Professor Alison Gerard founded and lead CSU's first law program and the Centre for Law and Justice (CSU's law school equivalent). Her research examines the criminalisation of vulnerability and seeks to understand the impact of criminalisation and securitisation through listening to those with lived experience. She is a passionate educator and has developed, alongside key stakeholders, an emerging research program on the incoporation of Indigenous perspectives in law and criminology undergraduate programs. Alison is on the Executive of the Council of Australian Law Deans and the Australasian Law Academics Association, and the CALD Working Party on First People's Partnership. Sje is also the Co-Convenor of CSU's Ally Network, responsible for fostering inclusivity and advocacy for LGBTIQA+ staff and students. 

Professor Alison Gerard's research focuses on social justice issues and has been included in international journals including the British Journal of Criminology, Theoretical Criminology, Journal of Refugee Studies, and Criminology and Criminal Justice. Her fifth book, an edited collection entitled Entrapping Asylum Seekers: Social Legal and Economic Precariousness (with Francesco Vecchio), is published by Palgrave MacMillan.

Alison's legal experience spans criminal law, corporate law, class actions, public international law and legal research.

• Securitisation of migration
• Criminalisation of young people in out-of-home care
• Deaths in custody
• Indigenous cultural competence in law curriculum

External Appointments and Memberships:

• Treasurer of the Council of Australian Law Deans;
• Secretary of the West Bathurst Pre-school Inc Committee of Management
• The Council of Australian Law Deans Working Party on Indigenous Cultural Competence in Law Curriculum (member)

Editorial roles on journals:

• Editorial Board of Current Issues in Criminal Justice.