Professor Kieran Tranter
Faculty of Business & Law,
School of Law
Biography
Kieran is the Chair of Law, Technology and Future in the School of Law. Kieran joined the School of Law, Queensland University of Technology in 2019 and is the founding General Editor of Law, Technology and Humans. He is director of the Human Technology Law Centre. Kieran researches law, technology and the future. Drawing upon the humanities, he explores how humans legislate, live with, and are changed by technology. In researching law, technology, and the future his research often engages with cultural narratives that connect humans, law and technology across time. The goal of Kieran's research is to shape humanity’s technological future to be better than its technological past.Prior to this appointment Kieranwas an Associate Professor at Griffith Law School, Griffith University. At Griffith Law School he served in many roles: HDR Convenor, Acting Centre Director and Deputy Head of School Research and Managing Editor of the Griffith Law Review. He commenced at Griffith in 2003 having previously been a Lecturer and Social Justice coordinator at the College of Law, University of Notre Dame Australia in Fremantle from 1999 to 2002.
Personal details
Positions
- Professor
Faculty of Business & Law,
School of Law
Keywords
Law and Technology, Law and Humanities, Socio-legal Studies, Automation, Digital Legality and Digital Decision Making, Cultural Studies, Pop Culture Studies, Games Studies, Science Fiction Studies, Automobilty, Car Culture, Road Safety and Transport Justice, Australian Public Law, Legal Theory
Research field
Law in context
Field of Research code, Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification (ANZSRC), 2020
Qualifications
- PhD (Griffith University)
Teaching
Kieran has taught extensively into the LLB curriculum at law schools in Queensland and Western Australia. His teaching areas have been Administrative Law, Civil Procedure and Legal Theory. He has taught electives in Law and Culture and Law Reform. At QUT he coordinates the Law Thesis Research Extension subject that provides a pathway into HDR programs. In 2018 Kieran was awarded a Group Learning and Teaching Citation by Griffith University for his leadership in the Law Reform elective that facilitated students developing experience in research impact through the drafting and submitting of reform submissions. He previously was awarded a Group Learning and Teaching Citation by Griffith University in 2011 for his leadership of the team that successfully redesigned and taught the legal theory courses to address student engagement and satisfaction concerns. Kieran is particularly proud of his achievements as a HDR supervisor and the successes of his HDR candidates. In recognition of his demonstrated quality supervision practices he was awarded in 2017 a Group Research Supervision Award by Griffith University.
Publications
- Anthony, T., Sherwood, J., Blagg, H. & Tranter, K. (2024). Unsettling Colonial Automobilities: Criminalisation and Contested Sovereignties. Emerald Group Publishing Limited. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/245061
- Green, A., Travis, M. & Tranter, K. (2025). Cultural Legal Studies of Science Fiction. Routledge. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/252834
- Green, A., Travis, M. & Tranter, K. (2025). Science Fiction As Legal Imaginary. Routledge. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/253822
- Tranter, K., (2025). Boldly gone: The estranged presence of law in Star Trek. In A. Green, M. Travis & K. Tranter (Eds.), Cultural Legal Studies of Science Fiction (pp. 252–268). Routledge. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/252837
- Robb, L. & Tranter, K. (2024). Hype and cultural imaginary in law and technology. In B. Brozek, P. Palka & O. Kanevskaia (Eds.), Research Handbook on Law and Technology (pp. 128–140). Edward Elgar Publishing. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/245646
- Tranter, K., (2024). Playing the World Picture: Sid Meier's Civilization and the Law of Abstraction. In D. Mitchell, A. Pearson & TD. Peters (Eds.), Law, Video Games, Virtual Realities: Playing Law (pp. 172–189). Routledge. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/243807
- Brady, M., Tranter, K. & Bennett, B. (2024). Automated Vehicles, the 'Driver Dilemma', Stopping Powers, and Paradigms of Regulating Road Traffic. Computer Law and Security Review, 56. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/253824
- Deane, F., Woolmer, E., Cao, S. & Tranter, K. (2024). Trade in the Digital Age: Agreements to Mitigate Fragmentation. Asian Journal of International Law, 14(1), 154–179. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/242264
- Tranter, K., (2023). Sisyphus and the Present: Time in Modern and Digital Legalities. International Journal for the Semiotics of Law, 36(2), 373–384. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/233137
- Goding, V. & Tranter, K. (2023). The Robot and Human Futures: Visualising Autonomy in Law and Science Fiction. Law and Critique, 34(3), 315–340. https://eprints.qut.edu.au/243492
QUT ePrints
For more publications by Kieran, explore their research in QUT ePrints (our digital repository).
