About the position
The Faculty of Law at Bond University is calling for expressions of interest from Law graduates interested in undertaking a PhD in the areas of Critical Minerals Trade, OR Australia’s Trade and Economic Security in a Shifting Global Order
The successful applicant will be supervised by Dr Umair Ghori and Dr Matthew Lister.
A successful applicant will address research questions related to these areas, in particular:
1. Critical Minerals Trade in the Australian Context
- How should Australia regulate trade in critical minerals to balance openness, value-adding, and economic security?
- To what extent can Australia lawfully promote domestic processing and downstream manufacturing without breaching international trade obligations?
- What role should export controls, investment screening, offtake arrangements and strategic partnerships play in Australia’s critical minerals policy settings?
- How should ESG standards, sustainability obligations and First Nations engagement be integrated into Australia’s critical minerals trade architecture?




- What lessons can Australia draw from comparable jurisdictions in designing a critical minerals trade and industrial strategy?

2. Australia’s Trade and Economic Security (“America First” context)
- How have the Trump Administration’s “America First” trade policies altered the legal and policy workplace for Australian trade?
- What are the direct and indirect implications of US tariff, industrial and economic security measures for Australia’s trade interests and strategic autonomy?
- How should Australia balance alliance management with diversification, multilateralism and domestic economic security objectives?
- Are existing Australian legal and policy tools - such as trade diversification strategies, investment screening, industrial policy and economic security frameworks—adequate to respond to sustained US protectionism?
- What reforms should Australia adopt to manage future trade coercion, supply-chain disrupti

📌 Law PhD Student Call for EOI (Prayagraj)
🏢 Bond University
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