Zara Bending

Zara Bending is a multi-award-winning university lecturer, legal scholar, and conservationist based out of Sydney Australia. She is a Distinguished Research Fellow of the Macquarie University Environmental Law Research Centre and Australian Awards for University Citation recipient “for inspiring the next generation of legal scholars, advocates, and change-makers through holistic mentorship and transformative learning design.” Her expertise has been recognised in parliamentary inquiries, criminal cases, domestic and international law-making as well as civil service and judicial officer training programs around the world.

Zara’s career in the NGO sector includes a long association with Taronga Zoo (where she also teaches) and two terms as Board Director for the Jane Goodall Institute Australia. Since 2017 she has served as the Jane Goodall Institute Global’s Resident Expert on wildlife crime and international law, including overseeing an international program of advocacy, policy and education, representation as an International Champion to the Global Initiative to End Wildlife Crime, and multiple tours and engagements with Dr Goodall until her passing in 2025.

Zara’s research draws on her expertise in criminal, environmental, and health law, with interdisciplinary inputs from criminology, sociology, bioethics, and historiography.