Current News

2025

Upcoming presentations:

In May 2025, Sharyn will be giving a presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Law & Society Association in Chicago: ‘Layers of emotion and judicial identities:  Preliminary findings from a national survey’ (co-authored with Kylie Burns, Terese Henning, Jill Hunter, Richard Kemp, Kevin O’Sullivan, Carly Schrever, Natalie Skead, and Kate Warner.

Sharyn will also participate in a Roundtable on ‘Engaging with emotions in (international) law organised by Anne Saab, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva.

In September 2025, Kathy will be giving a hybrid in person and virtual presentation entitled ‘Emotion, compassion and judging’, for the Judicial College of Victoria, co-authored by Sharyn and co-presented with Judge Tony Hopkins of the Northern Territory Local Court and an Honorary Associate Professor at ANU College of Law. https://judicialcollege.vic.edu.au/events/emotion-compassion-and-judging

AWARDS

On 30 August, in Lund Sweden, Sharyn was awarded the Adam Podgórecki Prize by the Research Committee on Sociology of Law of the International Sociological Association. This award recognises her ‘exceptional scholarship in the field of the sociology of law and for her outstanding achievements in socio-legal teaching and research’.  The prize is awarded every two years for lifetime achievements of a socio-legal scholar. It honours ‘outstanding and exemplary colleagues who have produced guiding and inspiring work.’


We are delighted to announce that Sharyn has been awarded the Law and Society Association 2023 International Prize.  This is a very prestigious and well-deserved recognition of Sharyn’s work across many fields, including her research into the judiciary. This Prize is awarded annually to a scholar, normally resident outside the United States, in recognition of scholarship that has contributed significantly to the advancement of knowledge in the field of law and society.

Details of Sharyn’s achievements, on which the award is based, are set out below, in the formal presentation from the Law and Society Association.

Sharyn Roach Anleu – Flinders University of South Australia

The committee is pleased to present the International Prize award to Professor Sharyn Roach Anleu. The committee was extremely impressed by Professor Roach Anleu’s significant publication record in multiple fields as well as her dedication to the advancement of knowledge through enthusiastic and unwavering service work. One nominator described Professor Roach Anleu’s scholarly contributions in the field of law and society as follows: “Over her career, [Prof. Roach Anleu’s] body of scholarly work focuses on two broad streams: legal professions, especially the recruitment, advancement, and experience of women; and the interaction between law and other modes of behavioral regulation (for example, regulation of emotion)…. Among [her] outstanding contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the field of law and society is her innovative application of key sociological concepts, such as emotional labor, job satisfaction, professionalization, gender and work/family conflict to a population – the judiciary – that has not previously been studied as a profession or as a workplace.”

Professor Roach Anleu has published 6 books, 45 book chapters, 60 articles in peer-reviewed journals (plus translation of articles into Portuguese, Russian and Spanish) and 20 reports to courts and their judicial officers. She has contributed to the advancement of knowledge in the areas of the regulation of deviance, the legal regulation of surrogacy and reproductive technology, the intersection of law and emotion, and literature and humor studies. As one nominator wrote with respect to her work on judging and emotion, Professor Roach Anleu’s “extensive empirical evidence on the judiciary… [demonstrates] broad implications… for foundational legal (and sociological) concepts such as impartiality/objectivity and legitimacy…. Sharyn’s work makes clear that judges are human, that their behavior can be fruitfully studied, and that the fruits of these studies have important implications for judicial behavior and legal processes more generally.” With respect to this area of her work, another nominator wrote that her research “has had real world impact in that the judiciary has taken note of her work, acted on it, and encouraged her to undertake more. Her work indeed defines the field.”

