Fitzgerald, Brian --- "Preface" [2008] SydUPLawBk 30; in Fitzgerald, Brian (ed), "Legal Framework for e-Research: Realising the Potential" (Sydney University Press, 2008) iii

Preface

This book is the product of a conference that I convened at the Gold Coast Australia on the 11th and 12th of July 2007, titled Legal Framework for e-Research.^[1]

The conference was undertaken as part of the research program of the Legal Framework for e-Research Project. The conference, the project and this book have been made possible with the support and sponsorship of the federal Department of Education Science and Training (DEST) which since 2008 has been restructured into the new departments of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR) and Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (DIISR).

In the process of running the conference and preparing this book for publication I am thankful for the tremendous support of Dr Evan Arthur, Margot Bell and Clare McLaughlin from DEST, Professor Tom Cochrane DVC QUT, Dr Terry Cutler (Cutler & Co.), Dr Mary O’Kane (O’Kane & Associates), Dr Fiona Stanley (Telethon Institute for Child Health), Dr Chris Greer (NSF), Claire Driscoll (NIH), Dr Richard Jefferson (CAMBIA), Dr Michael Spence Vice Chancellor University of Sydney, Professor John Unsworth (UIUC), Fred Friend (JISC), Steve Matheson (ABS), Paul Uhlir (National Academies) John Wilbanks (Science Commons), Professor Mark Perry (UWO), Dr Amanda McBratney and Malcolm McBratney (McCullough Robertson Lawyers), James Casey (UIDP), Adam Liberman (CSIRO), Andrew Hayne (OPC), David Ruschena (Health Legal), Professor Bernard Pailthorpe (UQ), Philip Crisp (AGS), Maree Heffernan (Qld Government), Professor Paul David (Stanford), the distinguished speakers and participants who attended the conference, my team at QUT, including Professor Anne Fitzgerald, Scott Kiel-Chisholm, Nic Suzor, Damien O’Brien, Kylie Pappalardo, Tanya Butkovsky, Amy Barker, Dr Annie Connell and Anthony Austin and the people at Sydney University Press especially Susan Murray-Smith and Ross Coleman.

In particular I would like to acknowledge the work of my research assistant on this project, Celeste Bennett, who has done an excellent job on the chapters in this book.

The Gold Coast conference was followed by the Australian National Summit on Open Access to Public Sector Information^[2] held at the Queensland Parliament House on the 13th of July 2007. Dr Cutler’s paper in this book is drawn from that event.

This book aims to document the considerable insights and ideas that were offered at the Gold Coast conference. The majority of the papers in the book have been prepared as full academic papers (a number already published elsewhere) while others are shorter conference style papers with one being derived from a transcript of the proceedings.

The Legal Framework for e-Research project is based at QUT and aims to enhance the enormous potential of e-Research by ensuring law can work as an enabler in this fast paced, networked and serendipitous environment. It grew out of a CODATA conference I attended at UNESCO in Paris in 2004 – International Workshop on the Information Commons for e-Science^[3] – and my realisation that we were not doing enough in this area in Australia.

The project is due for completion in late 2008 and can only be seen as a precursor to the further work that will be done in this area. A national survey of attitudes and practices, the Gold Coast conference, a report on the legal framework for data management, this book and a high level international roundtable on negotiating and concluding collaborative research agreements held at QUT in June 2008 are major outputs of this project so far.^[4]

I hope you enjoy reading the material in this book and that it provides you with a framework for understanding key legal issues in the e-Research landscape.

Professor Brian Fitzgerald

Professor of Intellectual Property and Innovation QUT Law Faculty

Project Leader Legal Framework for e-Research Project

www.eresearch.law.qut.edu.au

Brisbane, June 30 2008

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^[1] For the full program see: <http://www.eresearch.law.qut.edu.au/conference>

^[2] For the full program see: http://datasmart.oesr.qld.gov.au/Events/datasmart.nsf/0/D2D95818B020049F4A25732C0006EE9A/$FILE/Australian%20National%20Summit%20On%20Open%20Access%20Program.pdf?openelement For the Conference Report see: <http://www.qsic.qld.gov.au/QSIC/QSIC.nsf/0/D6C8E0616BC7FB414A2573B7000C42E5/$FILE/Conference%20Report%20%20National%20Summit%20Open%20Access.pdf?openelement>

^[3] See generally: <http://portal.unesco.org/es/ev.php-URL_ID=28723 & URL_DO=DO_TOPIC & URL_SECTION=201.html>

^[4] See generally: <http://www.eresearch.law.qut.edu.au>