Welcome back to another week of Bells and Whistles.
We’re starting this week with some exciting updates from the SpicyIP community!
The finalists for the first National Policy Brief Competition on Intellectual Property and Innovation have now been announced. Congratulations are in order for everyone who has been shortlisted. Click here to know more about it! Also SpicyIP Summer School 2026 is opening for applications soon so kindly mark your calendars for June 20-28th of 2026.
And with that, let’s ring this week’s bell!
Bell of the Week: Prof Isabella Alexander
Some bells do not just chime, they invite us to look back so we can better understand where we are headed. This week’s bell is for Isabella Alexander, whose work has quietly but powerfully shaped how many of us think about copyright through a historical lens. A professor at the University of Technology Sydney, her scholarship shows how copyright law has always been intertwined with the ways knowledge and culture are created, circulated and received.
Her monographs, including Copyright and Cartography: History, Law, and the Circulation of Geographical Knowledge and Copyright and the Public Interest in the Nineteenth Century and her co edited volume Research Handbook on the History of Copyright Law, have contributed significantly to the field of copyright history. They remind us that today’s debates on technology, creativity and control are not entirely new, but part of longer cycles of legal and cultural negotiation.
At a time when rapid technological shifts are prompting fresh questions about the purpose and limits of copyright, her work feels especially relevant. By tracing how copyright has evolved alongside earlier technological and social change, she helps ground contemporary debates in deeper perspective. This week’s bell is a nod to the value of historical scholarship in informing present conversations on IP and to those who patiently build these foundations for the rest of us.
EVENTS
1. The Trade Mark Seminar Series (Spring 2026) | CREATe (Centre for Regulation of the Creative Economy)
25 February 2026 1.30pm to 2.30pm, UK time | 11 March 2026 2pm to 3pm UK time
Two upcoming online seminars: Seminar 1: Innovative Methodologies for Researching Current Trade Mark Law on 25 February 2026 and Seminar 2: Trade Mark History on 11 March 2026. Zoom links are circulated a few days before each event to those on the mailing list and no RSVP is required. To join the mailing list, interested participants may contact Elena Cooper at the University of Glasgow via elena.cooper(at)glasgow(dot)ac(dot)uk.
More info
2. Lecture: “Can AI Develop Outside of a Copyright Licensing Approach?” | Durham Law School
26 February 2026 | 2:00 PM – 3:15 PM | Online (Teams)
This talk investigates whether and to what extent copyright laws allow unlicensed AI training, questioning if AI innovation can meaningfully develop beyond licensing-based models. The session features guest speaker Eleonora Rosati, who will explore the legal and policy implications for creators, AI developers and the future of copyright.
More info
OPPORTUNITIES
1. Academic Positions (Lecturer Level) | Liverpool Law School
Application Deadline: 26 February 2026 (23:30)
Liverpool Law School is seeking to appoint up to eight permanent academics at Lecturer level. The School particularly welcomes applicants who can contribute to the student experience in Property Law (Equity & Trusts; Land Law), Criminal Law (including Criminal Evidence), Law & Technology, and Commercial/Corporate Law (such as corporate governance, arbitration, and banking law). Interviews are expected to take place in the week commencing 30 March 2026.
More info
2. PhD Position: Law | Stockholm University (Sweden)
Application Deadline: 1 March 2026
The Department of Law at Stockholm University is offering one fully funded PhD position starting in Fall 2026. The position runs for up to four years and is based in Stockholm, providing full funding for the duration of the doctoral studies and the opportunity to pursue advanced research in law within a leading academic environment.
More info
3. Applications: Inlaks Shivdasani Scholarship (2026) | Inlaks Shivdasani Foundation
Deadline: 31 March 2026 | 12:00 PM (IST)
Applications are now open for the 2026 Inlaks Shivdasani Scholarship. Since 1976, the scholarship has supported over 500 Indian students to pursue full-time Master’s, MPhil, or Doctoral programmes at top institutions in the USA, UK, and Europe. Awards of up to USD 120,000 cover tuition, living expenses, healthcare and one-way airfare.
More info
4. Postdoctoral Fellowship: Western Postdoctoral Fellowship Program | Western University (Canada)
Deadlines: 7 April 2026 (ROLA proposal) | 14 April 2026, 3:00 PM EDT (Full application)
Western Research and the School of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies at Western University invite applications for the Western Postdoctoral Fellowship Program. Administered jointly by the two units, the programme offers a minimum stipend of $70,000 per year (subject to any association agreement changes), recoverable benefits, and a $5,000 annual research allowance for up to two years, supporting early-career researchers across disciplines.
More info
Thanks to Malobika and Niharika for the leads!
All non-sponsored listings featured here are events or opportunities free or nominally charged and ones we think our readers may be interested in. Sponsored listings will be marked as such. Unless specifically mentioned, SpicyIP has no affiliation to anything listed here. Know of an event worth sharing? Write to us at contact[at]spicyip[dot]com.
