Indigenous Knowledge Forum 2019
The Third Indigenous Knowledge Forum (IKF) was held on 12-13 June 2019 at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS). The IKF, ‘Models for a Competent Authority – Facilitating Self-Determination’, brought together a diverse range of presentations from Australian and international speakers.
See here for the abstracts and presentatoins
Keynote Speakers
Professor Chidi Oguamanam, Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa -"The Geopolitics of Capacity Building and Capacity Development: A South-North Community-to-Community Approach to ABS and Traditional Knowledge"
Associate Professor Trevor Reed, Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, Arizona State University (USA) - "Mapping Sonic Authority: Questions of Ontology and Sovereignty in the Indigenous IP Project"
John Scott, Secretariat of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Montreal - "Report on the Achievements to Date on Traditional Knowledge and the Nagoya Protocol"
Other Speakers
Dr Lida Ayoubi, Auckland University of Technology (AUT), Law School - "Intellectual Property Commercialisation by New Zealand Universities and Protection of Mātauranga Māori"
Associate Professor Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews and Shannon Foster, Centre for the Advancement of Indigenous Knowledges, University of Technology Sydney; Aunty Frances Bodkin, Uncle Gavin Andrews, Uncle John Foster, D’harawal Elders; Brownwyn Carlson, Department of Indigenous Studies, Macquarie University - 'The Seven Peace Keepers: Listening, Living, Fighting, and Healing through D’harawal Storytelling'
Andrea Buitrago-Carranza, McGill University, Faculty of Law - 'Aboriginal Peoples’ Right to Self-Governance under International Human Rights Law: Justifying the Protection of Aboriginal Knowledge in Canada'
Associate Professor Joanne Jamie, Indigenous Bioresources Research Group, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW; Deb Breckenridge, Cultural Liaison Officer, Yaegl Community, Maclean, NSW; Associate Professor Paul Prenzler, School of Agricultural and Wine Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW; Associate Professor Subramanyam Vemulpad, Indigenous Bioresources Research Group, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW; and Yaegl Aboriginal Elders - 'University-Community Research Collaborations: Achievements and Challenges'
Dr Michael Davis, Research Fellow, Garuwanga Project, University of Technology Sydney - 'Can Effective Indigenous Self-Determination be Achieved within the Nation-State?'
Dr Marie Geissler, University of Wollongong - 'The Agency of Arnhem Land Bark Painting in the Self Determination of Indigenous Australian Culture: Buku-Larrnggay Mulka Incorporated -Yirrkala Art Centre – Case Study of a Community Based, Indigenous-Controlled Competent Authority'
Dr Oluwatobiloba Moody, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Center for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Canada - 'Indigenous Self-Determination, Biopiracy, and Competent National Authorities'
Professor Bradford W Morse, Dean of Law, Thompson Rivers University Faculty of Law, Canada & Professor of Law, Te Piringa – Faculty of Law, University of Waikato, NZ - 'Obtaining Recognition of Indigenous Control of ITK Directly or through Enabling Legislation'
Bernice L Murphy, Editor, Museums Australia Magazine, Australia - Museums, Ethics, and Indigenous Culture: Standards-Setting in a Longer Time Perspective than Protective Legal Measures Alone
Margaret Ninsin, University of Ghana - 'The Development of Access and Benefit Sharing Mechanisms in African Countries for the Protection of Traditional Knowledge'
Professor Giacomo Pace Gravina, Department of Jurisprudence, University of Messina (Italy) - 'Protection of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Sicily'
Associate Professor Daniel F Robinson, Environment and Society Group, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales - 'Māori Knowledge under the Microscope: Appropriation and Patenting of Mātauranga Māori and Related Resources'
Dr Ekapong Sarnnoi, School of Law, Sripatum Univerisity; and Dr Chongnang Wiputhanupong, School of Law, Sripatum University - 'Forming a Competent Authority to Protect Intangible Cultural Heritage'
Professor Nancy E Shurtz, Bernard A. Kliks Chair, School of Law, University of Oregon - 'Tax as a Tool for Self-Determination: The Native American Case Study'
Professor Natalie Stoianoff, Director, Intellectual Property Program, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney; Professor Fiona Martin, School of Taxation and Business Law, University of New South Wales; and Professor Andrew Mowbray, Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney – ‘Garuwanga: Forming a Competent Authority to Protect Indigenous Knowledge'
Dr Evana Wright, Lecturer, University of Technology Sydney – ‘Competent Authorities for the Protection of Traditional Knowledge: Lessons from India and Peru’
Speaker & Chair Biographies
BODKIN-ANDREWS, Gawaian
Gawaian Bodkin-Andrews is a D'harawal scholar whose research engages with Indigenous Research Methodologies, Indigenous Data Sovereignty, and Indigenous Storywork and Storytelling frameworks. Through these methodologies, his research seeks to centre critical Aboriginal Australian standpoints across a diversity of disciplines and topics including racism, identity, mental health, education, mentoring, and bullying.
