications
2025 → …
Co-Editor in Chief, Oil, Gas and Energy Law Journal
2025 → …
Member, Sydney Institute of Agriculture, Sydney Institute for Agriculture
2024 → …
Co-Editor Journal of Energy and Natural Resources Law, Special Issue, Catalysing Cooperation in the Energy Transition: Enhancing Regulatory Frameworks for Energy Co-location, Cooperatives, and Communities
2024 → …
Reviewer, ACOLA Australia’s Energy Transition Research Plan , Australian Council of Learned Academies (ACOLA)
2024 → …
Co-Editor Springer Nature Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Climate action with justice: aligning climate and energy transition policies with energy equity, Springer Nature
2024 → 2025
Review Editor, Frontiers in Sustainable Energy Policy
2023 → …
Member, International Association for Impact Assessment
2023 → …
Executive Consultation Group (ECG) , OECD Blue Dot Network
2022 → …
Management Committee , RE Alliance
2022 → …
Reviewer, Energy Policy
2021 → …
Reviewer, Land Use Policy
2021 → …
Co-Editor, Special Issue, Evolution of Energy Justice for a 2060 Sustainable World, Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews
2021 → …
Mentor, Summer Innovation Program - Sustainability Stream
2021
Honorary Associate, Sydney Environment Institute, University of Sydney
2021 → …
Member, Australian Institute of Energy
2020 → …
Assessor, Australian Research Council
2020 → …
Expert Consultant, Australian Competition & Consumer Commission
2019 → …
Associate Editor, Energy and Environment
2019 → …
Contributing Author, Lexis Nexis
2019 → …
Energy and Environmental Law Assessor, The Law and Society Association of Australia and New Zealand Publication Prize
2019 → …
Hon, Sydney Institute of Agriculture
2018 → …
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Collaborations and top research areas from the last five years
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IE24: The Foundational Australian Agrivoltaics Regulation Model (FAARM) Project
1/03/25 → 29/02/28
Project: Research
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Macquarie University – University of Groningen Strategic Partner Framework Travel Grant
30/06/21 → …
Project: Research
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Utrecht University Collaborative Interdisciplinary Grant - Climate Risks
1/08/20 → …
Project: Research
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Unsettling Resources - Sydney Environment Institute
Taylor, M. & Park, S. M.
1/09/18 → …
Project: Research
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Australia powering Japan's energy transition
Taylor, M., 2025, The energy transition in Japan: smart cities and smart solutions. Sokołowski, M. M. & Shimpo, F. (eds.). London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, p. 154-169 16 p. (Routledge Explorations in Energy Studies).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
1 Citation (Scopus) -
Beyond social licence to operate: charting 'social gaps' and the social contract in the emerging Australian offshore wind sector
Taylor, M., 2025, (Accepted/In press) Offshore energy law: challenges and opportunities for renewables and hydrocarbons. Herrera Anchustegui, I., Taylor, M., Pereira, E. G. & Wifa, E. (eds.). Hart Publishing, (Global Energy Law & Policy).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
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Combining justice and critical minerals: advancing progressive rehabilitation of critical minerals mines in New South Wales, Australia
Bascombe, D. & Taylor, M., 2025, In: Oil, Gas and Energy Law. 23, 1, 23 p.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Consumer protection in Australia's energy transformation: the National Energy Market (NEW)
Soliman Hunter, T., Taylor, M. & Best, R., 2025, Routledge handbook of consumer protection and behaviour in energy markets. Soliman Hunter, T., Kraśniewski, M., Malinauskaite, J. & Czarnecka, M. (eds.). London ; New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group, p. 368-383 16 p. (Routledge Handbooks in Law).Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
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Hydrogen regulation in Oceania: enabling renewable hydrogen licensing on complex land uses
Taylor, M., 2025, The Cambridge handbook of hydrogen and the law. Fleming, R. (ed.). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press (CUP), p. 65-83 19 p.Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review
Open AccessFile39 Downloads (Pure)
Prizes
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ARC Kathleen Fitzpatrick Laureate Mentorship Grant Award
Taylor, Madeline (Recipient), 2019
Prize: Other distinction
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Activities
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Scaling Solar – Agricultural Synergies: Examining Agrivoltaics Regulatory Systems
Madeline Taylor (Speaker)
31 Mar 2025Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
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Solar photovoltaic Adoption: Homes and Farms
Madeline Taylor (Speaker) & Rohan Best (Speaker)
30 Apr 2025Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
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Agrivoltaics and "Just Transition"
Madeline Taylor (Participant)
7 May 2025Activity: Participating in or organising an event › Participating in a conference, workshop or event series
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Regional Energy Transition Roundtable feat. Dr Madeline Taylor: Mid West Development Corp WA
Madeline Taylor (Speaker)
10 Apr 2025Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
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Embedding Justice in the Rural and Regional Australian Energy Transition
Madeline Taylor (Speaker)
7 May 2024Activity: Talk or presentation › Invited talk
Press/Media
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Agrivoltaics key to helping Australia reach net zero
5/09/24
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Research
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Agrivoltaics Research Report Released: ABC Newcastle Drive
5/09/24
1 Media contribution
Press/Media: Expert Comment
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Macquarie recognised in Higher Education awards
29/08/24
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Research
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10 questions with … Dr Madeline Taylor - L&T Award
21/06/24
1 item of Media coverage
Press/Media: Public Engagement Activities
Impacts
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Australian Government, Community Engagement Review
Madeline Taylor (Participant)
Impact: Policy impacts
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Australia's trade and investment opportunities in a global green economy
Madeline Taylor (Participant)
Impact: Technology impacts
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