Emma Mills PhD Scholar School of Regulation & Global Governance Emma Mills is a PhD candidate at RegNet, seconded from her role as a policy officer with the Australian Federal Police (AFP). Her policy expertise is founded on over 10 years as a community police officer with ACT Policing, providing her with unique insights into the practical realities of policing and policy implementation.

Emma holds a Master's in Criminal Justice and Criminology from Monash University. Her doctoral research investigates police agency and effectiveness in policy making processes, using the Australian Capital Territory's 2023 drug decriminalisation legislation as a framework to examine broader governance questions. Her work explores how police organisations can strategically direct resources and build capacity to actively engage in policy development, examining the evolving role of police within contemporary governance networks.

Emma's research addresses critical questions about how police are moving beyond traditional enforcement roles to function as policy constructors while maintaining institutional legitimacy in complex regulatory landscapes. Her practitioner-researcher perspective offers valuable insights into how police organisations can effectively position themselves within multi-sector policy environments, particularly in domains requiring navigation between enforcement and health paradigms, contributing to broader scholarship on institutional behaviour in networked governance.