RMIT Business and Human Rights Centre Newsletter, December 2025 Edition

Dear members and friends of BHRIGHT,

Welcome to our end-of-the-year newsletter for 2025! As we near the end of the year, we take stock of the year that has been... and what a BHRIGHT year it has been!

2025 saw BHRIGHT hosting our biggest event to date: Together with great partners - we hosted the inaugural United Nations' Business and Human Rights Regional Forum: Australia and New Zealand on 26-27 August 2025, with more than 700 attendees and over 100 speakers over the 2 days and an incredible evening plenary, with attendees represented in industry, government, civil society, affected communities and academia from across Australia, New Zealand, the Asia-Pacific and beyond. 

Other highlights include: 'Karen Hao Talks AI' on the rise of AI and the inordinate power of tech companies - which was this NYTimes bestselling author's only engagement in Melbourne. We partnered with UN Women to host a seminar and a workshop on leveraging digital public goods for access to justice. In turn, this led to securing funding to develop prototypes of digital tools to improve access to justice for women and vulnerable groups. BHRIGHT also delivered Business and Human Rights Training for Vietnamese academics, with support from the Australian Human Rights Commission. 

In our final quarter of the year, BHRIGHT continued to convene many great events and initiatives - see below. Below you will also find publications and other recent projects and workshops from our BHRIGHT members, as well as recent news stories and relevant BHR publications. 

As always, thank you for your support and engagement in the BHRIGHT Centre! We are always interested to hear from BHRIGHT members and friends about your work and opportunities to amplify what you do, discuss and collaborate. If you have any projects, publications or events realted to Biz+Human Rights - or are interested in partnering with us for a project, event or workshop, we would love to hear from you! Please reach out to us via our email: bhright@rmit.edu.au.

Finally, on a personal note - I write these words as I prepare to light the candles for the final night of Channukah with my family. This has been a very difficult week for myself, and many many others in the BHRIGHT family, in Australia and beyond. As we personally and collectively grapple with a multitude of thoughts, emotions and fears in the wake of the Bondi terror attack on Jewish Australians gathering to celebrate the lighting of the first night of Channukah candles, let us take some inspiration from Channukah itself: the Jewish festival of light. As one rabbi once observed 'A little bit of light dispels a whole lot of darkness.' And the late great Rabbi Jonathan Sacks noted that in the face of tragedy 'the proper response, as Channukah teaches us, is not to curse the darkness but to light a candle.' 

Wishing everyone a holiday season filled with joy and light.  

in peace,

Assoc. Prof. Jonathan Kolieb
Director, RMIT Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRIGHT)

Recent events

Roundtable Discussion Modern Slavery in Fashion: The Human Rights Impact on Women 

BHRIGHT was very pleased to co-host a roundtable discussion Modern Slavery in Fashion: The Human Rights Impact on Women on 13th November in Melbourne CBD, led by Dr Melissa Wheeler, BHRIGHT’s Gender Theme Leader and Jon Hewitt from RMIT's School of Fashion and Textiles. The event was co-hosted with RMIT’s School of Fashion & Textiles’ Weft Research Centre and in collaboration with RMIT’s Social Enterprise Research Network.  

The evening brought together key people within RMIT and across the industry to discuss the important topic of supply chains, modern slavery and labour rights, corporate social responsibility of businesses and the disproportionate impacts on women in the supply chain industry globally. 

The evening heard from two speakers who shared different expertise from within the industry and within research. Rachel Reilly from Ethical Clothing Australia shared her insights from working alongside women facing modern slavery, as well as Dr Harriette Richards from the Weft Centre who shared her research on labour, gender, and modern slavery within the fashion sector. 

We hope to continue these important conversations in 2026. 

Building Bridges Inter-Faith and Inter-Cultural Luncheons

2025 RMIT Business Carbon Emissions Symposium   

On 18th November, BHRIGHT co-supported the event the 2025 RMIT Business Carbon Emissions Symposium, in partnership with RMIT Enabling Impact Platforms and led by RMIT and BHRIGHT researchers Dr Tehmina Khan and Dr Stephan Dua Modest. 

