UNE Law & Business

On Saturday, Adam Edwards delivered Module I – Advanced Legal Research at the LAW480 intensive school on the UNE Sydney campus.

40+ students turned up IRL – travelling in from Brisbane, Melbourne, regional Victoria, regional NSW, and across the Sydney metro – to deep-dive into research skills that actually hold up in real-world practice.

📚 Smarter Searching: Business Library Skills Online

Doing a business assignment and not sure if your sources are actually good? This online Library workshop is designed specifically for UNE Business students who want to:

◾Find high-quality academic sources (and dodge the unreliable or outdated stuff)
◾Search smarter, not harder, using advanced Library tools
◾Recognise credible research that will actually strengthen your business assessments

📅 Date: Wednesday 18 March 2026
⏰ Time: 12:00pm – 12:45pm or
7:00 - 7:45 PM
🌏 Time zone: Sydney / Melbourne
📍 Location: Online via Zoom (link sent the day before the session)
👥 Audience: Undergraduate Business students

If you’re working on reports, case studies, or research essays, this session will help you level up your sources and save time.

👉 Register now to receive the Zoom link and lock in your spot: https://www.une.edu.au/library/visit-us/news-and-events/library-tasters

What really happens to your career when you step away from work – for kids, caring, study, illness, or just to reset?

UNE Business School PhD candidate Anastasia Prikhodko is digging into how career breaks are perceived in the tech sector, why returning staff are still too often sidelined, and what managers and organisations can do to support genuine reintegration.

Her research broadens the conversation beyond maternity leave, highlighting that anyone in a technology role can be affected by outdated assumptions about “time out” from work.

“One of my main findings highlights the critical role managers play in someone’s re-entry — they can truly make or break the experience for a returning employee.”

Read how Anastasia is combining a full-time communications career with part-time PhD study at UNE, and why she believes normalising career breaks is essential for retention, equity and long-term workforce sustainability.

🔗 Full story in the comments.

Balance the Scales ⚖️

Learning doesn’t always follow a straight line – and sometimes it runs through war zones.

From Registered Nurse and Army officer to United Nations political affairs advisor in the Balkans, Afghanistan, Sudan, Myanmar, Lebanon and Syria, UNE Law alumna Monique Fienberg has spent her career working in some of the world’s most volatile places.

Wherever she was posted, Monique needed to understand how national and international law shaped everything from crisis coordination to human rights investigations – including work on missing persons and mass graves in post‑conflict Kosovo, alongside forensic teams gathering evidence for the ICTY.

In the middle of this work, often studying by candlelight in unsafe locations and travelling to rare exam centres when she could, Monique quietly chipped away at her UNE Juris Doctor across 14 years – finally completing her degree after surviving an IED blast during a later deployment in Afghanistan.

Her message to anyone starting or continuing law studies at UNE?

“𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘶𝘱. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘨𝘨𝘭𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘬𝘦𝘦𝘱 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘨𝘰𝘢𝘭𝘴. 𝘈𝘯 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘸 𝘪𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘰𝘶𝘣𝘵𝘦𝘥𝘭𝘺 𝘶𝘴𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘧𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨.”

📖 Read Monique’s story in the comments below and see where a UNE Law degree can take you.

Open to law students from all years of study and across NSW, the 2026 Law Students Careers Summit will take place on Thursday 12 March 2026.

Event details and registration here: https://web-eur.cvent.com/event/be4b2ebe-ad48-4436-b6e5-abf184111b2f/regProcessStep1:1b55934c-657c-498e-abd2-9e13e3e0fcdb

UNE Law friendships that last longer than your group chat battery

Victoria (Sydney), Stephanie (Adelaide) and Hannah (Wollongong) all started UNE Law online in 2021 from different careers, cities and time zones. They were meant to be study buddies. Instead, they became “The Charmed Ones” – juggling full time work, parenting and busy lives, smashing an LLB and Honours between them, meeting up at Law Ball and book launches, and celebrating finishing their degrees with a New Year trip to Bali and matching tattoos.

“People often assume that studying online can be isolating; however, I had the opposite experience and have made a lot of life-long friends,” Stephanie says.

Their story shows what flexible online study at UNE Law can really look like: rigorous, supportive and anything but lonely.

👉 Read how they turned PASS sessions and late night Zooms into a lifelong friendship and launchpad for their legal careers: https://www.une.edu.au/about-une/news-and-events/news/2026/02/three-screens-three-cities-one-law-degree

🚨 𝗔𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗟𝗮𝘄 𝗦𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀!

Welcome in Trimester 1 the right way by joining the UNELSS for the ultimate Trivia night! Whether you’re a new face or a returning trivia champion, Trivia Night is a great way to meet fellow law students and have some fun!

Gather the best brainiacs you know, or come solo and make some new friends!

Event Info:
When — Friday 6 March, 2026 at 6:30pm
Where — Via Zoom, link provided prior to the event
Tickets:
Single — $5 (teams formed on the night)
Teams — $25 per team (2-5 people)

Tickets can be purchased here:
https://unelss.tidyhq.com/public/schedule/events/80561-t1-2026-trivia-night

“If a woman is reading this and thinking, ‘I’m just helping out; I’m not really the farmer' - your contribution (on farm, off farm, community work) is 49% of real farm income.”

UNE Senior Lecturer, Dr Lucie Newsome, talks about women in ag with the clarity of both an economist and a grazier’s daughter - and now, a researcher into gender and agriculture.

As the UNE alumni-led 'Harvest Her Power Conference' in Dubbo approaches, her hope for the women who attend is simple: “That if you don’t already know how crucial you are to agriculture, you now do.”

The conference is founded and organised by UNE alumna and Central West farmer, Katja Williams.

“Harvest Her Power was born from the belief that when we invest in women as whole people - their skills, mindset, wellbeing and leadership - we strengthen farm businesses, families and rural communities at the same time," Katja says.

🟩 The Harvest Her Power: Empowerment & Skills Conference! will be held on Feb 23-24 at Taronga Western Plains Zoo, Dubbo.

🟩 A UNE Alumni Networking Event - Central West, also at Taronga, will follow on Feb 24 - see you there!

UNE Law alumna Chelsea Schafer, and UNE Business alumna and current MBA student Tahlia Hood, are part of the incredible line-up of mentors in UNE's newly-launched Alumni Ambassador Program.

The program connects recent or upcoming graduates with alumni who have volunteered to share their knowledge, expertise, and real-world insights.

You can apply to be a mentee whether you're exploring career options, transitioning into the workforce, developing new skills, building your professional network, or seeking advice on work-life balance and personal growth.

Find out more via our link in comments.