On the 5th and 6th February 2020, a two day international academic workshop was organised by Professor Leanne Wiseman and Dr Kanchana Kariyawasam on the emerging International Right to Repair movement. This event was funded under a Griffith University AEL International Workshop award (which was supplemented by funding from the Law Futures Centre)to invite international scholars to participate in the workshop.We were delighted to host Professor Taina Pihlajarinne, Faculty of Law and Helsinki Institute of Sustainability Science (HELSUS) Finlandand Professor Leah Grinvald, Suffolk University, Boston Massachusetts and Professor Graeme Austin from Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand,who were able to provide a European, United States and New Zealand perspective respectively. National intellectual property law experts also were in attendance, as werescholars and experts in the Repair movement from private enterprise/community organisations.This was a fascinating and innovative topic for an academic workshop and there was excellent discussion and engagement by participants.
A public Panel event on the Right to Repair was also organised and held on the evening of Wednesday 5th February at the Southbank campus, which features a panel of 6 experts (including our International visiting academics) to which the public was invited.Professor Leanne Wiseman facilitated an open and intriguing discussion among the panellists and the audience.The forum was well attended and members of the audience were very engaged with the panel and the topic. If you missed the event, the recording can be found here.
For those interested, ABC Radio National broadcast a program on Thursday 13th February, on their Big Ideas program,Encouraging Repair Over Waste, where Professor Wiseman was part of a Panel which provided a range of design, legal and environmental responses to the emerging Right to Repair movement.
https://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/bigideas/encouraging-repair-over-waste/11924272
By Professor Leanne Wiseman