BUITRAGO-CARRANZA, Andrea
Andrea is a lawyer (Barrister & Solicitor) member of the Law Society of Ontario since 2017. Recently, Andrea Buitrago-Carranza was a legal researcher and policy analyst at Hutchins Legal Inc., were she focused on the international law applicable to Aboriginal issues in Canada, in particular international human rights law and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).
She completed her double degree in common law and civil law at McGill University in 2015 (BCL/LLB), where she explored her interest in academia and was co-founder of the McGill Journal of International Law and Legal Pluralism “Inter-Gentes.” Both as part of a research team and individually, she wrote and presented at conferences papers relating to different ways to enforce human rights. She was also selected by the McGill Centre for Human Rights & Legal Pluralism as theMcGill 2016-2017 Clerk before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, where among other tasks, she provided research and helped drafting the Advisory Opinion OC-24/17, concerning the right to identity.
Shortly after the completion of her BCL/LLB at McGill, Andrea joined the legal offices of three Specialized Agencies of the United Nations as legal trainee: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), and the International Civil Aviation Organization of the United Nations (ICAO). During these placements, Andrea assisted their Legal Officers in advising their secretariats, technical units, regional and field offices on a wide range of legal and constitutional aspects, including drafting and reviewing international agreements protecting the intellectual property of these agencies, and the protection of the privileges and immunities of their staff and property.
Andrea also holds a Master in Public Administration (with concentration in Global Governance) from Queen’s University and an Honours degree in Political Science from Bishop’s University. She is fluent in English, French and Spanish.
DAVIS, Michael
Dr Michael Davis has worked for many years across the disciplines of history, policy, postcolonial studies and theory. His research interests include: Indigenous/European encounters, histories and knowledges, ecology, anthropological history, and theories of place; policy and analysis of Indigenous knowledges, ethical research, and environmental humanities. He has worked in academia, public policy, and as an independent consultant. In his consultancy work, Michael has been engaged by a range of organisations including Aboriginal land councils and community organisations, universities and research organisations, among others. He is widely published, and his latest book (co-edited with Professor Joni Adamson, Arizona State University), is Humanities for the Environment: Integrating Knowledge, Forging New Constellations of Practice (Routledge, 2017).
GEISSLER, Marie
Marie Geissler brings to the field of fine art a broad experience and knowledge in relation to research, education, writing and curation of issues associated with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous art and culture. Her academic qualifications span the disciplines of both the Sciences and Fine Arts and include a degree in the Biological Sciences that relates to understandings of the importance of respecting the interconnected living systems of the natural world. In the Fine Arts she holds a Graduate Certificate in Art History and a
Doctorate in the history of issues associated with the reception of Arnhem Land bark painting over several centuries.
