Our members

Dr Zoi Krokida Zoi is a Lecturer in AI, Innovation and Law and the Coordinator of the prestigious Pan-European Seal Professional Traineeship Program with the European Intellectual Property Office and the European Patent Office at Brunel University of London. She is also a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, an International Research Fellow at the Information Society Law Center of the University of Milan (2022-2025) and a visiting Lecturer at the University of Trento (2022, 2023). Zoi is Coordinating Board member of the Scottish Law and Innovation Network (SCOTLIN), a member of the working group of UNESCO Internet for Trust Global Knowledge Network; the Principal Investigator of the Society of Legal Scholars research activities fund on the project ' Effectiveness of website blocking injunctions and counterfeit goods: an empirical research study of the English and Scottish jurisdictions'; the BILETA research award recipient for the project '‘Are the website blocking injunctions an effective tool to combat online piracy?’ and a co-investigator of the research grant on the project of ‘Social Media-Facilitated Trafficking of Children and Young People’ by the ESRC Vulnerability & Policing Futures Research Centre. She holds a PhD in Information Technology Law and Intellectual Property Law without corrections from the University of Reading, an LLM with specialization in European Commercial Law from the University of Freiburg and an LLB (Ptychio) from Democritus University of Thrace. Since 2012, she has been a member of the Athens Bar Association and worked as a lawyer in commercial and intellectual property law cases. In 2015, she was employed as a legal Bluebook Trainee at the Cabinet of the EU Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs at the European Commission in Brussels. Her main research interests focus on the field of Information Technology law, Copyright and Trade mark law. In particular, she is interested in ISPs’ regulatory framework, online copyright and trade mark infringements, online defamation, protection of internet users' rights, enhancement of innovation in the digital world and responsible use of AI technology and the intersection of AI and Intellectual Property Rights. Zoi is a regular contributor to the Kluwer Copyright Blog and has extensively published in leading journals such as the European Law Review, Intellectual Property Quarterly and European Intellectual Property Review. Her monograph with the title Internet Service Provider Liability for Copyright and Trade Mark Infringement: Towards an EU Co-Regulatory Framework has been published by Hart Publishing (2022). She has been invited to give talks on the use of filtering tools and their implications to freedom of expression and creativy at the Copyright Literacy web seminars, at the Fair Dealing week event organized by the Copyright and Legal Group of the Scottish Confederation of University & Research Libraries; on redefining copyright in the age of AI by 4iP Council and on platform regulation at the Internet for Trust Knowledge Network Seminar under the auspices of UNESCO. Finally, Zoi is acting as an external examiner at Birmingham City University at the LLM on International Business Law & LLM International Business Law with Professional Placement (2021-2025) and at the University of South Wales at the LLM in Intellectual Property Law (in partnership with the UK Intellectual Property Office) (2022-2026). Information Technology Law, Intellectual Property Law, Artificial Intelligence.

