Projects targeting cross-border disputes and AI-regulation awarded over $2M in ARC Future Fellowships
Melbourne Law School researchers have won prestigious Australian Research Council Future Fellowships for projects seeking to transform Australia’s approach to cross-border disputes and shape regulation of the emerging AI data economy.
Melbourne Law School researchers have won prestigious Australian Research Council Future Fellowships for projects seeking to transform Australia’s approach to cross-border disputes and shape regulation of the emerging AI data economy.
Professor Ying Liew’s project, Transforming Equity and Private International Law: A New Framework,will develop a holistic model of equity law and use it to transform private international law in Australia, bringing it in line with global standards and allowing more efficient cross-border litigation. It received over $1.3M in funding.
Associate Professor Jake Goldenfein’s project, Monetising Data - The Growth and Governance of AI Dataset Markets, will target gaps in knowledge across AI datasets that are hindering regulation of this new economy. He intends to propose new data-governance principles for datasets that can better serve Australian creatives and data workers and ensure a resilient sovereign technology sector. It received over $1M in funding.
Melbourne Law School Dean, Professor Michelle Foster, said the award of these ARC Future Fellowships were fitting recognition of Professor Liew and Associate Professor Goldenfein’s important and original research, and observed that both projects have the potential to make significant contributions to Australian law and policy.
“AI technologies are having an immediate impact on our lives, and Jake’s research addresses one of the central questions this poses: how the data underpinning these systems are governed,” Dean Foster said.
“Drawing on his expertise in automated decision-making, this project has potential to ensure Australian governments are well placed to respond to the changing demands of society, while developing governance principles that capture the opportunities these technologies present.
“Ying’s leading expertise in trusts and equity, coupled with his deep understanding of how Australian law interacts with jurisdictions across the Asia-Pacific, makes him exceptionally well placed to undertake his ambitious project.
“His research has the potential to bring greater clarity to complex cross-border disputes, and to strengthen Australia’s engagement with legal systems across our region.”
Associate Professor Goldenfein’s research focuses on platform regulation, data governance, digital surveillance and the governance of automated decision-making. He is the Chief Investigator at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision Making and Society.
“The project is an empirical study of how AI dataset markets are being defined, shaped, and coordinated by the commercial practices of stakeholders in those markets (data workers, dataset intermediaries, and AI firms),” Associate Professor Goldenfein said.
“Rather than looking at the high-level doctrinal legal questions in this area, such as applicability of copyright, the project is more interested in the nuts-and-bolts rules that define how datasets are commodified, who benefits, and how datasets can be better governed for Australians.”
Professor Ying Liew teaches and researches in private law, specialising in the law of equity and trusts, the law of assignment, contracts and remedies. His work has been cited in the UK Supreme Court, the Federal Court of Australia, the Supreme Courts of India and Sri Lanka, and by various courts in New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Ireland, Malaysia, and the Cayman Islands.
“I'm delighted to receive this Fellowship and grateful to the ARC and to Melbourne Law School for their support. The law of equity governs trusts, fiduciary duties and many property disputes, and it is far more coherent and principled than it is usually taken to be,” Professor Liew said. “The project sets out to show that, and to trace the implications for disputes involving overseas parties or foreign laws. I hope it leads to clearer and fairer outcomes for the people involved.”
ARC Future Fellowships provide four-year fellowships to outstanding Australian mid-career researchers to undertake high-quality research in areas of national and international benefit.
Visit the ARC for further information on this round of Future Fellowships.