Established in March 2017, the CIGI Traditional Knowledge Expert Group serves as a thought lab, comprised of leading academic and indigenous experts in this field. The expert group meets twice a year to discuss strategic guidance on CIGI’s current work on traditional knowledge and map out future directions.
At CIGI the Intellectual Property and the Governance of Traditional Knowledge, Genetic Resources and Traditional Cultural Expressions: Fostering Innovation and Improving Lives project seeks to establish a leading research hub offering policy analysis, technical assistance, capacity building and intellectual leadership for the governance of traditional knowledge, genetic resources and traditional cultural expressions.
Event Speakers
Bassem Awad
Bassem Awad is deputy director of international intellectual property law and innovation, with CIGI's International Law Research Program. In this role, he provides strategic guidance of the thematic area. A specialist in intellectual property law, he has served as a judge at the Appeal Court in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates and as adjunct professor at Western University.
Christina Gray
Christina Gray is a senior research associate with the International Law Research Program at the Centre for International Governance Innovation.
Freedom-Kai Phillips
Freedom-Kai Phillips joined CIGI’s International Law Research Program (ILRP) as a research associate in 2016. At CIGI, his research interests include international environmental law, with a focus on marine and terrestrial biodiversity, traditional knowledge and climate change.
Margo A. Bagley
Margo A. Bagley is a senior fellow with CIGI’s International Law Research Program, where she serves as a member of the traditional knowledge expert working group. At CIGI, she will be researching the intersection of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s draft Design Law Treaty with disclosure of origin requirements for traditional knowledge, genetic resources and traditional cultural expressions and the promise and peril of defensive protection for traditional knowledge. Margo also leads a number of case studies analyzing the instituted governance regime for traditional knowledge and genetic resources in Colombia and Ecuador.
Oluwatobiloba (Tobi) Moody
Oluwatobiloba (Tobi) Moody is a post-doctoral fellow with CIGI’s International Law Research Program (ILRP). In this role, Tobi researches international law and governance pertaining to intellectual property with a specific focus on the protection of traditional knowledge and genetic resources.
Oonagh Fitzgerald
As director of CIGI’s International Law Research Program, Oonagh Fitzgerald established and oversees CIGI’s international law research agenda, which includes policy-relevant research on issues of international economic law, environmental law, intellectual property law and innovation, and Indigenous law.
Ruth Okediji
Ruth Okediji is chair of the ILRP’s expert working group on international intellectual property, traditional knowledge and genetic resources. She is the Jeremiah Smith, Jr. Professor of Law at Harvard Law School and serves as co-director of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society.