Dr Hayleigh Bosher Hayleigh is a Reader in Intellectual Property Law at Brunel University London. She is 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 and Pathways Into Music, a not-for-profit organisation to support music educators and music talent development programmes. Hayleigh was awarded the British Academy Researcher-led Innovation Fellowships 2024-25 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, and a Visiting Research Fellow at the Centre for Intellectual Property, Policy and Management. 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). Hayleigh's research focuses on copyright law in the creative industries. In particular - copyright policy; copyright enforcement; copyright infringement; copyright remuneration; digital copyright; copyright education; copyright & social media, copyright & music, copyright & film, copyright & artificial intelligence. Hayleigh is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She runs the Intellectual Property Pro Bono at Brunel Law School and teaches on the following programmes: LLM/PGCert: Copyright, Designs and Allied Rights (Module Convener) LLM Contemporary Themes in Intellectual Property Law (Module Convener) LLM Philosophy of Intellectual Property MSC Artificial Intelligence Strategy LLB Intellectual Property Law PhD supervisor and dissertation supervisor Online Educational Tools Copyright and Social Media Faculti Interview 5 Free videos on Copyright, Designs & Trade Marks with Patsnap Academy. CreativeIP.org CopyrightUser.org Sharing Your Teaching Materials Through Social Media CLA Blog IPKat blog

Dr Asress Gikay Asress Gikay is a Senior Lecturer in AI, Disruptive Innovation, and Law at Brunel University London. He is an expert in legal and policy aspects of artificial intelligence including facial recognition technology, privacy and data protection. He has authored several publications on AI regulation in reputable academic journals including the Cambridge Law Journal and the Interntional Jounnal of Law and Information Technology. His work has been widely cited by academics and media platforms including BBC News, the Telegraph, the Weekly UK and many others. Asress has been interviewed by on BBC News and BBC South Today on the regulation of facial recogntion technology in law enforcement. He contributes to several media platforms including the Guardian, the EU Observer, the Conversation UK and Policing Insight on various current topics involving AI, facial recognition, and data protection. Some of his works have been republished in several media outlets and blogs around the world, including Yahoo News, Policing Insight, Inform's Blog, and Yahoo Movies. Asress is a member of Brunel University Center for AI: Social and Digital Innovation, and leads the centre's regular Thought Leadership Series, where academics, researchers and practictioners discuss the socio-economic, ethical, political, and policy challenges and opportunities AI technologies bring. He also serves as a board member of the AI Centre. BBC Interview on Live Facial Recognition Op-Eds Where EU efforts to regulate AI fall short(EU Observer, September 13, 2024), Facial recongition helps fight serious crime, but for minor UK offences, it should be off limits(The Gaurdian, December 24, 2023), Law, Policy and Governance of AI, Privacy and Data Protection Rights and Civil Liability in the context of AI decisions, facial recognition and biometric identification systems in law enforcement and private sectors, legal compliance as well as approaches and theories in AI regulation. LLM: AI, Law and Ethics(Module Convener) MSc AI Strategy: Law, Policy, and Goverance of AI(Module Convener) LLM: Privacy and Data Protection(Module Convener) LLB Tort Law

Dr Olga Gurgula Olga is a lecturer in intellectual property law at the Brunel Law School. She teaches various elements of IP law, including patents, designs, plant varieties and trade secrets, as well as IP-related topics, such as patents and access to medicines, anticompetitive patent strategies in the pharmaceutical industry, and international policies and trade-related matters in agriculture. Olga is a lecturer and course convenor of the Patent Law and Practice module (part of the Intellectual Property Postgraduate Certificate designed for trainee patent attorneys and accredited by the Intellectual Property Regulation Board) and the Philosophical Foundations of Intellectual Property Law. She also contributes to the teaching of other IP-related modules at the postgraduate level and teaches intellectual property law and English contract law at the undergraduate level. Olga holds a Visiting Fellow position at the Oxford Martin School, the University of Oxford. She is a member of the Oxford Martin Programme on Affordable Medicines, working on the ‘open innovation in drug development’ project to facilitate the accessibility and affordability of medicines. Olga is regularly commissioned for policy briefs, governmental studies, and consultations, including those funded by the UK FCO/DFID and the World Bank. As a research coordinator, Olga led a research team in a FCO/DFID project that provided technical assistance to