Associate Professor Sanzhuan Guo

Associate Professor in Law

College of Business, Government and Law

place Law & Commerce
GPO Box 2100, ADELAIDE, SA, 5001

Sanzhuan (Sandra) is an international lawyer, specialising in human rights and international migration law. She is a Co-Rapporteur of the International Law Association's Committee on International Migration and International Law (2021-2026).

Sandra joined Flinders in February 2015 and was the Course Coordinator of the Master of Laws (International Law and International Relations, MILIR) from May 2018 to Feb 2020. Prior to Flinders, she practised law in Holding Redlich (Melbourne), The University of Melbourne (in-house lawyer), Jingtian & Gongcheng (Beijing), and GE Medical Systems(Beijing).

Qualifications

JD (Melb); PhD (Peking); LLM (Northwestern, USA); MA (Univ South Carolina); LLM (Peking); BS and GradDip Law(Sichuan Uni)

Admitted to practise law in Australia (Victoria and South Australia), USA (New York) and China

LIV-Accredited Specialist in Immigraiton Law (since October 2016); Former Registered Migration Agent Number: 1280860

Honours, awards and grants

Grants, Scholarships and Consultancies

EHL Faculty Research Grant (2015, 2016); EHL Faculty Establishment Grant (2017-2018); BGL College Seed Grant (2018); BGL College Small Grant (2019); BGL Visiting Fellowship (2023)

Visiting Fellow Jan-Jun 2025, Harvard Law School's Human Rights Program

Army History Grant 2024 (Department. of Defence) - Blood and Belonging: Nationality and Chinese Australians Who Fought in WWI ($12,790)

Law Foundation of South Australia 2024, Establishing Flinders Mongolian Human Rights Internship ($6,500 for one intern in 2024 and $31,370 for four interns in 2025)

Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, Workshop Grant 2024 on 'A Critical Lens on Mass Deportation of Non-citizens: Law, Crimes and Technology ' ($9,000)

Australia Awards Fellowship Mongolian Project 2023 - Promoting Human Rights Based Development in Mongolia in the Digital Era ($268,808.70)

Asia Study Grant of the National Library of Australia, 'Dual Nationality, Overseas Chinese and International Relations: Past, Present and Future ' (2019)

Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade New Colombo Plan: Human Rights in China: Perspectivese of Law, Business and International Relations, 2019 ($99,000)

Visiting Scholar at Xi'an Jiaotong University School of Law (Jan - Feb 2018)

Hague Academy of International Law, Research on Citizenship in International Law (Aug - Sept 2016)

Seoul National University Law Global Challenge Visiting Scholar (Dec 2015 - Feb 2016)

John and Alison Kearney Overseas Scholarship (UVa, Jan - May 2011)

Australian Endeavour Asia Award (ANU College of Law, Dec 2007 - Nov 2008) ($50,000)

China Scholarship Council Cotutelle Scholarship (RWI, Lund University, Oct 2006- Sept 2007) (~$20,000)

Expert Opinions

2020 and 2021 expert opinions on Chinese birth certificates, invited by the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada; opinions cited in IRB, Responses to Information Requestion: No CHN200327.E and CHN200753.E

2020 and 2021 invited expert opinions on Chinese laws in relation to dual nationality, domicile/habitual residence and inheritance law in a case of the Supreme Court of South Australia: Kong v Yan [2021] SASC 82

Teaching interests
  • Public International Law
  • International Human Rights Law
  • Constitutional Law
  • Chinese Law
Topic coordinator
LLAW9607 Constitutional Law (JD)
LLIR9500 Relationship between International Law and International Relations
LLIR9511 International Human Rights (MILIR Program)
LLAW3251 International Protection of Human Rights
LLIR9507 Law and International Relations in the Asia Pacific
INTR9033A International Commercial Law
LLAW1322 International Law and Global Perspectives
LLAW3270 Introduction to China's Law and Legal System
LLIR9521 Nuclear Energy and Weapons and International Law
Topic lecturer
LLAW3312 Constitutional Law (LLB)
Expert for media contact
Immigration
Immigration and Citizenship Law
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Media expertise
  • Immigration
Interests
  • Immigration and Citizenship Law