CENTRE FOR AI & DATA GOVERNANCE CHANGE OF DIRECTORSHIP

Outgoing Director		Incoming Director
Professorial Research Fellow Mark Findlay		Associate Professor Jason Grant Allen

Dear Partners,

As we move into the new year, please join me to thank Professor Mark Findlay, on the completion of his term as the Centre Director, for his contributions and leadership at our Centre for AI and Data Governance (CAIDG), and also welcome the incoming centre director, Associate Professor Jason Grant Allen.

Outgoing Director – Professorial Research Fellow Mark Findlay

Mark was the Deputy Director of the centre when it was first launched on 24 Sep 2018 and took over as centre director on 1 Jan 2020. In the 3 years that he was director, Mark has been instrumental in driving the research direction of the centre. He established the AI Ethics Hub 4 Asia, is a member of the Institute for Ethics in Artificial Intelligence (IEAI) Global AI Ethics Consortium, and co-taught an online course on “AI, Law, and Ethics” with faculty members from the British Institute of International and Comparative Law (BIICL). Other major projects include:

• White Paper on the “Rule of Law, Legitimacy, and Effective COVID-19 Control Technologies”, in partnership with the Technical University of Munich and BIICL
• “Conversations at the Intellectual Property and Artificial Intelligence Interface: Understanding the Needs of Singapore’s Innovation Community”, in partnership with the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (IPOS) and the Info-Communications Media Development Authority of Singapore (IMDA)
• Creation of the SMU-Microsoft Asian Dialogues on AI Governance Network
• Digital Self-Determination, in partnership with the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs
• And the establishment of the KAS Fellowship at CAIDG, supported by Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung.

From 1 January 2023, Mark will continue to work on various projects in his capacity as Professorial Research Fellow for a period of 1 year until 31 December 2023. We look forward to Mark’s advice, support and collegial goodwill in this new year and beyond.

Incoming Director – Associate Professor Jason Grant Allen

We welcome Jason as the new centre director with effect from 1 January 2023. Jason joined SMU Yong Pung How School of Law (YPHSL) in August 2022. Prior to joining YPHSL, he was a senior research fellow at the Humboldt University of Berlin Centre for British Studies, and a founding partner of Stirling & Rose Digital Law, an Australian law firm specialising in technology law. He holds a PhD in Law from the University of Cambridge and is called to the bar in New York and Tasmania.

Again, we thank Mark for his contributions, and look forward to Jason’s leadership in the next phase of CAIDG’s development. We thank you, our partners, for your strong and continued support for our research centre.

Warmest regards,

Professor Lee Pey Woan

Dean, Yong Pung How School of Law