Marie worked in scientific research for some of the nation’s most prestigious scientific institutions developing her understandings of the natural world at both the macro and micro levels. She then worked in education, and in recent years following her studies in the Fine Arts has been engaged in programs for the research, protection, management and promotion of contemporary art.
Marie’s diverse curatorial experience includes the production of a catalogue for the Australian exhibit at the UN-funded Kassel Documenta (now in the Mitchell Library in Sydney) and Australian Curator for the curation of the exhibition which represented of over sixty Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian artists in Kassel Germany. As Sydney Director of Agathon Galleries Sydney, she curated exhibitions of Indigenous artists for display in Australia and overseas and lectured on Aboriginal art. As a Senior Researcher to Margo Neale, the Indigenous curator at National Museum of Australia, she assisted in her work for the Songlines. Tracking the Seven Sisters exhibition of 2018.
Marie’s research skills have also been applied in other projects, including as an Investigation Team Member to the Garuwanga Project Research Roundtable of the Indigenous Knowledge Forum, chaired by Professor Natalie Stoianoff at the Law School at UTS, which is developing legal protocols to protect indigenous intellectual property. As well, she is a Member of the WANTOK Strategy Team, acting in a research and cultural advisory role for the Australian South Sea Islander Association in Sydney (http://www.assipj.com.au/wantok-strategy-team/), which is currently seeking oversight of the 60,000 item-strong, Pacific Islander Collection at the Australian Museum.
Marie has published widely on the arts (mainly in the non-academic press) over thirty years.
JAMIE, Joanne
A/Prof. Joanne Jamie is a Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemist and Deputy Head of the Department of Molecular Sciences at Macquarie University in Sydney. Her research activities include the firsthand documentation, biological screening and isolation of bioactive compounds from customary medicines. As part of the research conducted with Yaegl Elders of northern NSW on customary medicinal plants, six journal articles co-authored with the Yaegl Elders have been published as well as a bush medicine handbook that is being used in Yaegl Country for education and cultural tourism. Joanne and the Macquarie team have collaborated with the Yaegl Elders and Maclean High School staff on the River of Learning Cultural Immersion Program, which is an award-winning program run by the Elders for secondary school students of Maclean High School (on Yaegl Country). As a best ethical practice extension to the customary medicinal plant research, Joanne has also co-established and co-directs the National Indigenous Science Education Program (NISEP, nisep.org.au), which is in partnership with the Yaegl Elders and uses Western and Indigenous science to enhance educational outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous secondary school students. Joanne additionally developed and convenes the Macquarie University subject Engaging the Community in Science (established 2012), which allows Macquarie undergraduate students to contribute to and increase the capacity of NISEP. NISEP has received various awards for its community engagement, including the 2011 Australian Learning Teaching and Council Award, and NISEP won 2016 PwC Innovator of the Year as part of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) STEM 21st Century Minds Accelerator Program. In May 2019 during National Reconciliation Week, Joanne received a Macquarie University Reconciliation Award for her research and community engagement.
MARTIN, Fiona
Professor Martin is an internationally recognised expert on taxation issues, particularly those relating to charities and not-for-profits. She has published extensively in this area and on income tax issues relating to indigenous Australians who receive mining payments, the goods and services tax and taxation issues relating to real estate. Her doctoral research was awarded the International Fiscal Association research prize and the Wolters Kluwer Australasian Tax Teachers Doctoral Series Award. It is published by Wolters Kluwer as Income Tax, Native Title and Mining Payments (2014). Professor Martin's other areas of research include international human rights, legal education, governance of legal structures and social entrepreneurs and she has published many scholarly articles in these areas.
Professor Martin has been awarded two Australian Research Council Grants together with other prestigious external funding. She is regularly invited to present her research at national and international conferences such as the International Society of Third Sector Research Biennial Conference and the North American Law & Society Conference.