In addition to her scholarship and publishing, Professor Roach Anleu has been, as one nominator put it “unstinting in her service role to the community.” She has “an ever-present willingness to organize panels, conferences and events that help showcase the work of others and forge connections among international scholars.” As another nominator wrote, Professor Roach Anleu “is a generous, collegial and collaborative scholar who has been instrumental in forging international linkages that advance socio-legal scholarship and foster knowledge.” She is an active member of the International Sociological Association, Research Committee for the Sociology of Law and the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia. She is currently a co-convenor of the Law and Society Association CRN on Law and Emotion, and regularly teaches at the International Institute for the Sociology of Law. Prof. Roach Anleu is a scholar who has contributed to the advancement of knowledge in the field of law and society not just through her own research work but also by helping to support, educate and mentor the next generation of scholars.  https://www.lawandsociety.org/awards-2023/International Prize


We are delighted to announce that Sharyn has received The Australian Sociological Association 2022 Distinguished Service to Australian Sociology Award at the TASA Annual Dinner on 1 December held at the University of Melbourne. This is a well-deserved recognition of her many valuable contributions.  This award is made to a TASA member who has demonstrated outstanding, significant and sustained service to Australian sociology over many years.  At the award ceremony the President of TASA noted that Sharyn’s socio-legal  research is the benchmark for empirical investigation of the judiciary in Australia and has impact on national and international research into courts and judicial work.

Sharyn has also been named as the inaugural TASA Travelling Scholar for 2023 which will entail giving lectures in several different locations within Australia during 2023.

2024

Publications and Presentations:

In December 2024 Sharyn will be giving a keynote address entitled: ‘Imagining Imaginative Research Designs (for Socio-Legal Researchers[’]/Questions)’ at a workshop on Exploring creative research methods in Socio-Legal Studies’.  The workshop is a joint event sponsored by Latrobe Law School and the Australian Centre for Justice Innovation at Monash Law, also sponsored by the Law & Society Association of Australia and New Zealand.

Sharyn is also a co-author with Kate Rossmanith and Katie Barclay of a forthcoming article: ‘How do Researchers Study Emotion in and around Law?’ Emotions and Society 18pp (online first).

Roach Anleu, Sharyn and Kathy Mack (2024) ‘Una perspectiva sociológica sobre el trabajo emocional y la función judicial’ , Mujeres en la justicia 5(3): 86-128 https://www.scjn.gob.mx/comite-igualdad-genero/revista-mujeres-en-la-justica This is a Spanish translation of our article ‘A sociological perspective on emotion work and judging’ previously published in 2019 in Onati Socio-Legal Series 9(5):831-851. The journal is published by the Mexican Supreme Court’s Gender Equality Directorate and is sent via email to all members of Mexico’s Federal Judiciary and over 3,850 newsletter subscribers.

In November 2024 Kathy gave a presentation as part of the South Australian all courts Judicial Development Day, entitled “Judicial performance, emotion and wellbeing: Individual, organisational and ethical perspectives”. This was co-authored by Sharyn and co-presented with Dr. Denise Keenan of Cognition psychologists, the Employee Assistance Program provider for the Courts Administration Authority for all judicial officers.

Also in November, Kathy spoke in one of a series of panels sponsored by the Jeff Bleich Centre at Flinders commenting on the US election results as they came in. Her particular focus was the Senate and its implications for the US Federal judiciary.

In June 2024, Sharyn attended the Annual Meeting of the Law &Society Association in Denver Colorado USA. She presented a paper, co-authored with Kathy, “Reinforcing the ideal of the emotionless judge: the limits of individual judicial emotion self-management”, as part of the Collaborative Research Network (CRN) 42 Law and Emotion program. Sharyn is one of three co-chairs of CRN 42.

Kathy and Sharyn, along with Sharyn’s co-author Professor Brian Opeskin, have been involved in projects for the Australasian Institute of Judicial Administration, addressing the importance of diversity in the judiciary overall, as well as other qualities important for judging, including emotion.

