Kate Waterford is a current PhD candidate, researching the separation of government powers in a detention context. Her thesis explores the nature and limits of Commonwealth executive power to detain the individual, taking into account protections of individual liberty under the Australian Constitution, as well as principles drawn from international human rights law.

Kate is Special Counsel at Canberra law firm Maliganis Edwards Johnson, where she specialises in medical negligence. She is also an accredited mediator. Since 2014, Kate has been a non-executive board director of the leading human rights NGO Amnesty International Australia.