Awards
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2018
- Details
- Dean's Highly Commended Certificate Learning and Teaching, Arts,Education and Law Group, Griffith University
- Type
- Keynote Speaker/Expert Panel Member/Invited Speaker for a Conference
- Reference year
- 2018
- Details
- Invited Keynote ¿Shakespeare, Media and the Future of Law¿ Australasian Law Teachers Association Conference Curtain University, 4-6 July 2018.
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2017
- Details
- Research Supervision Award, Arts, Education and Law Group, Griffith University
- Type
- Editorial Role for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2016
- Details
- Associate Editor International Journal for the Semiotics of Law 2016-
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2011
- Details
- Group Teaching and Learning Citation, Arts, Education and Law Group, Griffith University
- Type
- Editorial Role for an Academic Journal
- Reference year
- 2011
- Details
- Managing Editor Griffith Law Review 2007-2011
- Type
- Academic Honours, Prestigious Awards or Prizes
- Reference year
- 2010
- Details
- Academic Excellence Award for Doctorial Studies, Griffith University
Supervision
Looking for a postgraduate research supervisor?
I am currently accepting research students for Honours, Masters and PhD study.
- Cultural Legalities of Social Media and Mobile Digital Devices in the Global South
- First Nations transport justice
- Critical, historical, social or cultural examinations of law and technology
You can browse existing student topics offered by QUT or propose your own topic.
Current supervisions
- The Law of LAWS: Achieving Legality for Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Michael Guihot, Professor Afshin Akhtar-Khavari - The Relationship Between Climate Change, Peace and Security
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Adjunct Professor Melissa Bull, Professor Felicity Deane, Dr Lachlan Robb - A case study using Integral Theory and Complexity Science to assess the fitness and effectiveness of South Australia's Coastal Protection regulatory framework, with the potential to reimagine the application of Environmental Law more broadly
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Felicity Deane, Professor Afshin Akhtar-Khavari - Valuing Australian Community Legal Centres
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Felicity Deane - A Living Jurisdiction? The common law jurisdiction of the High Court of Australia in the 21st Century
PhD, Mentoring Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Lucy Cradduck - Power, ideology, and large language models
PhD, Mentoring Supervisor
Other supervisors: Associate Professor Michael Guihot, Dr Lachlan Robb - The Legality of The Child in Contemporary Japanese Anime
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Afshin Akhtar-Khavari - Can Behavioural Law and Economics provide Valuable Insights to CASA's Regulation of General Aviation?
PhD, Associate Supervisor
Other supervisors: Professor Felicity Deane, Dr Nigel Stobbs - Superhero Comics, Queered Cultural Legal Studies and Visual Jurisprudence: How DC Comics Visualises Changing Law
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Mr Mark Thomas, Professor Matthew Ball - A Comparative Study on the Role of Consumer Protection Law in the Regulation of Automated Vehicles in Australia and China
PhD, Principal Supervisor
Other supervisors: Dr Scott Kiel-Chisholm, Associate Professor Michael Guihot
Completed supervisions (Doctorate)
- Exceptionality, Neoliberalism and Corporations in COVID Times: JobKeeper and the legal shaping of economic order in crisis (2024)
- INFORMATIONAL SOCIETY AND THE IMPLEMENTATION OF DATA PROTECTION PUBLIC POLICY IN BRAZIL: a critical comparative study of the strategies adopted in Brazil and Australia and enforcement as a differential for effectiveness (2024)
- Navigating Research Engagement and Impact: A Grounded Theory Exploration of Australian Law Academics’ Strategies and Experiences (2024)
- Navigating to smoother regulatory waters for Australian commercial vessels capable of remote or autonomous operation (2024)
- Social Media Misconduct Dismissals in South Africa: Forms of Hate Speech in First-Instance Employment Decisions (2024)
- Unsuccessful Ageing: Marginalising Constructions of Dementia in Australian Public & Legal Aged Care Discourse (2024)
- Tracing the contextual factors that shape the use of workplace wearables (2023)
- A Cultural Legal Study of Speech Legality in Australian Film from the 1970s to 2010 (2022)
- The Impacts on the Lives of Women and Children Who Have Experienced Domestic and Family Violence and Been Subject to the Hague Convention Legal Process (2022)
Completed supervisions (Masters by Research)
The supervisions listed above are only a selection.