Sustainability
Our research focuses on the legal and intellectual property (IP) aspects of sustainable (technological) development, with an emphasis on global health and the transition to a green economy. We investigate various areas, including:
(1) Global Health: We examine the legal and policy challenges related to global health, such as access to medicines, vaccine production, trade agreements' impact on healthcare, and the role of patents in supporting healthcare innovation.
(2) Global Health and Human Rights: We analyze the relationship between global health and human rights, particularly the right to health and its connection to education, food, and a healthy environment. We consider the legal frameworks and challenges within the healthcare sector.
(3) Biotech and IP: We explore the intersection of biotechnology and IP, studying the role of patents in incentivizing innovation, their relationship with the public interest, and the challenges posed by the global and complex nature of the biotech industry.
(4) Transition to a Green Economy: Our research focuses on the legal frameworks and policies supporting the transition to a green economy, including renewable energy, carbon pricing, green finance, and sustainable consumption. We investigate legal challenges and opportunities in the emerging green economy, examining sustainable innovation, environmental rights, and the regulation of the sharing economy. We analyze the impact of international agreements on climate change responses. We provide recommendations to enhance the effectiveness of these frameworks.
(5) IP Protection in the Green Economy: We analyze the legal frameworks and policies protecting intellectual property in the green economy, with a specific focus on patents, trademarks, plant varieties, and trade secrets. We provide recommendations to promote sustainable innovation and technology transfer.
(6) Access to Green Technologies and Knowledge: Our research explores the role of IP in promoting access to green technologies and knowledge, considering open innovation models and the impact of international agreements on IP protection. We examine legal mechanisms for facilitating green technology transfer.
(7) Protection of Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights: We emphasize the role of IP in protecting plant varieties and enhancing farmers' rights, particularly through commons and open access models that benefit small and medium-sized enterprises.
Again, this research focus aims inter alia to contribute to the goals of the Belfast Region City Deal.
People
Publications
Alessandra Guida, Biosafety Measures, Technology Risks and the World Trade Organization - Thriving and Surviving in the Age of Biotech (Routledge 2023)
P N Upreti, 'Intellectual property, friendship and the pandemic: a reflection' (2023) in T Pihlajarinne, J Mähönen, and P N Upreti (eds), Intellectual property rights in post-pandemic world: an integrated framework of sustainability, innovation, and global justice (Edward Elgar 2023)
B Mercurio and P N Upreti, 'From Necessity to Flexibility: A Reflection on the Negotiations for a TRIPS Waiver for Covid-19 Vaccines and Treatments' (2022) 21 World Trade Review 633.
B Mercurio and P N Upreti, 'The Legality of A TRIPS Waiver for COVID-19 Vaccines Under International Investment Law' (2022) 71 International and Comparative Law Quarterly 323.
M Flear, 'Towards Further Dialogue Between Law and Science and Technology Studies' (25 Nov 2021) CELLS Blog.
ML Flear and R Ashcroft, 'Law, biomedical technoscience, and imaginaries' (2021) 8 Journal of Law and the Biosciences 1.
A Mahalatchimy, PL Lau, P Li, and ML Flear, 'Framing and legitimating EU legal regulation of human gene-editing technologies: key facets and functions of an imaginary' (2021) 8 Journal of Law and the Biosciences 30.
A Guida, 'Are WTO Decision-Makers Regulating Technological Risks or Are Technological Risks Steering WTO Biotechnology Legal Decisions?' (2021) 41 Risk Analysis 2127-2139.
A Guida and C Bernal Pulido, Introduction to the Special Issue on Biotechnology in International Economic Law and Human Rights: Reconciling Biotechnology with Human Rights and the Protection of the Environment under International Law' (2021) 12 European Journal of Risk Regulation 543-546.
A Guida, ‘The precautionary principle and genetically modified organisms: A bone of contention between European institutions and member states' (2021) 8 Journal of Law and the Biosciences 1-42.
A Guida, ‘The Reasoning Structure in Legal Disputes on International Trade of Biotechnology: From a Judicial Balance by Chance to a Judicial Balance by Design’ (2021) 12 European Journal of Risk Regulation 602-617.
A Guida, 'The 2017 Fidenato case and the 2015 Directive: The curious case of GMOs in Europe' (2020) 29 Review of European, Comparative & International Environmental Law 291-300.
