Dr Bridget Lewis

Bridget Lewis


Position:

Expert in Environmental Human Rights

Department:

School of Law

Areas of research & interest:

  • Biodiversity & conservation
  • Communities & society
  • Environment
  • Health
  • International relations
  • Social issues

Topics:

  • Agriculture & environment
  • Communities in transition

Research Institution:

QUT


BIO

Associate Professor Bridget Lewis (School of Law, QUT) is an expert in human rights whose work explores the protection of human rights in various contexts. Bridget is an internationally recognised scholar in the field of environmental human rights, which aims to transform the legal relationship between the environment and human rights. Her work in this area focuses on environmental rights and climate change, with a particular emphasis on protecting the rights of future generations and ensuring intergenerational justice. Bridget’s first book Environmental Human Rights and Climate Change: Current Status and Future Prospects(2018) presented a multidimensional analysis of the concept of a human right to a healthy environment and what it can contribute to a human rights-based approach to climate change. Bridget's research also aims to enhance the human rights of older people, and her second book The Human Rights of Older Persons: A Human Rights-Based Approach to Elder Law (2020, co-authored with Kelly Purser and Kirsty Mackie) used a human rights framework to examine the range of legal issues that comprise the field of elder law. Bridget's work has appeared in journals including Transnational Environmental Law, the Journal of Human Rights and the Environment, the Asia-Pacific Journal of Environmental Law and the Australian Yearbook of International Law. Bridget’s current research explores potential legal protections for the environmental rights of future generations, particularly in the context of climate change, including an examination of climate litigation by children and young people.