Professor Subhajit Basu

Profile

I am a Professor of Law and Technology. I explore the multiple challenges that digital technologies bring when applied to different aspects of society, such as transport, education, healthcare and social justice. I have acquired an international reputation for cutting-edge, rigorous, innovative, interdisciplinary empirical and theoretical research that strongly focuses on the Global South (GS). Understanding and making sense of the increasing amount of "data" that is out there is central to my research. "Big data" can control our lives, and I am particularly interested in how we can better inform and empower consumers. I am also keen to examine how we can update our legal framework to protect privacy and equip the public with the knowledge needed to make informed choices.  I was the Chair of the British and Irish Law Education Technology Association (2018-2021). In 2020 I was awarded the Hind Rattan (a Hindi phrase which translates to English as "Jewel of India") by the Non-Resident Indians (NRI) Welfare Society of India, Government of India, for my outstanding contribution to education and achievements in the field of Information Technology Law.

I hold a PhD from Liverpool John Moores University and an LLB from the  University College of Law, Faculty of Law, Calcutta University. I was called to the Bar in 1998 and worked as an Advocate specialising in Corporate Law in India.

I am a co-author of the Book "Privacy and Healthcare Data: 'Choice of Control' to 'Choice' and 'Control'?" (Routledge, 2016). The book aims to open the debate about how data could help medical research. The book also aims to shape and inform policy and to prevent one specific party – government or industry from exerting too much control. The book was reviewed by the then National Data Guardian Dame Fiona Caldicott, the (then) main UK advisor on data sharing in the health and social care sector:

This Book provides a very important contribution to the debate about consent and use of health information that we should be having increasingly with the public.

The book has become a key text in healthcare data research and has also received the following peer review:

In this important contribution, Munns and Basu, by putting patient choice and technology at the centre of the debate, make a key contribution that all interested parties must read. Prof Andrew Murray, LSE.

I am the author of the critically acclaimed book "Global Perspectives on E-Commerce Taxation Law" (Ashgate, 2008). The book proposed the most effective means for collecting consumption taxes: technically feasible, efficient, and cost-effective. It examined the volatile and rapidly changing intersection of e-commerce and tax law, mainly focused on ensuring the efficient collection of consumption taxes concerning the cross-border supply of digital goods and services. My peer-reviewed articles have been published in prestigious journals such as the International Journal of Law and Information Technology, Humanities & Social Sciences Communications, AI and Society, Journal of African Law, Journal of Social Welfare and Family Law, Contemporary South Asia, British Tax Review, Asian Journal of Comparative Law, Information & Communications Technology Law.

I am currently working on the following externally funded research projects:

• Research Consultant: Autonomy and Moral Agency in Bioethics: Bridging the North South Divide in Healthcare Policy-A Post Pandamic Analysis (WBNUJS, India) September 2024- August 2025
• Co-PI: Online Sexual Exploitation in Present and Future: Effective Criminal Justice Responses: Regulation of Cybercrime and other aspects crimes online, including Metaverse funding from Naif Arab University (Goverment of KSA, May 2023) June 2023- December 2024.

Recently completed research projects:

