The University of Sheffield
School of Law
Photo of Professor Aurora Plomer

Professor Aurora Plomer

Position: Professor of Law and Bioethics
Email: A.Plomer@sheffield.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)114 222 6755
Room No: EF11
Follow me on twitter: @AuroraPlomer

Academic Profile

Chair in Law and Bioethics, Director of SIBLE, School of Law, University of Sheffield (from 1st January 2007). Previously Reader and Lecturer in Law at the University of Nottingham (July 2003 - 2006), Lecturer in Law at the University of Leeds (1993 -2003), Philosophy Tutor (P/T) Open University (1988-1992).

eutopia law

Qualifications

Teaching and Learning

My teaching largely reflects my research interests on the intersection between philosophy and law. Many of my publications form an integral part of my current teaching in postgraduate modules in the LLM in Biotechnology Law and Ethics and supervision of PhD students. For instance, several of the modules I teach draw on my book ‘The Law and Ethics of Medical Research: International Bioethics and Human Rights’ and ‘Embryonic Stem Cell Patents: European Law and Ethics’, as well as articles on EU law on human tissue and cells in leading international journals.


I am the module coordinator for Torts in the MA program. I have award winning experience of developing innovative teaching materials in core subjects of the LLB, having produced the first computer assisted tutorials in Torts with funding from the City Solicitors’ Education Trust.


Through my teaching, I aim to create an environment which fosters deep reflection and critical appraisal of law. Most of all, I aim to inspire and equip others with the skills and knowledge needed to use law.

The modules I teach are:

Postgraduate and MA
Intellectual Property Law and the Biosciences
International Biolaw (Convenor)
Regulation of Human Tissue and Stem Cells (Convenor)
Principles of Bioethics and Biolaw (Convenor)
The Law of Torts (Convenor)

Research Interests

I have published widely on the intersection between human rights, bioethics and intellectual property rights, particularly in connection with stem cells and emerging technologies in the life-sciences. I am currently researching the impact of EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights  and I am writing a book on the right to access the benefits of science and new biotechnologies in international law. I am a member of the AAAS´ Science and Human Rights Coalition subcommittee on `Science, Ethics and Human Rights´, a member of the ESRC Impact Committee on the Stem Cell Initiative, an advisor to the Stem Cell and Society Programme at the University of Stanford and a contributor to the Matrix Chambers EU law blog EUTOPIA law.

Key Publications

Plomer, A ‘Human Rights, Property Rights and Emerging Biotechnologies (Johns Hopkins University Press, forthcoming 2012).

Plomer, A 'The Human Rights Paradox: Intellectual Property Rights and Access to Science' Human Rights Quarterly (forthcoming 2012).

Plomer, A. 'After Brustle: EU Accession to the ECHR and The Future of European Patent Law', Queen Mary Journal of Intellectual Property, forthcoming issue 5th, April, 2012.

Plomer, A 'EU Ban on Stem Cell Patents: Intended and Unintended Consequences', EUTOPIAlaw, 4th, November, 2011

Plomer, A. "The Right to Access the Benefits of Science and Intellectual Property Rights".in Bin & al. Biotech Innovations and Fundamental Rights, Springer, 45-68 (2011)

Plomer, A. (2010) Stem Cell Patents in a Global Economy: the Legal Challenges. Stanford Journal of Law, Science and Policy. 3:5-15

Plomer, A. and P. Torremans (eds.) Embryonic Stem Cell Patents: European Law and Ethics, OUP (2009) ISBN13: 9780199543465I - Book Reviews

Plomer, A. (2009) Towards Systemic Legal Conflict: Article 6(2)(c) of the Biotech Directive. In Plomer & Torremans (eds.) Embryonic Stem Cell Patents: European Law and Ethics, 174 -202, OUP

Plomer, A. (2009) Human Dignity, Human Rights and Article 6(1) of the Biotech Directive. In Plomer & Torremans (eds.) Embryonic Stem Cell Patents: European Law and Ethics 203-226, OUP

Favale, M. and Plomer, A. (eds) (2009) Fundamental Disjunctions in the EU Legal Order on Human Tissue, Cells and Regenerative Therapies' Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law, 16(1), pp.89-112

Plomer, A. The European Group on Ethics: Law, Politics and the Limits of Moral Integration in Europe, European Law Journal, Volume 14 Issue 6, Pages 839 - 859
DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0386.2008.00447.x

Key Projects/Grants

Wellcome Trust, £5000 – Visiting costs to the AAAS in Washington DC and the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, University of Oxford in 2011.

ESRC (UK Stem Cell Initiative), (£3000) – International Visiting Fellowship (2008-2009), University of Berkeley, Centre for Business, Law and the Economy and University of Stanford, Stem Cell & Society Programme.

BBSRC Synthetic Biology Research Network Initiative, (£160.000), Sheffield network: M.A.T.E.s Ethics and Law partner, PIs P. Wright and R. Poole – May 2008 – 2011. The aim of MATEs is to examine the issues arising from forward engineering tools to generate synthetic biological materials to mimic the basement membrane from an interdisciplinary perspective.

White Rose, (£13,350) – Sheffield PI. 'White Rose IPBio Project'. (2009-2010)
The aim is to raise the international standing of the Universities of Leeds, York and Sheffield on IPR and the biosciences, in the first instance via linkage with the newly created IPBio Network (including Harvard, Yale, MPI, CERMES (Paris) recently established by Dr Radick (Leeds) and to explore opportunities for further collaborative research.


Recent Invited Papers and Keynote Lectures

View full list of invited papers and keynote lectures

Professional Activities and Recognition

Advisory Posts

Areas of Research Supervision