This project brings together researchers in law, technology and the arts working alongside the Arts Law Centre of Australia to understand how copyright, AI and the rights of Australian artists intersect.
The team combines socio-legal research, technical analysis of AI systems and direct collaboration with artists to trace how licensing terms and data practices are reshaping creative practice and to develop resources that help artists navigate these changes with clearer information and stronger legal footing.
The project is funded by the Australian Research Council (Discovery Project DP260100770) and led by Professor Kathryn Bowrey (UNSW), Professor Oliver Bown (UNSW), Dr Marie Hadley (University of Newcastle), and Dr Louise Buckingham (CEO, Arts Law Centre of Australia).
Professor Kathy Bowrey
Professor Kathy Bowrey works at the Faculty of Law & Justice at UNSW Sydney and is a Fellow of the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia (FASSA). Her research and teaching in intellectual property examines the political, cultural and social contexts of legal power that shape the culture industries and higher education, informed by a strong grounding in media and technology history and the need for more appropriate legal protection for Indigenous knowledges.
Kathy is Lead Chief Investigator on this project, which explores the significant power imbalance between artists and tech giants that undermines the value of copyright to creators. Her particular interest lies in mapping artists' views about their incorporation into AI-data markets against the licensing terms that facilitate extraction of value from creative labour, with the aim of promoting more equitable industry-artist partnerships and improving legal advice available to artists.
Professor Oliver Bown
Professor Oliver Bown is based in the School of Art & Design, Faculty of Arts, Design & Architecture, at UNSW. His research explores artistic and musical creativity through digital technology and its relationship to society, spanning computational creativity, generative music and art, musical metacreation, interactive media art and design, and creative AI.
Oliver is Chief Investigator for Technology on this project, bringing a strongly social perspective on creative practice to the study of how AI systems and companies handle artists' data. He is particularly interested in how evolutionary and social theories of creativity, including niche construction and Bourdieu's field of cultural production, help explain the dynamics of creative AI and its impact on cultures of practice.
Dr Marie Hadley
Marie Hadley is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Law and Social Justice at the University of Newcastle Australia. Her research sits at the intersection of intellectual property law, socio-legal studies and the humanities with a particular focus on copyright law, visual culture and the social norms that shape creative practice. Through collaborations with artists Marie explores how artists, cultural practitioners and communities make sense of complex socio-legal issues and how creative practice can open new pathways for public engagement with law.
As a strong advocate for artists and grassroots cultural communities, Marie's work examines the lived realities of creativity, authorship, copying and ownership. She is especially interested in how artists navigate legal uncertainty, challenge established norms and contribute to broader conversations about ethics, power, identity and cultural participation. Her collaborative projects seek not only to study these dynamics but also to support artist voices and foster dialogue between creative communities, scholars and policymakers.
Dr Louise Buckingham
Dr Louise Buckingham is CEO of the Arts Law Centre of Australia and lectures in copyright at the University of Sydney and the University of Newcastle and in cultural heritage, ethics and law at UNSW's College of Fine Arts. She holds a PhD in Law from UNSW, an LLM from the University of Sydney and an MSc in Comparative Politics from the London School of Economics.
Louise is Partner Investigator on this project, bringing Arts Law's direct connection to Australia's artist and arts community and extensive experience in empirical research to its feasibility and delivery. Her interest lies in how copyright and intellectual property frameworks operate in practice, for artists navigating licensing and new technologies and for the institutions and industries built around creative work.
Research Associates
Sophie Nankivell is a Juris Doctor student at UNSW. She has a Master of Arts (English Literature) from the University of Edinburgh. Prior to attending law school, Sophie was the Studio Manager for Artist Del Kathryn Barton.
Valerie May is a Juris Doctor student at UNSW. She previously completed a Bachelor of Arts (English Literature) from Macquarie University.