• Co-Investigator: Enhance driver behaviour and Public Acceptance of Connected and Autonomous vehicLes (PASCAL) (EU Horizon 2020) June 2019 - Jan 2023. It is an international project aimed at developing a multidimensional map of public acceptance of higher levels of Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAV), pointing out any critical issues on the matter, particularly investigating the new "driver" needs considering different modes and mobility services. I am researching the legal and regulatory frameworks required to accelerate the user acceptance of autonomous vehicles and connected transport systems.
• Co-Investigator: MOdify Drivers' behaviour to Adapt for Lower EmissionS (MODALES) (EU Horizon, 2020) September 2019 - Jan 2023. This project researches behavioural aspects affecting these emissions. It aims to decrease air pollution from traffic by educating through dedicated training, awareness campaigns and a driver assistance app. This project has a special focus on the legal issues of tampering in the 28 Member States, in which legal and regulatory situations vary. My involvement is to research these issues and identify the recommendations the project can make to the EC.
• Co-Investigator: CRITiCaL - Combatting cRiminals In The Cloud (EPSRC) June 2015 - Feb 2023. In this project, we seek to understand the different types of crime that can happen in the Cloud, build systems that will allow the detection of this criminal behaviour and enable the use of digital evidence to lead to the successful prosecution of Cloud crime perpetrators.
• Co-PI: 'Review of Legislation and Policy Guidance Relating to Adult Social Care' (funded by Commissioner of Older People Northern Ireland and Government of Northern Ireland, 2014-2015). The full report for the COPNI can be downloaded here.
• Co-Investigator: "International Justice for Older Adults - Crossing Barriers as well as Borders" (funded by Borchard Foundation Center on Law and Aging, USA (2011-2013). Inter-disciplinary research on the need for better integration of health and social care (comparative and international perspectives) and older adults and families' rights and responsibilities.
• Co-Investigator on European Commission funded "HuWY". The project aims to support young people's eParticipation in policies about the Internet and its governance through a distributed discussion (2009-2010).
• Co-Investigator and Partner on European Commission-funded Legal Framework for the Information Society (LEFIS) project on IT and Legal Education (2004) and LEFIS APTICE Thematic Network (2007). The project was responsible for developing, implementing and consolidating a cross-national teaching and research infrastructure which adequately responds to the needs and problems raised by the information and knowledge society.
• Research Consultant: Legal Aspects of Autonomous Last Mile Robots, C19ADV, University of Lincoln, UKRI Project, 2022-2023
• Research Consultant: AUTOPILOT (Automated driving progressed by the Internet of Things), InnovateUK, Institute for Transport Studies, University of Leeds (January 2017-December 2019)
• Member of Advisory Board: Removing HGVs from high streets with last-mile human interactions (Feasibility studies) InnovateUK (2017-2019)
• PI: International Justice for Older Adults - Crossing Barriers as well as Borders,WUN Research Mobility Funding (2011)
• PI: Digital Divide, Ageing and Online Legal Advice, Changing Ageing Partnership, The Atlantic Philanthropies (2008-2009)

Professional Activities:

Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce; Member of the Brazilian Academy of Crime Sciences: Committee on International Cybercrime Law; Research Fellow of African Centre for Cyberlaw and Cybercrime Prevention (ACCP); Advisor to Centre for Law and Technology (Nepal); Member of Advisory Board Centre for Cyber Victim Counselling; Fellow of the Higher Education Academy; Member of Dean's Council, International Association of Law Schools. 

I have been a Visiting Scholar at the Dickinson School of Law, Penn State University and at the WBNUJS, Kolkata, India. I am Advisor/ Adjunct Professor at Parul University, India and Visiting Professor at SGT University, India. I received an International Visiting Researcher Fellowship funded by the Government of China to visit Nanjing University of Science and Technology to work on IP Management in Developing Countries (2015); I also received a visiting Fellowship Commercial Law Department, Faculty of Law, University of Nairobi, Kenya (2011). I have been an Academic Member of the Innovation and Technology Law Lab, School of Law, University of Padova (2018-2019). I have been a Guest Lecturer (training program) on Digitalization & Development (ICT & Human Rights) on behalf of the European Commission for DG DEVCO and EUD staff (2017). I have been a Guest Lecturer for government officials at the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of People's Republic of China (2017-2019). I was appointed a Facilitator to offer training on Data Protection Law organised by the Faculty of Law, the University of Lagos, and the Human Resources Development Centre (HRDC), University of Lagos (2021-2022). The course is designed to train personnel to strengthen the capacity of business organisations and government institutions to comply with Nigerian data protection laws and international standards in privacy and data protection. The course is part of the research project to develop a compliance-ready data protection environment in Nigeria, funded by Facebook.

I am the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal International Review of Law Computers and Technology (IRLCT). I also sit on the Editorial Boards of four journals: European Journal of Law and Technology (EJLT); International Journal of Innovation in the Digital Economy (Associate Editor); Global Business and Management Research: An International Journal and NUJS Journal of Regulatory Studies.  I am also a Member of Editorial Advisory Board of NALSAR Law Review.

I am a member of the EPSRC Peer Review College, a Member of the AHRC Peer Review College, International Expert Reviewer for the National Science Centre, Poland. I have been a peer reviewer for UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI), International Peer Reviewer for the Nordic Societal Security Programme and the Economic and Social Research Council, International Reviewer for Volkswagen Foundation (VolkswagenStiftung).