MOODY, Oluwatobiloba
Oluwatobiloba Moody is currently a post-doctoral with the intellectual property stream of the Center for International Governance Innovation’s International Law Research Program. In this role, he researches international law and governance pertaining to intellectual property with a specific focus on the protection of traditional knowledge and genetic resources. Prior to joining CIGI, Oluwatobiloba worked as a lawyer in both public and private organizations in Nigeria, as well as with international organizations in Geneva, such as the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). He remains a consultant for WIPO. He has taught extensively on the relationship between intellectual property and traditional knowledge, and has been invited as a guest lecturer to several universities, including the University of Indonesia, Indonesia, the University of Geneva, Switzerland and the George Mason University, USA, amongst others. He also remains a frequent presenter/discussant within major international conferences.
Oluwatobiloba has a Ph.D. in Global Intellectual Property law from Queen’s University, Canada, where amongst other scholarships, he studied as a recipient of Canada’s most prestigious graduate scholarship – the Vanier Scholarship. He completed his LL.M. cum laude in International Trade and Investment Law from the University of the Western Cape, South Africa and obtained his LL.B. from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. He is called to the Nigerian Bar in dual capacity as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria.
MORSE, Brad
Brad Morse has been Dean and Professor of Law at the Faculty of Law, Thompson Rivers University since January 2015. He previously was Dean and Professor of Law for over 5 years at the University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand and Professor of Law at the University of Ottawa since joining that Faculty in 1976. He completed his 1st law degree at UBC, so coming to TRU has been a long awaited return to BC. He has taught a wide variety of courses in law schools over the years. Brad’s career includes appointments as Executive Director of the Native Legal Task Force of British Columbia (1974-75); Research Director of the Aboriginal Justice Inquiry of Manitoba (1988-91); and Chief of Staff to the Hon. Ronald A. Irwin, Canadian Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (1993-1996). He has also served as legal advisor to many First Nations in Canada as well as national and regional Aboriginal organizations since 1974 and a consultant to various royal commissions, government departments and Indigenous peoples' organizations in Canada, Australia and New Zealand.
MOWBRAY, Andrew
Professor Andrew Mowbray joined the Faculty in 1986 as a Lecturer with degrees in Computing Science and Law. He took a national leadership role in the computerization of law and the development of computerized legal research from the late 1980s onwards. Over the years, Professor Mowbray has maintained an active involvement in the teaching of the core subject Legal Research and specialist electives such as Law and Computers.
MURPHY, Bernice
Bernice Murphy has some decades of experience in Australia as a curator of contemporary art. She was involved for 15 years in the development of the MCA Sydney – as Chief Curator, and finally the second Director of the MCA (including the MCA’s acquisition of three large collections of Indigenous Australian art). She was involved for many years in international affairs of the museums community: for 9 years as a member of the Executive Board of the Paris-based International Council of Museums (6 years as Vice-President of ICOM). She then chaired ICOM’s Ethics Committee for 7 years, coordinating ICOM’s international work on ethics and professional standards-setting for the museums community world-wide. She also served on ICOM’s Legal Affairs Committee. She is an honorary Life Member of both ICOM (Paris) and Museums Australia (Canberra), and received the Australia Council Visual Arts Emeritus Medal in 1999, and the ICOM-Australia Award for International Relations in 2009. She commissioned and edited (for ICOM’s 70th anniversary) a collected volume of essays: Bernice L Murphy (ed.), Museums, Ethics and Cultural Heritage (Routledge, UK, and ICOM, Paris, 2016).
NINSIN, Margaret
Margaret Ninsin holds a Masters degree in Legal studies, a special executive masters in international business law and a PhD in legal studies. She currently holds the position of General Counsel at OLMEC. OLMEC is an international organization represented in Europe, America and Africa. This organization seeks to raise funds for development projects in Africa.
