Law, Science and Technology Group

About

The law plays an important role in regulating and shaping many areas of science, technology, engineering, and health. Equally, science and technology have also had a profound and long-standing impact on the law. However, despite such rich opportunities for investigation, the intersections of law with science and technology remains a neglected field of study. The Law, Science and Technology Program was established in 2017 by the  School of Law in conjunction with the BEL Faculty and the Faculty of Science to respond to this gap in research.

Aims

By bringing together academics, students and staff from UQ Law, the program aims to:

• Contribute to the university’s research profile by promoting the production of high-end scholarship in an emerging and increasingly important field of inquiry.
• Enrich the learning experience of students at UQ with an interest in law, science and technology through research-led teaching.
• Foster and stimulate public debate on issues pertaining to law, science, and technology.

Areas of research

The Law, Science and Technology Program promotes interdisciplinary research on a wide range of topics including:

• The legal regulations that govern day-to-day scientific practice, including technology transfer agreements, laboratory regulatory policy, and codes of conduct.
• The security, privacy, and surveillance concerns arising from the development of new digital technologies and algorithms.
• The intersection of bioethics and the law, particularly in relation to pharmaceutical practices, medical research, and emerging therapeutic techniques.
• The use of new forensic science techniques as evidence in legal proceedings.
• Evaluating how a legal understanding of science and technology shapes legal issues that arise with the patenting of human genes, nanotechnology and synthetic biology.