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ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide Provost and Adelaide ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ Deputy Vice Chancellor Academic, Professor John Williams AM has been elected a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥.

Fellows are elected to the Academy by their peers - more than 700 of ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥'s leading academics from all social science disciplines - based on a sustained and internationally distinguished contribution to their field.

Professor Williams is the Founder and Director of the independent South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n Law Reform Institute (SALRI) based at the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide, and a leader in public law, particularly ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n constitutional law, the High Court of ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥, comparative constitutional law, federalism and legal history. In recent times he has developed his research to investigate water law and the regulation of the Murray-Darling. Professor Williams holds the Dame Roma Mitchell Chair of Law at the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide.

He has been co-editor and founder of the New Federalist, and editor of the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n Journal of Legal History (now Legal History) and the Adelaide Law Review.  Professor Williams is the author of The ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n Constitution: A Documentary History.

For more than a decade, Professor John Williams has been a member of the National Archives Advisory Council and was previously the vice-president of the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n Association of Constitutional Law, and served as a member of the Advisory Boards of the Don Dunstan Foundation and UniBooks Pty Ltd.  He is the secretary of the Rhodes Scholarship Selection Committee for South ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥.

Professor Williams was awarded a Centenary of Federation Medal in 2001, and in 2022 was appointed a member of the Order of ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ for service to tertiary education, the law, and professional organisations. He was also elected as a Fellow of the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥n Academy of Law in 2012.

"I am truly honoured and humbled to be recognised by my colleagues and peers with this Fellowship," says Professor Williams.

"SALRI’s reports have been accepted by successive governments and parliaments and led to major legislative changes since its establishment, but our work would not have been possible without the engagement, support and contributions from all the people who have used their diverse skills and experience to help us."

Professor Peter Høj AC, the ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥ of Adelaide’s Vice-Chancellor and President congratulated Professor Williams on the achievement.

“Professor Williams' commitment to law reform has delivered real, positive change to society," says Professor Høj.

"He is highly deserving of this significant recognition."

Fellows are elected once a year. A full list of 2025 fellows can be found on the .