She is the President and Founder of the Intellectual Capital Institute of Africa, an organization that works in several areas of research and development but most importantly in the area of advocacy for the protection of indigenous knowledge,
Margaret is the Chief Executive Officer of MNISSI Law Consult; A Legal firm based in Accra, where she specializes in arbitration and legal research. Also, she is an Advocate for the Intellectual Property Rights of Indigenous knowledge especially in African tropical Medicines.
She contributed a chapter titled “Protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Culture: The African Experience” in the publication “Comparative Systems for Recognizing and protecting Indigenous Knowledge and Culture” (https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/231319064)
She is passionate about working with people in rural communities. Her NGO, Dawn of Hope specializes in building libraries for disadvantaged communities in Ghana. She is committed to improving literacy among rural folk and creating awareness of indigenous knowledge. Margaret also founded Hope International Trust in Zimbabwe, a non-profit organization that assists female ex-convicts and juveniles in difficult circumstances.
OGUAMANAM, Chidi
Chidi Ogumanam is a full professor in the Faculty of Law (Common Law Section), University of Ottawa, Canada where he is affiliated with three Centres of Excellence: Centre for Law, Technology and Society, Centre for Environmental Law and Global Sustainability, and the Centre for Health Law Policy and Ethics. He holds numerous research fellowships and affiliations with leading organizations, including, the Centre for International Governance Innovation, the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law at McGill University, and IP Law Unit at University of Cape Town. Following professional legal practice in corporate and intellectual property, Dr. Oguamanam attended graduate school at the University of British Columbia where he obtained his LL.M. and Ph.D. degrees in law. He began his academic career as a fellow of Canada Institutes of Health Research. He joined Dalhousie Law School (now Schulich School of Law) in 2004. At Dalhousie University, Dr. Oguamanam had administrative responsibility as the Director of the Law and Technology Institute (2007-2011). In 2008, he became an adjunct professor per term at the Case Western Reserve Law School, Cleveland, Ohio where he taught Indigenous Peoples and their Knowledge in International Law. An author, co-author and editor of several books that reflect a wide range of interdisciplinary research, Dr. Oguamanam leads and is affiliated with many research consortia, including the ABS Canada and the Open Africa Innovation Research Partnership. Some of his books include International Law and Indigenous Knowledge (University of Toronto, 2010), Intellectual Property in Global Governance (Routledge, 2011), Innovation and Intellectual Property (University of Cape Town, 2014), Genetic Resources, Justice and Reconciliation (Cambridge, 2019). He is a sought-after speaker and public intellectual committed to justice and fairness in global knowledge governance paradigms with emphasis on intellectual property’s interface with Indigenous knowledge systems. In 2016, he was named to the Royal Society of Canada College of New Scholars.
OKEDIJI, Ruth
Ruth L. Okediji is the Jeremiah Smith Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and co-Director of the Harvard University Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society. Prior to this appointment, she was the William L. Prosser Professor and McKnight Endowed Presidential Professor at the University of Minnesota Law School. From 1994 – 2003, she was the Edith Gaylord Presidential Professor of Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. She has also taught at Emory Law School, Duke University School of Law, the University of Haifa Law School (Israel), the University of St. Thomas School of Law, and the University of Tilburg Law School (Netherlands). In 2015-2016, she held the Heiken Visiting Professorship in Patent Law at Harvard Law School. Professor Okediji teaches contracts, copyright, patents, and courses in Biblical Law.
PACE GRAVINA, Giacomo
Full Professor of History of Medieval and Modern Law, Law Department, University of Messina (Italy);
Delegate of the Rector of the University of Messina to the Artistic and cultural Heritage and the University's Historical Archive;
Member of the Commission for the History of the Advocacy in Italy of the National Bar Council;
Deputy Director of the Rivista di Storia del Diritto italiano;
Winner of the Erice International Prize for Ius Commune (1995), and of the Prize 'Le Muse' (Clio), XLV ed., (Florence 2010);
Advisor for cultural activities at Municipality of Caltagirone (Sicily).
