Career
During his time at Oxford, Spence worked in the field of intellectual property theory. His work includes articles and books on both intellectual property law and the law of obligations, with a critical focus on suggested ethical and economic justifications of the existing regimes. He remains a consultant to the London law firm Olswang and serves as a World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) Arbitration and Mediation Centre Panelist. He has lectured on intellectual property-related topics around the world, and held a number of visiting appointments in Boston, Munich and Siena. He has twice been a Parsons Fellow at the Sydney Law School.
Spence served as head of the law faculty at the University of Oxford and was head of the Social Sciences Division, one of the four divisions which make up the university. He oversaw significant growth of research activity and funding in the social sciences and the strengthening of links between the social science departments and between them and the university more broadly.
One of Spence's priorities at Oxford was actively to encourage fundraising and substantial sponsorship from benefactors and corporate groups. He was a driving force behind the establishment and financial support of a number of Oxford's new research centres and institutes, such as the Oxford Centre for Educational Assessment and the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment. His responsibilities included oversight of some of the University of Oxford's most innovative research units, including the James Martin 21st Century School and the Oxford-Man Institute for Quantitative Finance.
As the Vice Chancellor of the University of Sydney, Spence is pursuing initiatives to attempt to boost the university's reputation and finances. This includes announced firings of a number of university staff and faculty, though some at the university argue that the school should cut back on building programs instead.
Read more about this topic: Michael Spence (academic)
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