- UNSW BusinessThink

Rob Nicholls

Associate Professor

School of Management and Governance - PhD, UNSW | MA, UNSW | BSc (Hons), University of Birmingham

Rob joined the UNSW Business School as a lecturer in September 2015. His research interests encompass competition law and policy as well as the regulation of networked industries and the financial services sector.

He is also a research fellow at the Centre for Law, Markets and Regulation at UNSW Law. Before his appointment, Rob was a research fellow at the Centre for International Finance and Regulation where he is investigated the intersection of competition law and financial services regulation and at Swinburne University of Technology where he researched spectrum management policy. He is also a visiting fellow at UTS Sydney Law.

Rob has had a 30-year career concentrating on competition, regulation and governance, particularly in networked industries. His first degree was in electronics engineering and he has worked for major corporates, in turnarounds and start-ups. Before moving to academia, he worked for Webb Henderson, the ACCC and spent 12 years as a client-facing consultant at Gilbert + Tobin.

Rob is an accredited mediator and the Independent Telecommunications Adjudicator in a regime established to deal with wholesale disputes arising over both legacy services and migration to the national broadband network. He is also a member of the NBN arbitration pool.

From This Author

Does Buy Now, Pay Later still work if the cost of living keeps rising?

With the cost of living on the rise, there are risks associated with Buy Now, Pay Later financing for both consumers and companies

Whistleblowers allege Facebook news blackout was deliberate

Facebook employees offered solutions to restore non-news pages during last year's news blackout, but whistleblowers allege these were ignored, writes UNSW Business School's Rob Nicholls

Three useful things to know about data, AI and the privacy debate

Organisations must develop ethical, socially responsible, trustworthy, and sustainable data business models to ensure consumers’ privacy is protected in an increasingly AI-driven world

How big tech companies are sanctioning Russia

Alphabet, Apple, Meta, Amazon and Microsoft have each taken some form of action against Russia – but the actual impact tech-related sanctions will have isn’t clear, says UNSW Business School's Rob Nicholls

How is AI changing power dynamics in the world of money?

Artificial intelligence (AI) and other technologies are causing a shift in power dynamics in financial services, and this change has significant implications for individuals' privacy and government regulators

Why Facebook's meta-morphosis won't fix ethics headache

Facebook is under fire (again) for its questionable business ethics – what exactly did it do wrong and what will happen as a result?

Can the law truly protect consumers from data profiling?

It is clear that consumers expect the law to protect them when it comes to how their data is collected, shared and used. But is the law enough?

Has the News Media Bargaining Code struck the right balance?

Google and Facebook will pay Australian news media businesses tens of millions of dollars each year – though a clear standard offer is yet to be made by the platforms, says UNSW Business School’s Rob Nicholls

How Facebook could lose out on advertising over its content ban

Facebook’s recent botched takedown of content publishers could lead to a loss of advertising revenue for the social media platform, says UNSW Business School’s Rob Nicholls

Is there a basis for a Royal Commission into News Corp?

There are a number of important factors to consider in assessing whether News Corp should be the subject of a Royal Commission because of excess market power

myGov and facial recognition: inside the Government's Digital Business plan

The Federal Government must be ready to handle the responsibilities associated with its $800 million plan which includes granting access to government services through facial recognition, writes UNSW Business School's Rob Nicholls

Should Google and Facebook be forced to pay for news in Australia?

If Facebook follows through with its threat to pull news on its site in Australia it could be contributing its own demise, writes UNSW Business School’s Rob Nicholls

In a world-first, Australia plans to force Facebook and Google to pay for news

If the ACCC takes one of the tech giants to court for breach of the code, the penalty could be more than $10 million, writes UNSW Business School's Rob Nicholls

How to use regulatory technology to get deregulation right

The use of regulatory technology by both regulators and the regulated requires a deep understanding of its underlying fundamentals, writes UNSW Business School’s Rob Nicholls

How can businesses handle negative Google reviews?

Following a court ruling about a negative Google review, there are a number of steps businesses take to handle negative Google reviews (and encourage positive reviews), according to UNSW Business School's Associate Professor Rob Nicholls

How much customer data should firms be forced to share?

A key issue is the balance between competition benefits and scope to innovate

ACCC calls for new measures to combat digital dominance

The regulator favours a multi-agency approach for monitoring and enforcement

Open banking revolution off to a tentative start

Australia has a new banking code of practice with banks told to treat customers fairly

Filling the planes: Rob Nicholls on why the same airfare can have different prices

Rob Nicholls is a senior lecturer in the school of taxation and business law at UNSW Business School and a research fellow at the Centre for Law, Markets and Regulation. He has recently been looking at disparities in the pricing of airfares. Nicholls spoke to Julian Lorkin for BusinessThink.