Samara Hand is a Lecturer in the School of Law, Society and Criminology and a PhD Candidate in the School of Global and Public Law. Her research interests span Indigenous rights and Indigenous public policy, international law and education. Samara’s PhD project focuses on Indigenous Peoples’ right to education within the context of histories of assimilatory schooling. Samara teaches in criminal law.

Samara was previously a visiting scholar at the University of Manitoba and taught at the University of Winnipeg, Canada. She is also a co-founder of the National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition, a youth-led organisation in Australia dedicated to backing the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people to reclaim their rights in education.

Samara is admitted as a lawyer to the Supreme Court of Victoria. Prior to working at UNSW Law & Justice, she worked as a Research Assistant to Professors Lorena Sekwan Fontaine, Kiera Ladner and Andrew Woolford, researching Indigenous language rights, genocide and processes of reconciliation. She also previously worked at the Aurora Education Foundation, the NSW Department of Education, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission, the Department of Home Affairs, and the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Aid.

Samara is a Worimi/Biripi woman born on Awabakal Country and is deeply committed to nation-building and advancing Indigenous peoples’ right to education.