Mack, Kathy, Suggested Criteria for Judicial Appointment (AIJA, February 2024) https://aija.org.au/publications/suggested-criteria-for-judicial-appointments-2024-update/

Opeskin, Brian and Sharyn Roach Anleu, Judicial Diversity in Australia: A Roadmap for Data Collection (AIJA, August 2023)

The focus of these reports is the distinct context of the Australian judiciary, while drawing on research and commentary relating to judicial appointment, diversity and data collection from a range of jurisdictions.

These reports are readily available online from the AIJA, and we appreciate their support for this work.

2023

Publications and Presentations:

On 10 September, a special issue of the Australian Law Journal on the judiciary was launched at a conference on Enduring Courts in Changing Times. This issue contains an article co-authored by Kathy and Sharyn entitled ‘Managing Judicial Performance: The (changing) ethical infrastructure’.

The Research Committee on the Sociology of Law (RCSL) held a conference in Lund Sweden from 30 August to 1 September.  Sharyn attended in her capacity as (outgoing)Vice President of the RCSL and presented a paper co-authored with Kathy: ‘Divergent emotion norms in judicial work’.  She then travelled to Stockholm to participate in the Just Emotions Symposium:  Constructing Objectivity – Emotions in Legal Decision-Making between 4-6 September 2023.

On 25 July 2023, Kathy participated in a virtual event sponsored by the Berkeley Judicial institute at the University of California, Berkeley, entitled ‘Judicial Emotion: Risks and Resources’.  She was interviewed by Judge Kevin Burke about the place of emotion in everyday judicial work, especially ways that emotion and humour can make the courtroom a more positive experience for judges and court users.  The recording of that event can be viewed on the BJI events page: https://www.law.berkeley.edu/research/bji/events/judicial-emotions/

In April, Sharyn and Kathy participated virtually in a hybrid online and in-person workshop held in Cambridge England.  Sharyn and Kathy’s draft chapter entitled: “Impartiality, bias and emotion in everyday judicial work” received valuable comments and questions from the discussant Rachel Cahill-O’Callaghan and other participants.  The paper is currently being revised for inclusion in the Handbook on Judging and the Judiciary, edited by Sophie Turenne.

In May, Sharyn gave a well-received presentation, co-authored with Kathy, to the South Australian Magistrates Court, entitled: “Emotions in Judicial Work and Judicial Wellbeing.” This was a welcome opportunity to share findings with courts and judicial officers who have participated in the research over many years.

Also in May, Sharyn participated in an international workshop on Emotion, Remorse and the Law: Future Directions, at Macquarie University, where she talked about the research that the Judicial Research Project has undertaken over the past two decades.

Sharyn presented a paper, co-authored with Kathy, entitled: “Ambivalent emotions:  From Durkheim’s Le Suicide to coroners’ reports into judicial suicide” as part of the Law and Emotion Collaborative Research Network (CRN 42) at the Law & Society Association Annual Meeting on Law and Society held 1-4 June in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

Sharyn and Kathy’s chapter “Constructing Remorse: Interactional Dimensions of Finding an Emotion” has just been published in Criminal Justice and the Ideal Defendant in the Making of Remorse and Responsibility (Hart 2023) edited by Stewart Field and Cyrus Tata.  This collection is part of the Oñati International Series in Law and Society; it has been warmly endorsed by leading scholars as “ a groundbreaking …volume” “a dazzling contribution”.

Other research contributions:

Among her important research leadership roles, Sharyn is a Vice-President of the Research Committee on the Sociology of Law, a co-convenor of the Law and Emotion Collaborative Research Network 42 of the Law & Society Association and a member of the editorial board of the Journal of Sociology.  She is also a member of the International Board of the Centre for Legal Studies, Cardiff University and a Visiting Professor, International Institute of the Sociology of Law Oñati, Spain.

Sharyn is continuing her work a Chief Investigator (one of eight) on a large Australian Research Council Discovery Project Grant announced late in 2021, entitled: Judges’ work, place and psychological health – a national view.  The grant is being administered through the University of New South Wales.  Combining socio-legal and psychological approaches, the project will generate new knowledge about the stress judicial officers experience, the resulting psychological harm, and the human, juridical and financial costs of this harm. Expected outcomes include evidence-based strategies for recruitment and retention of judicial officers, including individual and institutional management of stressors. This research should provide significant benefits for judicial work capacities and courts’ delivery of justice.