PRENZLER, Paul
A/Prof. Paul Prenzler is an analytical chemist and Head of the Chemistry Discipline at Charles Sturt University in Wagga. His research activities include investigation of phenolic antioxidants in foods and beverages, which has led to studies of these compounds in medicinal plants in Australia and Pakistan. In 2011, Paul was invited to meet with the Wiradjuri Council of Elders to discuss partnerships to study Wiradjuri medicinal plants, and since then has developed relationships with Elders and other Community members to progress understanding of the chemistry of these plants. The National Indigenous Science Education Program (NISEP, nisep.org.au) expanded to Mt Austin High School in Wagga Wagga (2012-ongoing) through Paul’s connections with Macquarie University, Indigenous leaders in Wagga, and science teachers at the high school. He is currently Co-Director of the Charles Sturt University hub of NISEP, which has expanded to other campuses of CSU – Port Macquarie and Orange, as well as other high schools in the Wagga region – Kooringal and Narrandera. Paul is currently enrolled in a Graduate Certificate in Wiradjuri Culture, Language and Heritage at Charles Sturt University. He is a member of the Campus Environmental Committee at Charles Sturt University, with a focus on establishing a Wiradjuri Pharmacy, a garden of medicinal plants, in partnership with people from the Wiradjuri Community.
QUIGGIN, Robynne
Professor Robynne Quiggin is a Wiradjuri lawyer and business woman who has worked across business, legal and policy areas of relevance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians including consumer issues, financial services, human rights, governance, rights to culture, heritage and the arts.
Robynne has practised as a solicitor, running her own legal consulting business for 10 years, was the inaugural CEO of the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute and managed ASIC’s Indigenous program. She has served on a number of boards including the Arts Law Centre of Australia, our national cultural institution the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), social enterprise First Hand Solutions and independent Indigenous media organisation and radio station Gadigal Information Services. She is currently chair of the Board of the NSW Aboriginal Housing Office, deputy chair of the board of Bangarra Dance Theatre, chair of Westpac’s Indigenous Advisory Committee, a member of Westpac’s Stakeholder Advisory group, a member of IAG’s Consumer Advisory Board and member of the Steering Committee of the Australian Sustainable Finance Initiative.
Prior to her appointment at UTS, Robynne was Deputy Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission.
REED, Trevor
Trevor Reed is an associate professor of law at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, where he teaches property, copyright, cultural resources law and federal Indian law. Reed’s research explores the social impacts of intellectual property law on individual and group autonomy. His recent work has focused on the linkages between creative production and Native American sovereignty. Since 2009, Reed has been involved in community-partnered repatriation initiatives with Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, working to return indigenous materials and their respective IP rights from museums, archives and other holding institutions back to local communities. Professor Reed’s recent work on this topic has been published in Columbia’s Journal of Law and the Arts (Andrew D. Fried Memorial Prize), the Oxford Handbook of Music Repatriation, and the volume Music and Modernity among First Peoples of North America (Wesleyan University Press). Forthcoming publications include articles in the journal Anthropological Quarterly and the Journal for the Society of American Music, and chapters in two edited volumes Music and Human Rights, and Indigenous Communities and Research: Research with, by and for Indigenous Peoples. Reed holds a JD from Columbia Law School, a PhD (ethnomusicology) from Columbia’s Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, and a Master of Arts Administration from Teachers College, Columbia University.
ROBINSON, Daniel
Daniel Robinson is Associate Professor with the Environment and Society Group, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney Australia. He is Academic Lead for the Pacific for the UNSW Institute for Global Development (IGD). He is also the Pacific Regional Manager of the multi-donor, EU-funded, GIZ-led Access and Benefit-Sharing Capacity Development Initiative (ABS Initiative). With Dr Margaret Raven (UNSW Scientia Fellow), Daniel is Chief Investigator on a 5-year ARC Discovery Grant: Indigenous Knowledge Futures. He has published a number of books on these issues and worked on projects for a number of agencies including ICTSD-UNCTAD, UNDP-GEF, Department of Environment/AusAID, and others.
