An Aberdeen academic will host an Inaugural lecture at King's Conference Centre this week (Friday, March 9).
Professor Abbe Brown, from the University of Aberdeen’s Law School, will deliver the lecture Saving the world and delivering equality? Law, innovation and power which will present the key themes of her academic and professional career to date; and her plans for the future as Chair in Intellectual Property Law at the University.
The key theme of Professor Brown’s research is the drawing together of legal fields. Professor Brown explains: “The goal is to enable more holistic and legally based outcomes to be reached when innovation and its control can clash with fundamental societal challenges. Examples can be delivering wider access to renewable energy technologies, and to literature, educational material and prosthetic limbs by people with disabilities.”
One of the focuses of Professor Brown’s research is the extent to which there are common themes of intersection and solution across these apparently disparate fields.
Professor Brown commented: “The lecture will look at the power to control the outputs of innovation which is held by intellectual property owners. Although this power is a reward for having carried out the innovation, it can have negative implications. This is not always recognised in intellectual property and innovation related treaty, legislation and policymaking. Further, the power of intellectual property is often not addressed fully in other areas of law (such as human rights, climate change and equality), which are relevant to the substantive areas in which innovation can be used.
“I hope those who attend the lecture will find it an engaging look at what can be a challenging topic.”
The lecture will start and 6.30pm and will last for an hour. A drinks reception will follow. A live stream of the lecture will be available here for anyone who cannot attend.