Neera Bhatia

Dr Neera Bhatia holds an LLB (Hons), Master of Laws from the University of Wolverhampton, UK, and a Doctorate in Law from Deakin University. She is the Director of the 'Law, Health, and Society' research unit that critically evaluates health law, policy, regulation, and ethics to improve and advance well-being and health outcomes throughout society.

Neera is an internationally and nationally recognised health law scholar, committed to public engagement and outreach. She has an extensive and sustained track record of high-quality publications addressing issues in end-of-life care for children, organ and tissue donation, medico-legal controversies relating to shaken baby syndrome and voluntary assisted dying. Her current body of work includes a suite of research projects that extend to exploring emerging health and biotechnologies and reproductive autonomy. This research interrogates how regulation, the internet and shadow markets shape governance and regulatory frameworks and consider the bioethical implications of biological materials and human reproduction, including assisted reproductive technologies, human breast milk, human gametes, and organ and tissue donation. Neera's research has an overarching consideration of justice and equity in healthcare and relevant regulatory reform to improve socio-economic outcomes for individuals, vulnerable and marginalised members of the community, particularly LGBT+ groups.

She has secured several international and national competitive grants, and currently holds an ARC Discovery Grant examining the ethical, social and regulatory implications of informal sperm donation.

She is the author of 'Critically Impaired Infants and End of Life Decision Making: Resource Allocation and Difficult Decisions' published by Routledge Cavendish (2015) an edited collection 'Technology, Health and Law in Life and Death: Before the Cradle to Beyond the Grave by Hart Publishing (2025) and a forthcoming edited collection, Neera Bhatia and Jordan A Parsons (eds), Research Handbook on Organ Donation, Transplantation and the Law published by Edward Elgar (2027).

Neera co-leads, with Professor Samantha Thomas, the Policy and Regulation (PolReg) stream of Deakin's Evidence Exchange, the Centre for the Study of the Commercial and Economic Determinants of Health. The stream examines how corporate power shapes policy, politics and regulation, including lobbying, political donations, vested interests and the gap between evidence and policy action.

Neera actively engages with the wider community as an expert commentator in the media on topical issues in health law, and her opinion is regularly sought for its intersectionalist viewpoints.

She teaches Health Law at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, has taught large priestly units in Torts, Misleading Conduct and Economic Torts, and supervises honours and HDR students. She welcomes enquiries from prospective HDR students in health law. She is a member or editor of several scholarly health law and bioethics journals.

Neera is currently the Director, Higher Degree by Research (HDR) in the Law School. She has served in several significant leadership roles including: Deputy Chair, Deakin University Human Research Ethics Committee (2023-2025), Faculty Chair, Human Ethics Committee (2020-2023). She has also served as Faculty Board Member (2018-2020), Academic Integrity Committee (2016-2020) and as the Director of Research in the Deakin Law School (2016-2018).

Additionally, Neera has held the role of Health Law Stream Leader for the Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law (2018-2022), theme leader the Deakin Science and Society Network (2019-2022) and the Deputy Convenor (2023-2024). She has also previously been a member of several clinical ethics committees (2019-2023).