ROY, Alpana
Dr Alpana Roy is a legal academic and practitioner, and an accredited mediator. She is an expert in intellectual property law, with a particular focus on trade marks, domain names, and copyright.
Alpana has several years of experience in intellectual property and commercial law – in both practice and the academy. She has lectured in a wide range of postgraduate and undergraduate intellectual property, commercial law, and dispute resolution subjects at various universities, including the University of Sydney, the University of Queensland, the University of Technology Sydney, and Western Sydney University where she is currently the Director of Research and an Associate Professor in the School of Law. Alpana is widely published and a commissioned author for several major legal publishers including Thomson Reuters, Federation Press, LexisNexis, Oxford University Press, and CCH. She is also regularly invited to speak at international and national seminars on a broad range of legal topics.
Alpana was admitted to practise in NSW in 1999, and is on the Roll of Legal Practitioners for the High Court of Australia. She has worked for top-tier corporate law firms (Clayton Utz, and King & Wood Mallesons), boutique specialist firms, and various private and public sector organisations. Alpana has practised both as a solicitor and a barrister (at the Sydney Bar), and has also worked internationally as a lawyer. She has been involved in a number of leading cases in the Federal Court of Australia.
Alpana has also worked as a mediator since 2009. She is nationally accredited under the National Mediator Accreditation System (NMAS), and is accredited with the Law Society of NSW. Alpana has been appointed to the following panels: District Court of NSW Mediators Panel; NSW Law Society Mediators Panel; Family Law Settlement Service (FLSS) Panel. She speaks English as well as Hindi and Bengali.
SARNOOI, Egkapong
Dr. Egkapong Sarnnoi is a lecturer at School of Law, Sripatum University. He received his PhD in Law from Ramkamhaeng University, Bangkok, Thailand. His researches focus on the legal impact of the administrative law on people and the local authorities. The researches include: “The use of herbs for the health care of people, Rawaeng Sub-district, Yarang District, Pattani Province” and “Measures and legal guidelines for control residue in fruit and vegetable products: a case study of Chainat Province”. He also specialises in Legal Sociology, Criminal and Public Law.
SCOTT, John
Through his Father (Jack Scott) and his Grandmother (Catherine Maud Evans), Mr. Scott is a descendant of the Iningai people (Indigenous Australian) of central Queensland (Barcaldine area). They are Freshwater Murris.
Mr. Scott has a significant background in education, social policy, law, indigenous rights and traditional knowledge. He has moved through various incarnations to get where he is today including as a leading senior high school teacher, Aboriginal Education Advisor, Chief Educational Officer for Aboriginal Programs, Senior Policy Advisor (Office of the aboriginal Social Justice Commissioner, Australian Human Rights Commission), Deputy Director for the School of Indigenous Australian Studies at James Cook University, Manager of the Cultural Rights Unit of the National Policy Branch with National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), Indigenous Human Rights Officer with the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights (OHCHR), and Senior Policy Officer of the Secretariat of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. Currently Mr. Scott is the Senior Programme Officer for Traditional Knowledge and Customary Sustainable Use of Biological Diversity, the focal point for indigenous peoples and local communities, and the Manager of the Peoples and Biodiversity Unit (which includes Gender and Health) at the United Nation’s Convention on Biological Diversity. He also manages on behalf of the Convention, the Joint Programme of Work, between the Secretariat of the CBD and UNESCO on Biological and Cultural Diversity.
Mr. Scott’s Education: Diploma of Secondary Teaching (Arts/Humanities), Graduate Diploma in Aboriginal Education (with Distinction), Master of (Indigenous) Legal Studies – International Indigenous Rights and Constitutional Law Reform.
