Our Mentors
The networks is guided my its mentors who have been selected on the basis of their expertise in the field of Intellectual Property Laws. Their advisory contribution both inspires and supports the members of the network in their pursuit of excellence, professionalism and innovation.
Charlotte Waelde
Professor of Intellectual Property
" [New IP Lawyers] is an excellent initiative - and one that has my wholehearted support. This shows not only the importance of IP [...] but also the importance of encouraging vibrant research groupings within which such innovation can, and should, be supported."
Charlotte Waelde joined Exeter Law School in 2010. She is Professor of Intellectual Property Law. Previously she was a member of the Law School at Edinburgh University where she took her Ph.D and was appointed Professor of Intellectual Property Law in 2008. She was Associate Dean for Innovation and Teaching in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences from 2007-2010. Professor Waelde was a founder member and a co-director of the AHRC Research Centre in Intellectual Property and Technology Law (SCRIPT) at Edinburgh University which was one of only a handful of centres that was refunded by the AHRC for a second term of five years in 2007(to 2012).
Professor Waelde’s research and teaching focus on intellectual property and internet law and the intersection between the two. Her work is necessarily international in nature, but also has strong comparative, European and domestic influences appropriate to the subject areas. Professor Waelde’s focus is on the interface between intellectual property law and changing technologies, the changes in the law wrought by those technologies, and the impact that those changes have on the way that the law is both perceived and used by the affected communities. Her work explores ways in which the law may be better calibrated to meet the needs of stakeholders. From this base Professor Waelde reaches out into other domains such as human rights, competition law, international private law and the regulation and promotion of new technologies more generally as they intersect with her core interests. She has written extensively in these areas both nationally and internationally.
Professor Waelde’s work has impact not only on the academic community, but in addition, through her participation in policy making processes and consultancy activities, so she transfers knowledge to the policy making process and into the community. She has also advised a range of international organisations including OPEC, ICSID and the European Parliament among others and has been involved in giving evidence to a number of consultations including to the Royal Society: Science as an Open Enterprise Report (June 2012). She has co-ordinated many academic response to policy consultations including the UK Gowers Review of Intellectual Property; the UK Patent Office Consultation on UK proposed implementation of the Directive on the enforcement of intellectual property rights (2004/48/EC); the Hargreaves review on Intellectual Property; and the consultation on the European Commission Green Paper on Cultural and Creative Industries. Having laid the foundations of Information Technology Law as an academic discipline through her Law and the Internet series (with Edwards, L (eds)1997, 2000, 2010), and co-authored a book on Intellectual Property with SCRIPT colleagues Hector MacQueen, Graeme Laurie and Abbe Brown Contemporary Intellectual Property: Law and Policy (2nd ed. 2010) which is unique in its pedagogical style and interactive approach, and through incorporation of research outputs into her teaching, so Professor Waelde’s work also influences the next generation of scholars.
Dr Naomi Hawkins
Senior Lecturer in Law
Naomi Hawkins's research focuses on the interaction of law and biomedical science, particularly around intellectual property rights. She uses traditional legal research and empirical methods to investigate the impact of human gene patents on the development of translational outcomes of genetics and genomics research. She is also interested in the ways in which data sharing practices intersect with intellectual property rights in science. She is a founding member of SCuLe, Science, Culture and the Law at Exeter.
Dr Hawkins is currently funded by the ESRC Future Leaders Research scheme for her project "The Impact of Patents on Translational Research - Non-Invasive Prenatal Diagnosis in Europe and the US".
Dr. James Griffin
Senior Lecturer in Law
Dr James GH Griffin's main area of research relates to the impact of Intellectual Property laws upon digital technology. He has published articles on the role of authors in the digital environment, such as The evolution of authorship under technology: implications for copyright law in the IPQ and Copyright in Music in Legal Studies. He has had a number of articles feature within the SSRN top 10 for micro economics.
Current research interests (as of 2012) include copyright and rationality, memes and copyright, communicative theory and copyright, art and the law, and interdisciplinary research into creativity. Dr Griffin is also working with Dr Hao in Engineering in relation to 3D printing.
Dr Griffin is currently carrying out funded research into copyright reform for BILETA, and into the role of the Digital Copyright Exchange for the SLS. He is a member of the BILETA executive, and a co-director of SCuLE, an interdisciplinary research group looking at the inter-relationship of science, culture and the law - details available at http://socialsciences.exeter.ac.uk/law/research/scule (last accessed on 2nd October 2012). Dr Griffin is also the Director for the link between the Chinese University of Politics and Law, Beijing, and the School of Law, and has helped develop the relationships and placements in Beijing & Shanghai law firms for law school students. He is also responsible for visiting academic positions, as well as being the representative for the library. Requests concerning these areas may be addressed to Dr Griffin.