Congratulations to Emerita Professor Dianne Nicol on being awarded two Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) projects!
The first operates under the "2025 MRFF Stem Cell Therapies Mission Stream 2” on "Trustworthy Governance of Human Embryo Research and Stem Cell-based Embryo Model”. Professor Nicol shares the project with 11 other chief investigators.
The second project, "Registration and Ethical Governance of Australian Stem Cells Lines,” forms part of the National Critical Research Infrastructure Scheme, and will develop digital infrastructure for trustworthy, responsible, and donor-guided governance of biospecimens. The project brings together a truly interdisciplinary team to pilot new mechanisms for governance and review of consent in the Australian stem cell registry.
Professor Nicol began her academic career as a scientist, receiving a PhD from Dalhousie University in Canada in 1987. Her research interests at the time focused on cell and developmental biology, with particular focus on the development of simple nervous systems. Dianne subsequently re-trained in law, graduating with a research-based LLM in 1997. The title of her thesis was: Patenting of Human Genetic Material in Australia. She commenced work as an academic at the University of Tasmania in 2000 and was appointed as Professor in 2009 and Distinguished Professor in 2019.
Over the years, Dianne's teaching has focused primarily on the interface between technology and the law, particularly intellectual property law. Her research interests are closely aligned with her teaching interests. She has served as Deputy Dean of the Law Faculty and Associate Dean, Research. In January 2013 Dianne took on the role of Chair of Academic Senate at the University of Tasmania, and in February 2015 became the Director of the Centre for Law and Genetics, after having served as one of the Deputy Directors since the inception of the Centre in 1994. In 2017-2018 she took in the role of acting University of Tasmania Provost.
In 021, Dianne Nicol retired from her positions as Distinguished Professor of Law and Director of the Centre for Law and Genetics at the University of Tasmania in Australia. In the same year, she commenced her role as co-lead of the Regulatory and Ethics Work Stream of the Global Alliance for Genomics and Health. She continues her involvement in academia as a Distinguished Professor Emerita. Dianne has a background in science as well as law, with a PhD in cell biology.
She was elected as a fellow of the Australian Academy of Law in 2016 and the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences in 2020. She recently completed her tenure as Chair of the Australian Embryo Research Licensing Committee. Dianne’s research focuses primarily on the regulation and governance of personalized medicine, genomic data sharing, stem cell technology, biobanking, genome editing and other emerging health technologies, together with commercialisation of biotechnology and patenting of biotechnological inventions.
In 2021 she retired from her role of Distinguished Professor in the Faculty of Law and in 2022 she became a Distinguished Professor Emerita.