Shurtz, John
Nancy Shurtz is B. A. Kliks Professor in the School of Law. She the law school faculty from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School. Her interests include individual and business tax law, tax policy, environmental policy, and women and the law. She is editor for the Media/book Products Committee of the American Bar Association's Real Property, Probate, and Trust Section. Shurtz has been a literature reviewer and columnist for Estate Planning magazine since 1990. Recently, she consulted with Mills College (California) about the formation of an all women's law school after her article on the subject came out in 2005 in The Hastings Women's Law Review.
Stoianoff, Natalie
Natalie Stoianoff is a Professor and Director of the Intellectual Property Program at the Faculty of Law, University of Technology Sydney, since 2008. She is the Chair of the Indigenous Knowledge Forum Committee, member of the UTS Commercialisation Advisory Panel, and is currently Co-convenor of the Technology and Intellectual Property Research Cluster and past convenor of the China Law Research Group. She is the author of numerous publications including: lead author of the 2019 Lexis Nexis publication, Commercialisation of Intellectual Property; co-author of the Federation Press publication, Intellectual Property Law Text and Essential Cases, adopted by several Australian universities and now in its fifth edition; editor of and author in the multidisciplinary book, Accessing Biological Resources, Complying with the Convention on Biological Diversity, published in 2004 by Kluwer Law International Environmental Law & Policy Series; and currently the managing editor of the newly formed Lexis Nexis series for the Indigenous Knowledge Forum. Natalie is the lead chief investigator for the ARC Linkage Grant project - Garuwanga: Forming a Competent Authority to Protect Indigenous Knowledge – which is exploring the governance framework for an access and benefit-sharing regime.
Stoianoff, Natalie
A/Prof. Subramanyam Vemulpad is a medical microbiologist, working as an academic at Macquarie University since 2000. He is the Chair of University Biosafety Committee and Deputy Associate Dean (HDR) for the Faculty of Science and Engineering. His areas of interest include antimicrobial and other bioactive compounds from traditional medicinal plants, preservation of customary knowledge, nonpharmacological interventions for improving lung function and working with disadvantaged groups to improve their educational outcomes and to strengthen their capacity. He has earlier worked in India and Malawi and has wide experience in tropical and infectious diseases including filariasis and tuberculosis. Subra is a part of the Macquarie team collaborating with the Yaegl Elders and Maclean High School on the award-winning River of Learning Program. He co-directs the National Indigenous Science Education Program (NISEP; nisep.org.au), in partnership with Yaegl Elders, which strives to enhance educational outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous secondary school students. NISEP has received various awards for its community engagement, including the 2011 Australian Learning Teaching and Council Award and the 2016 PwC Innovator of the Year, as part of the PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) STEM 21st Century Minds Accelerator Program.
WIPUTHANONG, Chongnang
Dr. Chongnang Wiputhanupong is a lecturer at School of Law, Sripatum University, Bangkok, Thailand. She received PhD in Intellectual Property Law from the University of Nottingham. Her researches focus mainly on copyright, human rights, and media and communication. The researches include the study of originality and creativity under Thai traditional and contemporary paintings and the study of the administrative power regarding drug price control. Now she is expanding her area of interest to the field of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions.
Wright, Evana
Dr Evana Wright is a Lecturer in the Faculty of Law University of Technology Sydney researching in the fields of intellectual property and the protection of Indigenous traditional knowledge. Her PhD thesis examined the emerging international framework for the recognition and protection of Indigenous traditional knowledge and its implementation in India and Peru with the objective of identifying lessons for Australia in developing a nationally consistent regime for the protection of traditional knowledge. Evana was admitted as a legal practitioner in the Supreme Court of New South Wales in 2006 and has previously worked as an in-house legal counsel in Australia and Silicon Valley for major IT corporations and in an ICT research and development incubator. Evana holds a PhD from the University of Technology Sydney, Master of Laws (Honours) also from the University of Technology Sydney, and a Bachelor of Science/Bachelor of Laws from Macquarie University.