Professor Abbe Brown

Biography

Abbe's research, teaching and policy engagement explores intellectual property and its intersection with other legal fields, in addressing key societal challenges.  Abbe is the Chair of British and Irish Law Education and Technology Association (BILETA) and is an NERC Constructing a Digital Environment Senior Expert.  

Abbe is a signatory of the 2021 Academic Open Letter in Support of the TRIPS Intellectual Property Waiver Proposal, the ICJ Opinion on Human Rights and the TRIPS Waiver and the ASPHER TRIPS Waiver Statement.  

Abbe's 2018 inaugural lecture "Saving the world and delivering equality? Law, innovation and power" is here. 

Abbe spent almost 10 years in professional legal practice in London, Melbourne and Edinburgh. Abbe provides consultancy activities, maintains links with the legal profession and industry and is involved in public engagement activities.

Since 2018 Abbe have been involved in negotiations relating to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction, in collaboration with colleagues from Chemistry and in developing the Song of the Ocean. Abbe is privileged to have attended COP26 as part of the University of Aberdeen Observer delegation.  

Abbe is University Dean for Student Support. She attends and presents at sector events at national and global level, such as WONKHE, Advance HE, QAA and Universities UK and was a member of the Quality Enhancement institutional review team of the University of Iceland.   

PhD Supervision

Abbe is interested in PhD supervision in any aspect of technology and innovation law. Abbe is supervising projects incorporate governance and patents, and IP and climate change. 

Office hours (hours available to students for informal discussion, in person or online) 

1.30-2.30pm UK time on Thursdays in term time, or at other times. Please email abbe.brown@abdn.ac.uk  

Prizes and Awards

University of Aberdeen Principal's Outstanding Research Award (Individuals at Further Stages of Career Development (Arts, Humanities and Social Science)) 2022

Research Overview

Abbe's research explores the interaction between legal fields relevant to innovation and creativity, with a strong interest on key societal challenges. She is a member of two of the School's Research Centres, the Centre for Commercial Law and the Centre for Energy Law. Abbe was the School of Law lead for REF2021.  

Abbe was part of the interdisciplinary interinstitutional team which won the Coventry University Research Team of the Year 2017 for the InVisible Difference project.  Abbe frequently contributes to public consultations relevant to her research, eg EU "Multilateral Reform of Investment Dispute Resolution" (2017), UK BEIS "Clean Growth Strategy" (2017), UK Human Rights Committee inquiry "Defending Rights: attitudes to enforcement" (2018), the Strategic Priorities of the Scottish Human Rights Commission (2019) and the UK Parliament International Relations and Defence Committee "UNCLOS: fit for purpose in the 21st century?" (2021).     

Since 2018 Abbe has been part of an interdisciplinary team exploring Marine Genetic Resources in the UN Biodiversity Beyond National Jurisdiction negotiations and inspired by this has qualified as a PADI open water diver, and in 2021 engaged in new forms of public engagement through song at local and global levels with the Song of the Ocean, and in online enlightenment salons through the Royal Society of Edinburgh's "Tea and Talk".       

Abbe published a monograph in 2012 with Edward Elgar Intellectual Property, Human Rights and Competition: Access to Essential Innovation and Technology, an edited collection in 2013 with Edward Elgar Environmental Technologies, Intellectual Property and Climate Change, with Charlotte Waelde an edited collection in 2018 with Edward Elgar Research Handbook on Intellectual Property and Creative Industries and in 2019 a monograph with Edward Elgar Intellectual Property, Climate Change and Technology.    Her research has been supported by the Modern Law Review, the Clark Foundation for Legal Education, the British Academy (see website), the Carnegie Trust, the Wellcome Trust (see IGBE here), the British and Irish Law, Education and Technology Association and the Arts and Humanities Reseach Council (see eg InVisible Difference here and blog here).  

Abbe has also contributed to leading textbooks in the intellectual property and information technology field, notably Contemporary Intellectual Property Law and Policy with Oxford University Press.  

Current Research

Present projects involve culture, disability and heritage; innovation, energy and sustainability; access to marine genetic resources; and underpinning common themes and intertwining of relevant laws.  

She is a member of EU Horizon 2020-funded MARBLES programme, a £6.37 million (€7.5 million), 5-year project that will develop new methods for the sustainable collection and use of biological resources from marine environments and assess their commercial potential.

She is a part of "Scientific knowledge across jurisdictions. Traceability, access and benefit sharing (ABS) and scientific policy in a multicultural world.” funded by the Royal Society of Edinburgh. 

She is a member of a UKRI-JSPS project exploring COVID and IP. 

Find her work via Google Scholar and Researchgate 

ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-2222-4537

Abbe is delighted to receive requests regarding PhD supervision in any aspect of intellectual property and technology law. 

Knowledge Exchange

Abbe is interested in PhD supervision in any aspect of technology and innovation law. Abbe is supervising projects incorporate governance and patents, and IP and climate change. 

Funding and Grants

Teaching Responsibilities

Intellectual Property

Professional Skills in Intellectual Property