Each year, St Paul’s College Graduate House is home to visiting professors and scholars affiliated with the University of Sydney, who reside at College while undertaking guest teaching, research fellowships, or sabbatical work.

These visiting scholars join St Paul’s from a variety of countries and disciplines and enrich the intellectual life of the community as they participate in College life. Whether informally over a meal, or through structured seminars and workshops, they generously contribute their time and expertise to the College community during their stay.  

For students, the opportunity to engage directly with researchers at the forefront of their field offers a unique chance to explore ideas beyond their own area of study. 

This semester, Graduate House had the privilege of hosting Dr Fiona Brimblecombe, Lecturer in Law at the University of Manchester and 2026 George Flannery Fellow at Sydney Law School.

Before returning to the United Kingdom, we had the chance to sit down with Fiona to reflect on her time in Sydney.

What brought you to Sydney, and the University of Sydney in particular? 

The University of Sydney is world-renowned for its research excellence. The Law School has some fantastic scholars, and it has been a pleasure to be hosted by Professor David Rolph, who is known across the globe for his research in defamation law, and media law generally. It has been a brilliant opportunity to meet other fantastic researchers as well as media law practitioners in New South Wales.   

I also promised myself I would see the Sydney Opera House one day, with my own eyes – which I’m happy to say is something I’ve done on several occasions since being here! 

What is your area of academic focus? 

I write on personality rights in the internet age. More specifically, I’m interested in how we can protect our privacy and reputation at a time when more personal information is being uploaded to the web than ever before.  

In my research I consider multiple legal avenues such as privacy law, data protection law and most recently I’ve been focussing on defamation law. Last year I published a book considering whether English defamation law can protect our reputation if we’re defamed on the internet – or whether data protection law and the ‘right to be forgotten’ can now do a better job.  

Since being in Sydney, I’ve returned to some previous work I did on the ‘public interest defence’ to actions in defamation – there is now a similar defence operating in Australia and I’m interested in how both the English/Welsh positions and the Australian positions compare. 

What is something that has surprised you about Sydney? 

I’m glad to say that Sydney has lived up to my very high expectations of being one of the ‘coolest’ cities in the world. Which was quite a high bar! It is bustling and full of skyscrapers, but at the same time has a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. It is also a city of beaches – even more so than I realised before I arrived. Sydney is shaped by its ecology and the landscape. The Blue Mountains were incredible to visit.  

The one thing that will stay with me the most is the ‘golden hour’ – when the sky turns baby pink just before the sun sets. You must catch it quickly – but it is incredibly beautiful for about half an hour. I often sat on the roof terrace at St Paul’s to watch it, as a backdrop to all the shining high-rises on Darling Harbour. 

 
You’re based at St Paul’s College while you’re here, what’s it like having a collegiate home away from home? 

It has been one of the best parts about my stay. The sense of community is so strong – after a long day, College is somewhere you look forward to going. The formal dinners, academic events, musical recitals and everything else going on in the College make it such an intellectually vibrant place to be. I can’t imagine having been anywhere else now, it was such a fundamental part of my visit. I’ve made connections for life, and the student community have really put their best foot forward – everyone has been so kind and welcoming. It is not just the beautiful surroundings, but the people that make the College. I’ll remember it forever.