This research symposium seeks to address a foundational question upon which personal property law ought to rest: on what basis do we recognise certain things as ‘property’? What are the normative justifications for vesting property rights in certain things, but not others? The literature on personal property law does not engage with this crucial normative question, which has become more pressing as we grapple with new, sometimes esoteric types of intangible objects. Other legal sub-disciplines (such as medical law or information privacy law for example) have grappled more meaningfully with this question within their own discrete areas. However, these perspectives are often seen in isolation from each other, and regarded as being limited to the individual sub-discipline from which they spring. The symposium seeks to bridge this gap. Drawing together a range of leading scholars, it examines the approaches various sub-disciplines of law take in addressing the question of ‘why ought x to be property?”. By examining these approaches alongside each other, the symposium seeks to create dialogue between scholars within these sub-disciplines, with the aim of identifying a set of shared considerations that can be brought to bear in determining whether or not property rights ought to be granted in different objects.

1st May 2025

Refreshments/Lunch (1.00-1.30pm)

1.30-1.35pm  Welcome address Dr Eva Janečková (co-director, Centre for Global Law and Innovation)

1.35-1.55pm ‘Setting out the Problem’ Chathuni Jayathilaka & Yin Harn Lee

Panel One: Property in ‘information’

Chair: Professor Colin Gavaghan (University of Bristol)

2.05-2.25pm ‘Property and information: the complicated IP perspective’ Professor Tanya Aplin (King’s College London)

2.25-2.45pm ‘IP and biobank research: Information, participants and the protection of the public interest’ Professor Naomi Hawkins (University of Sheffield)

2.45-3.05pm ‘Property and privacy’ Dr Ying Hu (National University of Singapore)

3.05-3.35pm Discussion

Tea/Coffee Break (3.35-3.50pm)

Panel Two: Virtual Property

Chair: Professor James Davey (University of Bristol)

3.50-4.10pm ‘Protection for the (digital) home’ Dr Adam Ramshaw (Northumbria University)

4.10-4.30pm ‘Virtual property unpacked: searching for a normative justification’ Dr Michaela MacDonald (QMUL)

4.30-4.50pm ‘In res digitalis: a question of perspective?’ Mr Dave Michels (QMUL)

4.50-5.10pm Discussion

End of Day 1.

2nd May 2025

Tea/Coffee (9.00-9.15am)

Panel Three: Property and the Body

Chair: Dr Joanna McCunn (University of Bristol)

9.15-9.35am  ‘Justifying property rights in transplantable organs and untransformed bodily parts.’ Professor Remigius Nwabueze (University of Southampton)

9.35-9.55am ‘Gametes and the property paradigm: the boundaries of property classification’ Ms Natasha Richardson (Maynooth University)

9.55-10.25am  Discussion

Panel Four: Property in the Public Domain

Chair: Dr Manoj Dias-Abey (University of Bristol)

10.25-10.45am ‘What gets property status and why: interests in and outside the transactional world’ Professor Alison Clarke (University of Surrey)

10.45-11.05am ‘Property rights for environmental public policy purposes: understanding entitlements in carbon markets’ Dr Bonnie Holligan (University of Sussex)

Tea/Coffee Break (11.05-11.20am)

11.20-11.40am ‘The implications for policy of thinking about property as a social relation’ Professor Paddy Ireland (University of Bristol)

11.40-12.00pm ‘The public domain and the right to science: an end, not a means?’ Dr Caoimhe Ring (University of Bristol)

12.00-12.30pm Discussion

12.30-12.40pm ‘Concluding Observations’ Chathuni Jayathilaka & Yin Harn Lee

To register for this event, please sign up via the Eventbrite Registration page

This event is funded by the SLS Small Projects and Events Fund, with additional support from The University of Bristol Law School's Centre for Global Law and Innovation