Professor Ben White

Ben White, Professor of End-of-Life Law and Regulation

‘The care we receive at the end of life, and how we die, is an important part of each person’s story. This is significant not just for the person but also their families, health professionals and the community as a whole.

I hope my research helps makes the end of life more compassionate and kinder, and that it supports people to have the choice they want.’

Ben White is Professor of End-of-Life Law and Regulation and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow (Professorial level, 2020-2024) in the Australian Centre for Health Law Research. His area of research is end-of-life decision-making with a particular focus on voluntary assisted dying.

Ben graduated with first class Honours and a University Medal in Law from the Queensland University of Technology. He was awarded a Rhodes Scholarship to complete a DPhil at Oxford University, where his doctoral thesis investigated the role that consultation plays in the law reform process. Before joining the Law School, he worked as an Associate at the Supreme Court of Queensland and at Legal Aid Queensland. Between 2005 and 2007, Ben was appointed as the full-time Commissioner of the Queensland Law Reform Commission where he had carriage of the Guardianship Review on behalf of the Commission. He also served as a part-time Commissioner between 2007 and 2010.

Ben was a foundation Director of the Australian Centre for Health Law Research for six years (2013-2018). He still co-leads the End-of-Life Research Program within the Centre. He has published 200 journal articles and book chapters in the area of health law, with a particular focus on end-of-life decision-making. His work is interdisciplinary with publications in law, medicine, bioethics, social science and psychology journals as well as those that have an interdisciplinary focus. He is an editor of the leading text Health Law in Australia (2023, 4th ed, Thomson) and International Perspectives on End-of-Life Law Reform: Politics, Persuasion and Persistence (2021, Cambridge University Press).

His latest book project is an international edited collection surveying the field of voluntary assisted dying: Ben White (ed), Research Handbook on Voluntary Assisted Dying Law and Regulation (2025, Edward Elgar).

Books by Ben White

Health Law in Australia Fourth Edition

Ben White, Fiona McDonald, Lindy Willmott, Shih-Ning Then (2023) Health Law in Australia Fourth Edition. Thomson Reuters.

View publication

International Perspectives on End-of-Life Law Reform

Edited by Ben P. White and Lindy Willmott (2021) International Perspectives on End-of-Life Law Reform. Cambridge University Press.

View publication

Journal articles by Ben White

Contact

• Professor Ben White
  

  Professor, Faculty of Business and Law

  bp.​white

  Ben White is Professor of End-of-Life Law and Regulation and an Australian Research Council Future Fellow (Professorial level, 2020-2024) in the Australian Centre for Health Law Research at the Faculty of Business & Law, Queensland University of Technology. His area of research focus is end-of-life decision-making with a particular focus...