She was brought up by a single parent, and one of her earliest interests was the United Nations General Assembly.[4] She attended the University of Queensland, earning a law degree.[5] In this period she met and was mentored by Jackie Huggins, who convinced her to work for the Foundation for Aboriginal and Islander Research Action (FAIRA) in Brisbane, which led her to apply to the United Nations Fellowship.[5]
Davis was on the Australian Government's expert panel on the country's Indigenous people in 2011, and was a member of the Prime Minister's Referendum Council from 2015-2017.[2][8]
As a member of the Referendum Council, Davis was instrumental in assisting the development of the Uluru Statement From the Heart, designing the deliberative dialogues and chairing the Council's sub-committee for the First Nations regional Dialogues and the First Nations Constitutional Convention in 2017.[9]
In 2023 she wrote "Voice of Reason: On Recognition and Renewal" which was published by Quarterly Essay.[13]
Other roles
In 2017, Davis was appointed a Commissioner on the Australian Rugby League Commission.[14] In 2020 she was reappointed for another term.[15] Davis has described growing up in a "crazy rugby league family", and wanting to "give back to a game that gave so much to me and my family".[14]
Davis is listed on the Te Hononga Pūkenga ("the connection of experts") database of Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga, New Zealand's Māori Centre of Research Excellence.[19]
^"Professor Megan Davis". Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga. Retrieved 20 August 2019. Te Hononga Pūkenga - 'the connection of experts', was created by Ngā Pae o te Māramatanga to make Māori and Indigenous research expertise, location and contact information readily available...