Professor Aurora Plomer
email : a.plomer@sheffield.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)114 222 6755
School of Law The University Of Sheffield Bartolomé House Winter Street Sheffield S3 7ND
Career History
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).
Qualifications
Ph.D Philosophy (1988), University of Lancaster M.A. Philosophy (1982), University of Lancaster B.A. Hons Philosophy (1981), University of Lancaster LLB Hons (1993), University of Manchester
Research Interests
Current research interests include ethical, legal and human rights dimensions of research in the biosciences, IP and innovation, particularly with reference to Europe. I was the PI of the FP6 EU funded project `Embryonic Stem Cell Patents: European Law and Ethics´ and lead author of the `Stem Cell Patents Report´ on moral exc lusions to stem cell patents in Europe. I am a member of the newly created AAAS´ Science and Human Rights Coaliton subcommittee on `Science, Ethics and Human Rights´, a member of the ESRC Impact Committee on the Stem Cell Initiative and an advisor to the Stem Cell and and advisor to the Stem Cell and Society Programme at the University of Stanford
Key Publications
M. Favale & A. Plomer 'Fundamental Disjunctions in the European Legal Order on Human Tissue, Cells and Regenerative Therapies' Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law (2009) 16:1, pp.89-112
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
Plomer (2008) 'Constitutional Limits on Moral Exemptions to Biotechnological Patents' in A. Bakardjieva Engelbrekt & al. (eds.) Festskrift to Marianne Levin, Norstedts Juridik 487-502.
Plomer, A, Taymor, K, Thomas-Scott, C, (2008) 'Challenges to human embryonic stem cell patents' Cell Stem Cell 2(1): 13-17.
PLOMER, A et al. (2006), 'Stem Cell Patents: European Law and Ethics', European Commission, 163 pp. URL: View Report
PLOMER, A. (2005), The Law and Ethics of Medical Research: International Bioethics and Human Rights, London: Cavendish, 158 pp
PLOMER, A. (2005), 'A Foetal Right to Life? The case of Vo v France' Human Rights Law Review 5(2):311-338
Key Projects/Grants
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
- ‘A Fractured Landscape of Stem Cell Patents : Who owns what?’ Brocher Foundation Symposium on ‘From Promise to Practice: A New Epoch for Stem Cell Research’, Geneva, 4th September 2009. http://www.brocher.ch/pages/symppasses.asp
- ‘The Future of Stem Cell Patents in Europe after WARF’ NESCI Legal Workshop, Clifford Chance, London, 13th February 2009
- ‘Stem Cells and the European Patent System’ Berkeley Centre for Business, Law and Ethics, University of California at Berkeley, 27th January 2009
(video link: http://www.law.berkeley.edu/2579.htm)
- ‘Foundational Stem Cell Patents in the UK and the US’, University of California at Berkeley, 23rd January 2009.
- ‘Moral Exclusions on Stem Cell Patents: European Perspectives’ School of Law, University of Stanford, 22nd January 2009.
- ‘The European Group on Ethics: Law and Politics’, Stanford Centre for Biomedical Ethics, University of Stanford, 20th January 2009.
- A.Plomer & P. Taylor, 'Patently Complex: Emerging Questions on Patents on Biotechnological Inventions' Complexity and Policy: the Global Governance of New Health Technologies', ESRC Research Seminar Series, LSE, 26th November 2008.
- 'Towards Open-Access to Patent Data', 2020 Vision: The Impact of Science on Society, Genome Canada International Conference, Vancouver, 22nd-24th October 2008.
- 'The role of morality in patent law', UK Intellectual Property Office, Cardiff, 15th October 2008.
- 'Stem Cell Patents in the UK: Emerging Questions', UK Stem Cell Bank, London, 4th September 2008.
- 'Research Ethics, Property Rights and Innovation in the Biosciences', University of Sheffield Research Ethics Workshop, 24th July 2008.
- 'Intellectual Property, Law, Ethics & Innovation', 'Who Owns Science?', Manchester Interdisciplinary Bioscientre Inaugural Conference, University of Manchester, 5th July 2008.
- 'Ethics, Human Rights and the Responsible conduct of research in the biosciences' Jerusalem Research Ethics Conference, 27th- 29th May 2008, Hebrew University, Jerusalem.
- 'What Role for the EGE in a pluralistic and morally diverse Europe?' Bioethics and the reconciliation of cultural difference, 16th May 2008, King’s College, London
- 'Patent Ethics in Europe' – School of Law – University of Manchester, 23rd April 2008
- 'Ethical Controls on Patents & Biotechnological Research in Europe' Is there a future for patent ethics committees? workshop, Wellcome Trust funded project, Manchester, 13th April 2008 (with Marcella Favale).
- 'UK Stem Cell Patents & Access to Patent Data' – UK Stem Cell Network Inaugural Conference - Edinburgh, 9th-11th April 2008.
- 'Stem Cell Patents, Morality and Human Rights in Europe' – Pharmaceutical Patent Litigation Strategies - IP Institute, London, 31st March – 1st April 2008
- 'Stem Cells: the interface between Intellectual Property Rights and Human Rights' – National Institute of Industrial Property (INPI), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 17th March 2008
- 'Recent EPO Cases and the Pompidou Statement', J EuroStemCell – ESTOOLS workshop, Berlin, 19–20 April 2007
Professional Activities and Recognition
- Consultant: Retained Organs Commission
- Referee & Rapporteur for ESRC – MRC Stem Cell Initiative
- Scientific advisor to the Stem Cell and Society Program (Stanford) and DGEMap (Newcastle)
- Member ESRC Policy Impact Group for the Stem Cell Initiative
Teaching
- Regulation in the Biosciences
- Regulation of Human Tissue and Stem Cells
- Torts
Areas of Research Supervision
- UK & EU Regulation of the Life-Sciences
- International Bioethics & Human Rights
- Biomedical Research
- Patents on Stem Cells
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