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
A. Plomer and P. Torremans (eds.) Embryonic Stem Cell Patents: European Law and Ethics, OUP (2009) ISBN13: 9780199543465I
Plomer, A, `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 (2009)
Plomer, A, `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 (2009)
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
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.
BBSRC Synthetic Biology Research Network Initiative, *(£136.000), 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.
Recent Invited Papers and Keynote Lectures
- 'European Patent Policy', Brocher Foundation Workshop, Beyond the Embryo: Transnational, Transdisciplinary and Translational Perspectives on Stem Cell Research, 14th-15th November 2009, Geneva.
- 'The Tipping Point: Morality, Stem Cells and the European Patent System', Stanford Journal of Law, Science and Policy Symposium 'Stem Cell Policy: Understanding the Scientific and Legal Challenges' 2nd October 2009, University of Stanford (US).
- '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/5807.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
Member of the ESRC Policy Impact Group for the Stem Cell Initiative.
Member of the UK´s Medical Research Council´s expert committee on Human Developmental Biology Resource (HDBR).
Member of the Wellcome Trust Biomedical Ethics Interview Committee
Member of the AAAS Science and Human Rights committee on Science, Ethics and Human Rights
Advisory Posts
Adviser to the Stem Cell & Society Programme (University of Stanford, US)
Adviser to DGEMap (University of Newcastle)
Adviser to the Hinxton Group (Cambridge)
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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