Law and Technology - a cross-continental perspective (in Sydney, Australia), January 2026

Registration for this course: by e-mail to Lst.thouvenin@ius.uzh.ch (stating your full name, e-mail address, matriculation no.) This course is limited to 30 UZH students.

Note: Please kindly note that the course "Law and Technology - a cross-continental perspective" will formally be part of the Spring Semester 2026.

This course is jointly organized and taught with the University of New South Wales (Australia) (UNSW) and brings together students from UNSW and UZH in a joint class. The course is mainly taught by Prof. Kayleen Manwaring (UNSW) and Prof. Florent Thouvenin (UZH) and includes guest lectures and excursions. 

This course will explore the interaction between law and modern technology. It will introduce students to the potentially problematic relationship between legal rules and technological change, and then begin to explore real substantive problems at the interface between them. This will require some understanding of particular legal doctrines and particular technologies, which the course itself will provide. It is the aim of the course to teach, encourage and nurture creative legal (and technological) thinking when contemplating questions such as the possible regulation and/or promotion (for example, through patents) of technology and technological change.

This course also provides students with knowledge of the legal frameworks and theoretical approaches regarding regulation of technologies in a global and  transnational context. The course will draw on Australian, US, and European perspectives (among others) in order to ensure that students understand the topics covered on a broader, global canvas.

Please note that the winter school is free of charge.

• Presentation of research essay outline: proposing a topic and preparing a research outline for the essay, briefly presenting the outline during class (10%)
• Class participation: active contribution to class discussions and engagement throughout the course (20%)
• Research essay on a selected topic in the field of law and technology (70%)
  • Deadline submission (PDF and Word version of your essay): tbc (via OLAT)
  • Submitted with a signed declaration of originality
  • Maximum 40,000 characters (including the front page, indices, footnotes, list of abbreviations, and declaration of originality)
  • Language: English
  • Generally follow the guidelines for master theses for work submitted to Lehrstuhl Thouvenin