Professor Duncan Matthews and Dr Hanna Ostapenko host British Academy workshop on patents and genome editing in agriculture
On Thursday 5 June 2025 Professor Duncan Matthews, Director of Research in the Centre for Commercial Law Studies (CCLS), and Dr Hanna Ostapenko, British Academy/Cara Researchers At Risk Fellow in CCLS, co-hosted a workshop on the patent governance of agricultural genome editing, funded by the British Academy.
Pictured (left to right): Professor Heinz Müller (University of Basel), Dr Titilayo Adebola (University of Aberdeen), Professor Alfred Früh (University of Basel), Dr Jocelyn Bosse (Queen’s University Belfast), Dr Sven Bostyn (University of Copenhagen), Professor Pere Puigdomenech (Spanish National Research Council), Dr Jens Sundström (Swedish University of Agricultural Scientists), Dr Hanna Ostapenko (Queen Mary University of London), Maciej Padamczyk (Queen Mary University of London), Professor Duncan Matthews (Queen Mary University of London), Professor Aisling McMahon (Maynooth University), Özlem Çorapçioğlu (Queen Mary University of London), Luisa Herrra (Queen Mary University of London), Gertrud Metsa (Queen Mary University of London), Martin Ekvad (UPOV), Dr Emanuela Gambini (Queen Mary University of London), Dr Peter Harrison (University of York), Dr Daria Kim (Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition), Simon Wright (Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys).
The workshop was the final event of a research project examining the patent governance of agricultural genome editing in the UK, the EU and Ukraine, and the implications for global food security and sustainability.
During the workshop, participants considered the possible outcomes of the European Union’s proposals on the regulation of new genomic techniques (NGTs), as well as the significance of the precautionary principle in EU law, and the role of licensing pools and compulsory cross-licensing for NGTs. A report of the workshop is available in English and Ukrainian.