the Ukrainian government on the establishment and operation of a new specialised IP court in Ukraine. She also acted as an international IP expert in a United Nations Development Programme project that assisted the government of Kazakhstan in developing its new IP strategy 2021-25. She advises a large patient organisation in Ukraine on its policy work on improving access to medicines, including changes to patent and competition laws. Before joining the Brunel Law School, Olga was a lecturer in intellectual property law at the Aston Law School, where she taught intellectual property law to law and business students. Prior to her lectureship at Aston University, Olga worked as a research associate at Queen Mary University of London. Olga’s research is focused on the intersection between patents, competition law and access to affordable medicines. She has written extensively in this field, including on patent strategies by pharmaceutical companies that block generic competition and lead to high drug prices. Her research on anticompetitive practices in the pharmaceutical industry became an important part of a co-authored submission to the UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines, which was included in its 2016 Final Report. In cooperation with Oxford Martin School medical scientists, Olga has been exploring the role of IP in the development of and access to COVID-19 vaccines, and the possibility of implementing open innovation models in drug discovery. She is also interested in AI and patents, and, in particular, their effects on healthcare. She made several submissions to WIPO and the UK IPO to inform their policy decisions on the patentability of AI-generated inventions. Selected Publications: 'Drug prices, patents and access to life-saving medicines: changes are urgently needed in the COVID-19 era' European Intellectual Property Review (forthcoming) 'COVID-19, IP and access: will the current system of medical innovation and access to medicines meet global expectations?' (co-authored with Dr Wen Hwa Lee, Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford) Journal of Generic Medicines (forthcoming) 'Strategic Patenting by Pharmaceutical Companies: Should Competition Law Intervene?' IIC - International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law (Vol 51, October 2020). 'AI-Assisted Inventions in the Field of Drug Discovery: Readjusting the Inventive Step Analysis' International Journal of Social Science and Public Policy (Vol. 2, No. 8; August 2020). 'Monopoly v. Openness: two sides of IP coin in the pharmaceutical industry' Journal of World Intellectual Property (Vol 20(5-6) November, 2017,206–220) 'Strategic Accumulation of Patents in the Pharmaceutical Industry and Patent Thickets in Complex Technologies — Two Different Concepts Sharing Similar Features' IIC - International Review of Intellectual Property and Competition Law (Vol 48(4)(June, 2017) 'Anticompetitive Patent Acquisitions in the Pharmaceutical Industry' European Competition Law Review (Vol. 38, Issue 1 (2017) 'Drugs and Patents: Myths, Realities, Competition and International Practice' (Ukrainian article) Legal Journal (Yuridichna Gazeta) (7 February 2017 N 6(556)) 'Patent Strategies and Competition Law in the Pharmaceutical Sector: Implications for Access to Medicines' (co-authored with Prof. Duncan Matthews, QMUL) European Intellectual Property Review, (Vol. 38(11)) 'US Supreme Court decision on reverse payment agreements: new era in patent litigation settlements – FTC v Actavis, Inc.' Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property, (Vol. 3 No. 4 (2013)) 'Restrictive Practices in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Reverse Payment Agreements. Seeking for a balance between Intellectual Property and Competition Law' Global Antitrust Review, (Issue 5, 2012)​ 'Overview of recent restructuring and insolvency activity in 2009/2010' (Ukraine) The Restructuring Review, 3d Edn 'Commercial concession: the regressive progress' (Legal Weekly, 16 March 2010 № 11); 'How to cut the Gordian knot or delimiting commercial and administrative jurisdictions' (Legal Weekly, 28 May 2009 № 29-30); 'Jurisdictional issues in IP protection' (Legal Weekly, 13 May 2008 № 20) (Ukrainian articles) POLICY & GOVERNMENTAL STUDIES: 'Ukraine DFID/FCO IP Court Project: The Final Report' (2020) (co-authored with Dr Noam Shemtov (QMUL), Anna Shtefan (Ukrainian IP Institute), Alina Trapova (Bocconi University) and Maciej Padamczyk (QMUL)) CCLS QMUL project funded by DFID/FCO Submission to the UK IPO ‘Open consultation: Artificial intelligence call for views: patents’ (2020). Submission ‘WIPO Impact of Artificial Intelligence on IP: Policy Response from Brunel University London' (2020) (co-authored with Dr Hayleigh Bosher, Mr Simon Stokes, Dr Faye Wang, Dr Paula Westenberger). 'The ‘Obvious to Try’ Method of Addressing Strategic Patenting: How Developing Countries Can Utilise Patent Law to Facilitate Access to Medicines' The South Centre, Policy Brief 59 (April 2019) 'Submission to the UN High-Level Panel on Access to Medicines: The importance of competition law in facilitating access to medicines' (2016) (co-authored with Prof. Duncan Matthews (QMUL)) LX5643 Patent Law and Practice (module convenor) LX5621 Philosophical Foundations of Intellectual Property (module convenor) LX5646 International Intellectual Property Law LX5650 Contemporary Themes in Intelectual Property Law and Policy LX3071 Intellectual Property Law LX1702 Contract Law