I Turkmendag, M Fox, C Thompson, and T Murphy, 'What's Law Got to do With Good Science?: A Debate and Dialogue' (2019) 28 Social and Legal Studies 392-413.
I Turkmendag and T Murphy, 'What's Law Got to do With Human Germline Editing? A short article for Social & Legal Studies' (2019) Social & Legal Studies.
T Murphy, 'Judging Bioethics and Human Rights: Assisted Reproductive Technology at the European Court of Human Rights' (2019) Social & Legal Studies.
T Murphy, 'Human Rights in Technological Times' in MK Land and JD Aronson (eds), New Technologies for Human Rights Law and Practice (Cambridge University Press 2018).
M Flear, Governing Public Health: EU Law, Regulation and Biopolitics (Hart 2018).
M Flear, ‘Regulating New Technologies: EU Internal Market Law, Risk and Sociotechnical Order’ in M Cremona (ed), New Technologies and EU Law (Oxford University Press 2017).
M Flear, 'Technologies of Reflexivity: Generating Biopolitics and Institutional Risk to Supplement Global Public Health Security' (2017) 8 European Journal of Risk Regulation 658-685.
T Murphy, 'European Law and New Health Technologies: The Research Agenda' in R Brownsword, E Scotford and K Yeung (eds), The Oxford Handbook on the Law and Regulation of New Technologies (Oxford University Press 2017).
Eugene C Lim, ‘Harvesting the ‘Forbidden Fruit’ of Biotechnology Research: Genetic Engineering, International Law and the Patentability of Higher Life Forms in Canada’ (2012) 10 Canadian Journal of Law and Technology 205
Eugene C Lim, 'Forum Shopping in Biotechnology Law', paper presented at the 18th International Conference on Intellectual Property Management, 4-5 August 2016, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
P Doran, A political economy of attention, mindfulness and consumerism: Reclaiming the mindful commons (Taylor and Francis 2017).
M Flear and T Pfister, ‘Contingent Participation: Imaginaries of Sustainable Technoscientific Innovation in the EU’ in E Cloatre and M Pickersgill (eds), Knowledge, Technology and Law: Interrogating the Nexus (Taylor and Francis 2014).
T Pfister and ML Flear, 'Sustainable Technoscientific Development and the Innovator Citizen' (2014) 5 Open Citizenship. 'European Law and New Health Technologies'
P Doran, ‘A call for a new political economy of attention: Mindfulness as a new commons’ in Environmental Philosophy: The Art of Life in a World of Limits (Emerald Publishing 2013) 111-135.
M Flear, AM Farrell, T Hervey and T Murphy (eds), European Law and New Health Technologies (Oxford University Press 2013).
M Flear, AM Farrell, T Hervey and T Murphy, ‘European Law and New Health Technologies: The Research Agenda’ in M Flear, AM Farrell, T Hervey and T Murphy (eds), European Law and New Health Technologies (Oxford University Press 2013).
M Flear, T Hervey, and G Bache, 'The Defining Features of the European Union’s Approach to Regulating New Health Technologies' in M Flear, AM Farrell, T Hervey, and T Murphy (eds), European Law and New Health Technologies(Oxford University Press 2013).
ML Flear and MD Pickersgill, 'Regulatory or Regulating Publics? The European Union’s Regulation of Emerging Health Technologies and Citizen Participation' (2013) 21 Medical Law Review 39-70.
AM Farrell, S Devaney, T Hervey, and T Murphy (eds), Regulatory Desirables for New Health Technologies: A Special Issue of the Medical Law Review (2013) Medical Law Review 21(1).
T Murphy and G O Cuinn, ‘Taking Technology Seriously: STS as a Human Rights Method’ in M Flear, AM Farrell, T Hervey and T Murphy (eds), European Law and New Health Technologies (Oxford University Press 2013).
AM Farrell, S Devaney, T Hervey, and T Murphy (eds), 'Contextualising the Regulation of Health Technologies: A Special Issue of Law, Innovation and Technology' (2012) 4(2) Law, Innovation and Technology.
P Doran, ‘Is there a role for contemporary practices of askesis in supporting the transition to sustainable consumption?’ (2011) 5(1) International Journal of Green Economics 15-40.
M Flear and A Vakulenko, 'A Human Rights Perspective on Citizen Participation in the EU's Governance of New Technologies' (2010) 10 Human Rights Law Review 661-688.