Julia Powles is the Director of the UWA Tech & Policy Lab and Associate Professor of Law and Technology at UWA Law School. Her research focuses on privacy, intellectual property, internet governance, and the law and politics of data, automation, and artificial intelligence.

Known for her unflinching analyses of how tech firms evade and distort regulation, Julia co-led successful public investigations into the infamous NHS/Google DeepMind health data breach and Google affiliate Sidewalk Labs' thwarted smart city project. Current projects tackle civic resistance and political opportunism in Google Wing's ambitions to scale commercial drone delivery, novel responses to the paradox of Big Tech’s small liabilities for systemic misconduct with a focus on Uber and Facebook (Meta), and future-proof governance mechanisms for human monitoring in health and performance contexts. 

Currently, Julia is an expert member of Australia's National Robotics Strategy Advisory Committee, National AI Centre's Responsible AI Think Tank, WA Government's Privacy and Information Sharing (PRIS) Implementation Steering Committee, and PRIS Universities Network (Chair).

Julia studied genetics, biophysics, and law at ANU and UWA, and received her BCL from Oxford and PhD from Cambridge.

• Director, UWA Tech & Policy Lab, 2020-present
• 40 Under 40 Award for Western Australia, 2022
• Co-Chair, Australian Academy of Science Expert Working Group on Data in Professional Sport, 2020-22
• Inaugural Be Inspired Appointment, UWA Law School, 2019
• Innovation Fellow, IQX, 2019
• Leader, Tech & the Public Interest Research Group, 2019-20