Kieran Pender is an Associate Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre and an internationally-recognised authority on whistleblower protections.

Since joining the Centre in 2020, Kieran has led the establishment of the Whistleblower Project, an Australia-first specialist legal service for whistleblowers, and authored The Cost of Courage: Fixing Australia’s Whistleblower Protections (2023) and co-authored Protecting Australia’s Whistleblowers: A Federal Roadmap (with Griffith University and Transparency International Australia, 2022). He was previously a senior legal advisor with the International Bar Association’s Legal Policy & Research Unit in London, where he co-authored several leading reports on whistleblower protections. He has also consulted to the CEELI Institute in Prague and spoken on whistleblowing issues at the United Nations, World Bank, European Parliament and OECD.

Kieran graduated with the university medal from The Australian National University (ANU), and is currently completing a Master of Laws at the University of Melbourne. He is an honorary lecturer at the ANU College of Law, where he convenes two courses (Federal Judicial System and Conflict of Laws) and publishes research in Australia’s leading law journals.

Kieran is an award-winning writer, contributing to publications including the Guardian, The Monthly and the New York Times. He has reported from across the globe and covered the Olympics, Women’s World Cup, Men’s World Cup and the Tour de France. Kieran serves on numerous boards and committees: he is deputy chair of sports non-profit Women Onside, an independent member of the Victorian Courts Council’s Health, Safety and Culture Committee, and a member of the Law Council of Australia’s Equal Opportunity Committee, the Law Society of New South Wales’ Diversity and Inclusion Committee, and the advisory council of the Global Institute for Women’s Leadership. He also volunteers with Redfern Legal Centre’s Employment Rights Legal Service.

Kieran was named Young Lawyer of the Year in 2021 by the ACT Law Society and won Pro Bono/Community Lawyer of the Year at Lawyer’s Weekly 30 Under 30 Awards in 2022. He was the ANU’s 2022 Young Alumnus of the Year.