Research interests
Coming from an academic background in business law and human rights, my research focuses on the intersection of technological development and social and economic human rights. In my PhD research, I focussed on intellectual property, particularly assessing the detrimental impacts of pharmaceutical patent rights on the realisation of the right to health. In this context, I remain interested in the impacts of technology and innovation on human life, well-being, and society more broadly.
In an era of rapid technological advancements, I explore how fundamental rights can be effectively protected and how their realisation can be improved and adapted to new challenges. With large-scale data collection, and the integration of AI into nearly all aspects of the digital society, economic data power can be increasingly politicised. In this context, I am particularly interested in examining the resilience of our democratic values against the growing influence of data-driven decision-making and algorithmic control.Particular fields of Interest: Data Policy and Governance; AI Regulation; Digital Human Rights; Data Privacy Rights; Intellectual Property; pharmaceutical patentability.
Past research
Postdoc in the PASSIM project
In PASSIM, my research focusses on the efficacy of the research incentives provided by patent rights. My postdoc project is divided into two sub-categories and research questions. The first question addresses the efficacy of patents for incentivising research into highly required innovations, such as new medicines, where the resulting products do not necessarily offer high profitability (e.g. orphan drugs or neglected diseases). The second focus area of my research project addresses leaks (data breaches) of scientific information and research data, and their impacts on the satisfaction of the novelty requirement for patenting innovations. This part of the analysis shall identify jeopardies to the patentability of new inventions that arise from the theft and unlawful disclosure of scientific information.
PhD Dissertation
My PhD research at Northumbria University Newcastle, titled The Patentability of Medical Products: Identifying Responsibilities of Pharmaceutical Corporations towards the Right to Health, analysed pharmaceutical patent rights and their detrimental impacts on the accessibility of medicines and the human right to health. A key theme of my thesis was the identification of responsibilities of private corporations towards the realisation of human rights.
A further connected research interest I developed throughout this research project lies in the subject of data privacy in the context of technological advancements.
