Introduction
Overview
Dr Hugh Finn is a Lecturer in the Curtin Law School and the school's Director of Learning and Teaching.
He currently lectures in Constitutional Law, Environmental Law and Policy, and other units, and co-coordinates the Legal Internship Program with Rosaline Tan. Hugh is the Curtin Law School representative for the Sustainability in Business Council in the Faculty of Business and Law at Curtin.
Hugh's reseach interests are in environmental law and policy and legal reasoning. He engages with law reform in Western Australia and nationally, and has given evidence at Senate and State parliamentary committee hearings.
Legal and policy frameworks for climate change and wildlife conservation are a particular research focus. Hugh has worked previously as a wildlife biologist, and has conducted field research with marine mammals and black cockatoos.
He completed his PhD in Biological Sciences at Murdoch University in 2005. His PhD work addressed the conservation biology of bottlenose dolphins around Perth.
Hugh was the chairperson of the Environmental Defender's Office of Western Australia (Inc) in 2019 and 2020.
He has worked previously in research and academic roles at Murdoch University, as a coordinator for a citizen science project at Birdlife Australia, and as an associate at the Supreme Court of Western Australia.
Post Nominals
BA, LLB, PhD
Publications
2019
- Finn, H. 2019. "Legal frameworks for wild animal welfare." Australian Environment Review 34 (6): 116-120.
2018
- Finn, H. C. 2018. "The defamatory potential of ad hominem criticism: guidance for advocacy in public forums." Pacific Conservation Biology Online Early
2017
- Bailey, J., H. C. Finn, and P. Harris. 2017. "Towards Environmental Justice: The Possibilities and Limitations of Environmental Law." In Never Again: Reflections on Environmental Responsibility after Roe 8 Gaynor, A., P. Newman, and P. Jennings., 253-280 Perth, Western Australia: UWA Publishing.
- Chabanne, D. B. H., K. H. Pollock, H. Finn, and L. Bejder. 2017. "Applying the multistate capture-recapture robust design to characterize metapopulation structure." Methods In Ecology And Evolution 8 (11): 1547-1557.
- Finn, H. C., and N. S. Stephens. 2017. "The invisible harm: land clearing is an issue of animal welfare." WILDLIFE RESEARCH 44 (5): 377-391.
- Chabanne, D. B. H., H. Finn, and L. Bejder. 2017. "Identifying the relevant local population for environmental impact assessments of mobile marine fauna." Frontiers in Marine Science 4
- Finn, H. 2017. "Land clearing isn’t just about trees – it’s an animal welfare issue
2016
- Williams, M. R., C. J. Yates, W. D. Stock, G. W. Barrett, and H. C. Finn. 2016. "Citizen science monitoring reveals a significant, ongoing decline of the Endangered Carnaby's black-cockatoo Calyptorhynchus latirostris." Oryx: journal of fauna and flora international 50 (4): 626-635.
- Doherty, T. S., B. N. Wingfield, V. L. Stokes, M. D. Craig, J. G. H. Lee, H. C. Finn, and M. C. Calver. 2016. "Successional changes in feeding activity by threatened cockatoos in revegetated mine sites." Wildlife Research 43 (2): 93-104.
2015
- Paiva, E., C. Salgado Kent, M. Gagnon, R. McCauley, and H. Finn. 2015. "Reduced detection of Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in an inner harbour channel during pile driving activities." Aquatic Mammals 41 (4): 455-468.
2014
- Stephens, N., P. J. Duignan, J. Wang, J. Bingham, H. Finn, L. Bejder, I. A. P. Patterson, and C. Holyoake. 2014. "Cetacean morbillivirus in coastal indo-pacific bottlenose dolphins, Western Australia." Emerging Infectious Diseases 20 (4): 666-670.
2013
- Lee, J., H. Finn, and M. Calver. 2013. "Feeding activity of threatened black cockatoos in mine-site rehabilitation in the jarrah forest of south-western Australia." Australian Journal of Zoology 61 (2): 119-131.
- Stock, W. D., H. Finn, J. Parker, and K. Dods. 2013. "Pine as Fast Food: Foraging Ecology of an Endangered Cockatoo in a Forestry Landscape." PLoS ONE 8 (4)
- Lee, J. G. H., H. C. Finn, and M. C. Calver. 2013. "Ecology of black cockatoos at a mine-site in the eastern Jarrah-Marri forest, Western Australia." Pacific Conservation Biology 19 (1): 76-90.
2012
- Donaldson, R., H. Finn, L. Bejder, D. Lusseau, and M. Calver. 2012. "The social side of human-wildlife interaction: Wildlife can learn harmful behaviours from each other." Animal Conservation 15 (5): 427-435.
- Chabanne, D., H. Finn, C. Salgado-Kent, and L. Bejder. 2012. "Identification of a resident community of bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops aduncus) in the Swan Canning Riverpark, Western Australia, using behavioural information." Pacific Conservation Biology 18 (4): 247-262.
2011
- Biggs, E. K., H. C. Finn, R. H. Taplin, and M. C. Calver. 2011. "Landscape position predicts distribution of eucalypt feed trees for threatened black-cockatoos in the northern jarrah forest, Western Australia." Journal of the Royal Society of Western Australia 94: 541-548.
- Biggs, E. K., H. C. Finn, R. H. Taplin, and M. C. Calver. 2011. "Landscape position predicts distribution of eucalypt feed trees for threatened black-cockatoos in the northern jarrah forest, Western Australia." Journal of Royal Society of Western Australia 94: 541-548.
2010
- Donaldson, R., H. Finn, and M. Calver. 2010. "Illegal feeding increases risk of boat-strike and entanglement in Bottlenose Dolphins in Perth, Western Australia." Pacific Conservation Biology 16 (3): 157-161.
- Lee, J., H. Finn, and M. Calver. 2010. "Mine-site revegetation monitoring detects feeding by threatened black-cockatoos within 8 years." Ecological Management and Restoration 11 (2): 141-143.
2009
- Bejder, L., A. Samuels, H. Whitehead, H. Finn, and S. Allen. 2009. "Impact assessment research: Use and misuse of habituation, sensitisation and tolerance in describing wildlife responses to anthropogenic stimuli." Marine Ecology Progress Series 395: 177-185.
2008
- Finn, H. 2008. "Regenesis: A discourse on the natural history of mind and creation in the Second Deluge." Pacific Conservation Biology 14 (4)
- Finn, H., R. Donaldson, and M. Calver. 2008. "Feeding Flipper: A case study of a human-dolphin interaction." Pacific Conservation Biology 14 (3): 215-225.
- Finn, H. C., and M. C. Calver. 2008. "Feeding aggregations of bottlenose dolphins and seabirds in Cockburn Sound, Western Australia." The Western Australian Naturalist 26: 157-172.
2002
- Finn, H., M. Maxwell, and M. Calver. 2002. "Why does experimentation matter in teaching ecology?." Journal of Biological Education 36 (4): 158-162.