2022

Keynote/plenary presentations:

In July, Sharyn was the in-person plenary speaker to a conference entitled Psychological mechanisms in criminal justice:  Deconstructing objectivity, held at the Institute for Criminology, University of Slovenia, Ljubljiana. The presentation was entitled “Deconstructing Impartiality: Emotion in Sentencing”.

In addition, at the Postgraduate Day of the TASA conference in Melbourne, Australia in November, Sharyn delivered a keynote entitled: ‘My Life as an Academic: Practical Suggestions to Make it Work’.

Presentations and workshop organisation:

During 2022, Sharyn was a co-organiser for three successful in-person workshops.

  • “Empirical Research with Judicial Professionals and Courts: Methods and Practices” 23 and 24 June at the International Institute of the Sociology of Law in Oñati, Spain. Co Convenors were Professor João Paulo Dias and Dr Paula Casaleiro from Coimbra University, Portugal. It is expected that papers from this workshop will be published in the Oñati Socio-Legal Series.

https://www.iisj.net/en/workshops/empirical-research-judicial-professionals-and-courts-methods-and-practices

  • “How to Research Emotion in and around Law?” an Academy of Social Sciences in Australia workshop 10-11 November in Adelaide Australia.  Co-convenors were Associate Professor Katie Barclay (University of Adelaide) and Associate Professor Kate Rossmanith (Macquarie University).  Papers from this workshop will also be published.

 

  • “Suicide and emotion: Cultural, historical, literary, and social insights” co-hosted by Flinders University and the ARC Centre of Excellence for the History of Emotions, 3-4 November 2022.  Co-organisers were: Dr. Eric Parisot (Flinders University), Dr. Erin Sebo (Flinders University) and Professor Robert Phiddian (Flinders University).

Papers co-authored by Sharyn and Kathy were presented at all three workshops. Other co-authored presentations were given by Sharyn in person in Europe including at the Research Committee on the Sociology of Law (RCSL) Working Group on the Legal Professions in Coimbra, Portugal and at the Law & Society Association Global Meeting on Law and Society in Lisbon Portugal.  She has also given virtual co-authored presentations as part of seminar programs at The Centre of Law and Society, Cardiff University and at the Crime Research Centre, University of Sussex.  [For details, see the Presentations section of the website]

In April and September, Kathy and Sharyn both participated in virtual workshops with other authors as part of the development of the Handbook on Judging and the Judiciary, edited by Dr. Sophie Turenne (Cambridge). A further in-person workshop is scheduled for April 2023 in Cambridge.

In November, Sharyn gave a presentation at a CHASS Research Symposium entitled ‘Judges’ Work, Place and Psychological Health:  A National View’.

Sharyn also participated in a hybrid virtual and in-person workshop on Governing Through Contagion:  Perspectives Across Time and Space held in the Faculty of Law, University of Singapore, 19-21 April 2022.  Her paper, co-authored with George Sarantoulias is entitled: ‘Instruction and Information, Images and Icons:  Governing contagion, social regulation and public health’.   At TASA, she and George gave another presentation drawing on this research.

Other research contributions:

The final report of the Australian Law Reform Commission Review of Judicial Impartiality has been released Without Fear or Favour: Judicial Impartiality and the Law on Bias (2022). https://www.alrc.gov.au/inquiry/review-of-judicial-impartiality/    Sharyn and Kathy’s contributions to this project were warmly recognised in the publication itself and in the formal presentation of the report and the government response.

Sharyn organised the visit of Associate Professor Kate Rossmanith (Macquarie), an ARC Future Fellow, as a Distinguished Research Fellow at Flinders University in November 2022. Her visit included a seminar given jointly with Professor Kathryn Temple (Georgetown, USA) at Flinders.