Dr Hamish MacDonald

Research Fellow

TC Beirne School of Law

+61 7 336 58861

h.macdonald1@uq.edu.au

Researcher biography

Hamish MacDonald is a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland School of Law and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Plant Success in Nature and Agriculture. His research explores co-productive intersections of law and science, with a particular focus on how intellectual property laws interact with genetic technologies and quantitative models. Other research areas include the international regulation of genetic resources, the technical infrastructures underlying legal systems, and the use of standardisation and abstraction in the operation of regulatory regimes.

Publications

Journal Articles (4)

Conference Papers (3)

Seminar Paper (1)

Research Reports (3)

Journal Articles

MacDonald, Hamish (2024). Ownership and objectivity: judging varieties for plant breeder's rights in Australia. University of New South Wales Law Journal, 47 (1), 247-281.

MacDonald, Hamish (2023). Who judges plants? Scientific‐legal judgement of varieties for plant breeder's rights. The Journal of World Intellectual Property, 26 (3), 1-24. doi: 10.1111/jwip.12276

MacDonald, Hamish and Henry, Robert J. (2022). Balancing incentives for innovation in new plant varieties. Nature Plants, 8 (11), 1206-1208. doi: 10.1038/s41477-022-01246-3

Schloenhardt, Andreas and MacDonald, Hamish (2015). Barriers to ratification of the United Nations protocol against the smuggling of migrants. Asian Journal of International Law, 7 (1), 1-26. doi: 10.1017/S2044251315000211

Conference Papers

MacDonald, Hamish (2023). The Nagoya Protocol: Context, Operation, Uncertainties. Council of Heads of Australasian Herbaria, Canberra, ACT, Australia, 27 November-1 December 2023.

MacDonald, Hamish (2023). Cultivating objectivity in plant breeder's rights systems. Society for Social Studies of Science, Honolulu, HI, United States, 8-11 November 2023.

MacDonald, Hamish (2023). Achieving Nagoya Protocol compliance without a legal framework. Australasian Biospecimen Network Association Annual Conference, Gold Coast, QLD Australia, 18-20 October 2023.

Seminar Paper

MacDonald, Hamish (2023). Databasing genetic resources: Considerations for access and benefit sharing. Te Tiriti-guided national DNA reference library wānanga series. Manaaki Whenua - Landcare Research.

Research Reports

MacDonald, Hamish and Sherman, Brad (2022). Information Notice Systems and the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act 1994 (Cth). Plant Breeder's Rights - University of Queensland independent research reports Labrador, QLD, Australia: Black Jettie.

MacDonald, Hamish and Sherman, Brad (2022). Labelling Requirements and the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act 1994 (Cth). Plant Breeder's Rights - University of Queensland independent research reports Labrador, QLD, Australia: Black Jettie.

MacDonald, Hamish and Sherman, Brad (2022). Essentially derived varieties and the Plant Breeder’s Rights Act 1994 (Cth). Plant Breeder's Rights - University of Queensland independent research reports Labrador, QLD, Australia: Black Jettie.

Areas of research

Intellectual Property Law and Food Security

Law, Science and Technology