Michael J. Spence Named Sydney University's Next Vice-Chancellor. (October 17, 2007)

Currently Dr. Michael Spence is the Head of the Social Sciences Division of the University of Oxford, Fellow and Tutor in Law at St Catherine's College Oxford, and CUF Lecturer at the University of Oxford.

In 1985 Dr Spence took first-class honours in Sydney University's Department of Italian Studies as well as obtaining first-class honours in English and law.

As head of Oxford's social sciences division he "has charge" of over 300 academics including the law faculty.

Dr Spence, forty-five, will take over the vice-chancellorship from the Scottish mathematician, Gavin Brown, in July next year who will have held the position for twelve years.

One of the key interests of the incoming vice-chancellor is intellectual property having recently published  Oxford Legal Studies Research Paper No. 20/2007, Intellectual Property.

The abstract of the book reads:

This book offers a core concept of intellectual property, considers a range of justifications for the recognition of intellectual property rights, and explores their operation in a number of key areas.

It is essential to consider both the concept of intellectual property and the reasons why a legal system might incorporate such a concept. We are increasingly told that the wealth of nations consists in intangible assets. These are the intangible products of human creativity, ingenuity, and effort. It is frequently argued that these assets represent the future of developed economies and that their adequate protection by intellectual property regimes is essential to national, regional, and even global prosperity. We are also told that the creators of such assets have a strong moral claim to them, and that developed legal systems should recognize this claim.

This text examines the ethical issues and debates surrounding intellectual property law and focuses on three aspects of the major intellectual property regimes: subject matter; the allocation of the first ownership of rights; and the scope of protection. By exploring these three issues, this book provides a strong sense of the shape and purpose of the most important intellectual property systems.

What effect Dr Spence's views on intellectual property will have on his vice-chancellorship and how his years at Oxford may shape his stewardship of Sydney University could be most interesting. For example how did he vote, or did he vote, when the Oxford congregation voted against the proposed governance changes proposed by Oxford's V-C, John Hood, and if given his head, what sort of reforms would he institute for  Sydney (or Oxford come to that)?