Dr. Vanessa Johnston

Vanessa Johnston is a Senior Lecturer in the Graduate School of Business and Law at RMIT University in Melbourne, Australia. She is licensed to practice law in Australia in both state and federal jurisdictions. Prior to joining academia, she practiced law for ten years in niche and mid-sized commercial firms. Her primary areas of expertise include property law, revenue, and taxation. She was awarded a Ph.D. from Monash University in 2016 for her thesis on carbon pricing for road transport activities. She teaches compulsory property law subjects to students at undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and climate change law electives for undergraduate and master’s level students. Her research focuses on the impact that climate change has on land use and planning in Australia, as well as fundamental property law concepts such as ownership. In addition, she is involved in several interdisciplinary research projects on sustainable transport.