I regularly receive invitations to speak at national and international conferences and deliver keynote lectures and guest lectures at a large number of Universities both in the UK and abroad. I have delivered keynote/Invited lectures in more than 15 countries concerning all aspects of Information and Technology Law.  I have provided consultancy to Cybercrime Research Centre at Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toru; the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds. I have provided training for policy-makers, government officials and businesses on E-Commerce Law/Cyberlaw from around the world. I regularly engage with high-level policymakers from the Global South concerning the regulation of Cyberspace. I was appointed Consultant for research and advocacy work on privacy in India, a collaborative project between the Centre for Internet and Society and Society in Action Group (Privacy International UK and IDRC sponsored the project, 2010-2013). In 2014 I was appointed as an International Consultant for Drafting the "Information Technology Bill" for Nepal for the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communication; later, the ministry adopted this draft and submitted it to the Parliament with a few amendments in 2019. I was a Research Consultant for the impact assessment study of the IT Rules, 2021 and the proposed IT Act amendment, India, undertaken by The Dialogue (one of the world's Top 10 think tanks) & IAMAI (2022). In 2022 (and also in 2023) was appointed Research Consultant at the Centre of Legal Studies and Research, Bureau of Experts at the Council of Ministers, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. 

In January 2023 (until the end of the project, January 31st 2025), I was appointed as a Member of the International Advisory Board for International Development Research Centre(IDRC) and Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA) funded "Hub for Responsible Artificial Intelligence for an Education Innovation Research Network in Africa (EduAI Hub)".  The EduAI hub is an African-based research network on responsible artificial intelligence innovations that seek to advance education across Africa.

Listen to the webinar Risk Roundup: "Complex Challenges Regulating Artificial Intelligence."  

I regularly provide commentary in Risk Group (a collective strategic security risk analytics platform). Risk Group is at the forefront of reimagining our ways and is an agent for change and a trusted research source on strategic security risks. I have written Op-eds in The Conversation, The Register, and Wired. I have been interviewed by CNN Business, Reuters, BBC Radio, ITV News, Asian Voice, Radio Aire, and Ecuador Public Radio, LegalWord.com form The Economic Times,The National Newspaper, UAE. I have been quoted in Forbes, The Guardian, ZDNet, Tech Monitor, Epoch Times, LexisNexis News, EY's Tax Insights magazine, Asian Express, New Statesman and Yorkshire Post.

Responsibilities

• Co-Director Post Graduate Research Studies
• Progression and Examinations Group, University of Leeds
• International Advisor of The Dialogue (Think tank)

Research interests

Specialisation: Intersection of “Law and Technology” 

My scholarly pursuits primarily revolve around the intricate confluence of Law and Technology, with a keen interest in the emerging technologies and the challenges of cyberspace regulation, especially as it pertains to the Global South. Central to my work is understanding how we can effectively regulate online activities, ensuring the protection of internet users. Approaching from a realist's lens, I am deeply intrigued by the potential of these new technologies, championing the need for a flexible and adaptive regulatory framework. An essential aspect of my exploration involves understanding the power dynamics these technologies bring forth: determining ownership, control, and the overarching ethical considerations of their application.

In my efforts to challenge established paradigms, my research casts a wide net across various dimensions of cyberspace regulation. I actively contribute to critical policy dialogues encompassing AI, Big Data, health data, autonomous systems (like autonomous and connected vehicles), robotics, and associated concerns such as privacy, accountability, and liability. Moreover, my work covers areas of online harm, privacy, and freedom of expression. One pivotal question I grapple with is the accountability of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook.

For Prospective PhD Students: I warmly welcome and am available to mentor doctoral candidates interested in exploring areas that are aligned with my research expertise.

• CRITiCaL - Combatting cRiminals In The CLoud
• Enhance driver behaviour and Public Acceptance of Connected and Autonomous vehicLes (PASCAL)
• MOdify Drivers’ behaviour to Adapt for Lower EmissionS (MODALES)
• Review of Legislation and Policy Guidance relating to Adult Social Care in Northern Ireland

Qualifications

• PhD
• LLB

Professional memberships

• Royal Society of Arts
• Higher Education Academy
• Academia Brasileira de Ciências Criminais
• Peer Review College, Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC), UKRI
• Peer Review College, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC), UKRI

Student education

I teach in the areas of Information and Technology Law (Cyberlaw), E-commerce Law, Cybercrime and Intellectual Property Law.

Research groups and institutes

• Centre for Business Law and Practice

Current postgraduate researchers

• Hebah Alkhaldi
• Yanna Papadodimitraki
• Natasha Gooden
• Yue Lu
• Christopher Robinson

Funding

<li><a href="//phd.leeds.ac.uk/funding/348-school-of-law-doctoral-scholarship">School of Law Doctoral Scholarship</a></li>