Dr Francesca Mazzi Francesca Mazzi is a lecturer in artificial intelligence (AI), innovation and the law. She is an expert in computer and communication law, with a specific focus on AI, intellectual property, data protection, and sustainability. From 2020 to 2023 she has been a postdoctoral research fellow in AI and Sustainable Development at Saïd Business School, University of Oxford, and a research associate at the Digital Governance Research Group of the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. She was one of the leading researchers of the Oxford Initiative on AI×SDGs, aimed at investigating how AI has been and can in the future be used to support and advance the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In her research, Francesca analyses existing AI for SDGs projects to map best practices, lessons learned, eventual gaps and potential solutions for the purpose of helping existing and future, public and private stakeholders operating within the sustainable development space. From 2017 to 2020 she was a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Early Stage Researcher within the EIPIN- Innovation Society in a double doctorate program between Queen Mary University of London and Maastricht University. The Ph.D. research project concerned the patentability of AI generated inventions and a case study on the pharmaceutical industry, with two partner organizations, Hovione and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations. Francesca holds a LL.M. in computer and communication law from Queen Mary University of London, and a master’s degree in law from Luiss Guido Carli University. She is a qualified lawyer in Italy. - Artificial intelligence - Intellectual Property - Data protection, health data - AI for sustainability, SDGs oriented solutions

Dr Paula Westenberger Dr Paula Westenberger is a Senior Lecturer in Intellectual Property Law at Brunel University London, where she teaches and convenes undergraduate and postgraduate intellectual property law modules at Brunel Law School. She is a member of the Centre for Artificial Intelligence at Brunel University. She joined Brunel in 2018, having previously held positions at Queen Mary University of London and Buckinghamshire New University. Paula holds a PhD (with Scholarship awarded by the Centre for Commercial Law Studies) and an LLM in Intellectual Property Law from Queen Mary University of London (QMUL), and an LLB from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), where she was also part of the Human Rights Centre research group "Simulações e Realidade". Paula also holds a Postraduate Certificate in Curating and Collections Management (Birkbeck) and a Postraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (Brunel). She is currently a Bridging Responsible AI Divides (BRAID) Research Fellow, leading the 18-month project Responsible AI for Heritage: copyright and human rights perspectives in partnership with RBG Kew (AHRC funded). She is currently researching the interface between cultural heritage, artificial intelligence and copyright law. Her research interests cover the intersection between copyright law, human rights and culture, with particular focus on topics including limitations and exceptions to copyright, the use of digital technology by cultural heritage institutions, and the relationship between artistic freedom and copyright law. Paula has founded and leads the Heritage AI and Law (HAIL) Network. She is also Deputy Editor for the European Copyright and Design Reports (ECDR), a member of the British Literary and Artistic Copyright Association (BLACA) and of the Society for Legal Scholars (SLS), and a peer reviewer for academic journals. Paula is a qualified lawyer in Brazil, where she has practiced in the field of intellectual property law since 2006. She is currently a BRAID Research Fellow, leading the 18-month project Responsible AI for Heritage: copyright and human rights perspectives in partnership with RBG Kew (AHRC funded). She is currently researching the interface between cultural heritage, artificial intelligence and copyright law. Her research interests cover the intersection between copyright law, human rights and culture, with particular focus on topics including limitations and exceptions to copyright, the use of digital technology by cultural heritage institutions, and the relationship between artistic freedom and copyright law. LLB: LX3071 Intellectual Property Law (module convenor) LLM: LX5646 International Intellectual Property Law (module convenor) LX5653 European and International Media Law (module convenor) LX5616 Privacy and Data Protection LX5621 Philosophical Foundations of Intellectual Property LX5642 Copyright, Design and Allied Rights LX5651 Cultural Heritage Law - Comparative and International Perspectives