First Year Students

Welcome! We are very pleased that you are now one of our first year law students. Your first year of university sometimes can be daunting, and it is our role to support you as much as we can. We organise events for first year students throughout the year and we are always available to answer your queries. We might not always have a simple answer, but we will often be able to help with identifying options and helping you feel more confident in the choices you make.

Academic First Year Program Advisor

Dr. Stephenson Chow
Email:  s.chow2@westernsydney.edu.au

Dr. Chow is an Associate Professor at the School of Law at Western Sydney University. He holds a Bachelor of Laws (Hons) from the University of Hong Kong and an LLM in Human Rights Law (with Distinction) from the University of Nottingham (UK). He completed his PhD in Law at the University of Nottingham (UK). Dr Chow is a US registered lawyer and is qualified to practice in the State of New York. Prior to joining Western Sydney in 2025, Dr. Chow has held academic position at the University of Newcastle and City University of Hong Kong.

Dr Chow's research combines doctrinal legal analysis with interdisciplinary methods to explore emerging dimensions of international law and international human rights law, aiming to accommodate diversity in an increasingly globalised world. It covers a broad spectrum of themes, including cultural rights, discrimination, ethnic conflicts, the rights of persons with disabilities, protests and the use of treaty reservations. He has published extensively in leading journals, including The Modern Law Review, the International & Comparative Law Quarterly (ICLQ), and the Human Rights Law Review. His work has been cited by international courts, parliaments, agencies, and human rights bodies including the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the European Parliament, the German Federal Parliament, the Irish Human Rights Commission, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (UK) and the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (Australia). In 2017, he was awarded the International and Comparative Law Quarterly’s (ICLQ) Young Scholar Prize. Dr. Chow's work generates significant impact, having been awarded more than AUD297,000 in competitive grants as lead investigator, and more than AUD 494,000 in external donations as part of research teams.

Dr. Chow has served as a reviewer for a range of top-tier law journals, including the Human Rights Law Review, the Leiden Journal of International Law, the Federal Law Review, and the UNSW Law Journal.