Louise Brown Memorial Award

Louise Odette Brown was an academically gifted young woman with a strong sense of ethics and social purpose and a promising future. In her third year of a combined Law and International Studies degree at UNSW, and on exchange in Paris, Louise died tragically in a fire on April 14, 2011.

Louise distinguished herself at UNSW, winning a place on the Dean’s List for academic excellence in Law in 2009, and for academic excellence in Arts and Social Sciences in 2008.

Louise was a dedicated advocate for social justice, committed to using law for humanitarian causes. Louise was:

• Co-president of UNSW’s branch of Amnesty International, organising two major forums addressing poverty as a violation of human rights in Australia

• An intern at Amnesty NSW Headquarters Action Centre, assisting asylum seekers with client representation and advocacy and preparing country information reports.

• An intern with UNSW’s Centre for Refugee Research and in 2010 attended the United Nations Annual Consultations with NGOs in Geneva, where she was recognised for the excellent contribution she made to a report on refugees, on behalf of the Asian Women's Human Rights Council and the Australian Refugee Rights Alliance.

• A volunteer at The Shack Youth Services – the UNSW school tutoring program, providing educational assistance to local disadvantaged students. She also volunteered as an English tutor while travelling,  such as with Tibetan refugees at the Charitable Trust in Dharamsala India, in 2007.

Louise's legacy as an advocate for social justice, with a passion for making a difference, will live on through this award by assisting other students to become involved in social justice advocacy. 

The Louise Brown Memorial Award will provide financial support to one UNSW Law student each year, to undertake an internship with an organisation outside of Australia which actively promotes or protects human rights. The amount of student support provided each year depends upon how much we can raise in funds for the Award.

Please help us remember Louise:
click here to make a donation online or print a donation form to post

All donations over $2.00 are tax deductible. You will be posted a receipt.

For a longer version of Louise's story, please click here.