The event brought together industry and academia to discuss and critically reflect on the role of business in measuring, reporting and mitigating carbon emissions. It involved four dedicated sessions with a panel of experts from both industry and academia, and a keynote plenary address from David Spratt, co-founder of Carbon Equity.  

Further information on the event and the event speakers can be found here 

End of year BHRIGHT Theme Leader Team Lunch

Our BHRIGHT Director and Theme Leaders celebrated together at an end of year BHRIGHT lunch at Miznon in Melbourne CBD. Over lunch, the team reflected on the year that has been for BHRIGHT in 2025 and commenced planning for the year ahead. 

Upcoming Events

BHRIGHT has several fantastic events that we will be hosting next year – more information to come in early 2026! 

Opportunities to Partner and Collaborate with BHRIGHT  

Practitioners-in-Residence and Scholars-in-Residence

BHRIGHT is Australia’s first and only research centre focused on Business and Human Rights and the only centre of its kind in the Asia Pacific region. Through multi-disciplinary research, engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, and education we provide thought leadership to advance Business and Human Rights related policy and practice nationally and internationally. Our mission is to contribute research, education and practical support to ensure that businesses respect the human rights of workers, customers, and communities where they operate, as well as throughout their national, regional and global value chains. The Business and Human Rights research agenda benefits from multidisciplinary approaches. We draw upon and contribute particularly to legal and management approaches to the field.  

Are you a BHR or BHR-adjacent researcher or would like to become a BHR researcher? Are you a BHR practitioner looking to visit Melbourne? BHRIGHT is accepting applications from researching academics, or professionals engaged in business and human rights to visit BHRIGHT as Scholar-in-Residence or Professional-in-Residence. The BHRIGHT ‘in-residence’ program supports travel to and from Melbourne.  

Visitors in-residence are further afforded space to work and research within BHRIGHT, library access, opportunities to contribute to BHRIGHT Seminars, and engage in scholarship, and undertake work, drawing on the expertise of BHRIGHT membership. If this is something that interests you, please forward on expressions of interest including outlining your interest in the program and potential research or projects that might be informed by access to BHRIGHT membership to bhright@rmit.edu.au. 

Connecting BHR Interns with Industry

BHRIGHT currently teaches 300+ undergraduate Law and Business students a course on Business and Human Rights. This is unique to BHRIGHT and RMIT, in fact this is the first and only compulsory course specifically on BHR in any Law professional degree in Australia, (if not globally!).  

As such, if you are looking for an intern or work experience student with knowledge of BHR, or perhaps you are on the lookout for grads with a passion and knowledge for BHR, then please reach out and connect with us. 

If you are interested in any of these opportunities to partner with us, please get in touch with us via bhright@rmit.edu.au  

We look forward to hearing from you! 

Awards and Recognition 

We wish to congratulate the BHRIGHT members who won this year’s RMIT and RMIT College of Business and Law (COBL) awards! 

This includes Prof. Shelley Marshall, who was awarded the COBL Media Star for her work in the campaign for increased worker rights in the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme based on research by BHRIGHT member PhD Candidate Ema Moolchand. Dr Melissa Wheeler, BHRIGHT Theme Leader for Gender, who received the COBL Deputy Vice-Chancellor Award (Academic Staff); and Ass. Prof. Jonathan Kolieb, Director of BHRIGHT for receiving the 2025 RMIT COBL Research Excellence Award for Social Impact Award, for his work in leading the inaugural UN Business and Human Rights Regional Forum: Australia and New Zealand.  

BHRIGHT Impact and Research   

Recent publications, activities and research from the BHRIGHT team of interdisciplinary researchers are featured below

BHRIGHT Director Assoc. Prof. Jonathan Kolieb Delivers Corporate Social Responsibility Workshop in Vietnam 

In November, Ass. Prof. Jonathan Kolieb, Director of BHRIGHT, travelled to Vietnam to co-deliver a 2-day workshop, alongside Vietnamese counterparts to a cohort of local business and legal academics on 'Responsible Business Conduct: Its Importance to Vietnam Business and Government.'  This was convened by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry in partnership with the Australian Human Rights Commission.  

