Dr Hayleigh Bosher
Associate Dean / Reader in Intellectual Property Law

Summary

Hayleigh is a Reader in Intellectual Property Law and Associate Dean (Professional Development and Graduate Outcomes) at Brunel University London, as well as, Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Intellectual Property, Policy and Management, a legal consultant in the creative industries, an advisor for the independent UK charity for professional musicians, Help Musicians and sits on the advisory board of We Are The UnHeard, a social enterprise striving for inclusivity in the music industry. Hayleigh was awarded the British Academy Researcher-led Innovation Fellowships 2023-24 for her project 'The Future of the UK Music Industry: Exploring Policy and Practice,' in partnership with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).

Hayleigh is well-recognised in the field of intellectual property law, in particular copyright law and the creative industries, and has attained an international reputation in the field of music copyright in particular. Her work in this area has been cited extensively in academic, practitioner and policy outputs and she is regularly interviewed by numerous national and international media outlets, including the BBC, ITV, Sky News, Channel 5 News and The Guardian, The Times and The Wall Street Journal.

Hayleigh researches in the area of copyright and related laws in the creative industries, particularly in context of music, social media, and artificial intelligence and related technologies. Her research always involves public, policy and industry engagement, with an emphasis on helping creators understand their rights whilst at the same time ensuring that those rights are fairly balanced and adequately supported by law. As such, she is widely published in academic peer-reviewed journals, in the press, and has responded to a number of policy inquiries at international and national level. Her recent book; Copyright in the Music Industry, is accompanied with a playlist and podcast which she produces and co-hosts with Jules O'Riordan (AKA Judge Jules). She appeared before the DCMS Select Committee in relation to their Inquiry on the Economics of Music Streaming, the Science, Innovation and Technology Select Committee for their Inquiry on the Governance of Artificial Intelligence and the House of Lords Communications and Digital Committee on Large Language Models.

Hayleigh is a member of the UK Intellectual Property Office Research Experts Advisory Group, the Centre for Artificial Intelligence: Social and Digital Innovation, and the Research Centre for Law, Economics and Finance at Brunel. Hayleigh joined Brunel in 2018, having previously held positions at Coventry University, The University of the Arts London and the Academy of Digital Entertainment, Breda University (Netherlands). 

Qualifications

Hayleigh holds a PhD in Copyright Law from Bournemouth University, under the Vice Chancellor’s Scholarship Award. She also has completed the Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice and accepted as a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy 

Responsibility

Hayleigh teaches undergraduate and postgraduate Intellectual Property Law courses at Brunel Law School and leads the IP Pro Bono Service. She is Associate Dean (Professional Development and Graduate Outcomes) for the College of Business, Arts and Social Sciences.