The workshop builds on the 5 day workshop BHRIGHT delivered for a visiting Vietnamese delegation of academics in August this year in Melbourne and Sydney.  This was delivered in partnership with the UNSW’s Australian Human Rights Institute, and sponsored by DFAT and the Australian Human Rights Commission.

Dr Thuy Nguyen Chairs a Panel Session at the AMLRN Annual Symposium 2025

In November, Dr Thuy Nguyen, BHRIGHT Theme Leader for Labour and Supply Chains, chaired the session Circular Economy, Recycling and Green Supply Chains at the The Australian Maritime Logistics Research Network (AMLRN) Annual Symposium 2025: Sustainable Maritime Supply Chain Opportunities in the Presence of Growing Protectionism in Adelaide. The 2025 theme for the Symposium was Sustainable Maritime Supply Chain Opportunities in the Presence of Growing Protectionism.  

The symposium was hosted by University of Adelaide’s Centre for Sustainable Operations and Resilient Supply Chains (CSORSC), Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Resources (ISER) & Adelaide Business School (ABS) and the AMLR Network, which RMIT University is part of with Dr Thuy Nguyen as a Network Secretariat. 

Publication on the Renewable Energy Transition, community social acceptance and investing in social value of communities  

Dr Carol Bond, Peace and Conflict Theme Leader for BHRIGHT recently co-authored the journal article A Systems Thinking Approach to Address Social Acceptance Challenges in Australia’s Renewable Energy Transition. The article discusses that success of renewable energy transitions requires community engagement and community acceptance of projects, however transitions has largely focused technological innovation and cost in projects which can lead to a lack of social acceptance from affected communities. Companies, projects and policies also need to incorporate the social value of energy transition projects in Australia to ensure a just and sustainable transition. “Social value creation encompasses positive impacts, including job creation, community development, and social equity, which are essential for long-term success and acceptance.” 

The article was published in the latest volume of the Journal of Sustainability. 

Contribution to UN Digital Training Program on Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence for Businesses in Conflict Zones 

Ass. Prof. Jonathan Kolieb, Director of BHRIGHT contributed his expertise on responsible business practice and human rights in conflict zones in the digital training program Responsible Business in Conflict: A training on heightened human rights due diligence, which was developed by the UN Development Programme and the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights. The training program provides education to businesses with operations in conflict zones, in understanding and responding to human rights impacts through business activities, as well as NGOs and civil society organisations working in conflict zones as well in advocacy, monitoring and due diligence. 

You can find information on the UN Business and Human Rights digital training program here. 

BHR Related News and Publications 

• Australia’s Anti-Slavery Commissioner Chris Evans launches the Office of the Australian Anti-Slavery Commissioner’s Strategic Plan 2025-2028: Building Australia’s Ambition and Impact Strengthening the response to modern slavery. Incidents of modern slavery reported to the AFP have risen by 10% since the previous year. The full report of the Strategic Plan can be found here 
• The UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights presented their report on Labour Migration, Business, and Human Rights at the UN General Assembly in October, on protecting the rights of migrant workers who face particular vulnerability to exploitation. “Migrant workers are the backbone of vital industries. Yet they remain among the least protected”. View the report here 
• The 14th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights took place in late November in Geneva, Switzerland, with the theme “Accelerating action on business and human rights amidst crises and transformations”. More information and webcasting of the forum can be found here 
• With the holiday period approaching, the Australian Human Rights Commission and Work Safe Australia released a joint statement “calling for businesses and organisations be aware of their positive duty obligations and take steps to keep workers safe in the busy holiday season.” Read the full statement here 

Keep in touch by following us on LinkedIn or by visiting our website.    

Acknowledgement of Country

RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nations on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business.