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Uchenna Felicia Ugwu is a lawyer and academic researcher with over ten years’ experience extensively investigating the relationship between Intellectual Property (IP) norms, innovation and technology use by those in need, especially smallholder farmers and women in developing countries.. She recently received a PhD in International IP Law and Development from the University of Ottawa, with her thesis focusing on IP law and development treaties, patents, plant variety protection, data protection, agriculture, food security, and regional IP treaties in Africa. She holds a degree in Law, from Ahmadu Bello University in Nigeria and completed her Master’s with distinction in Public International Law from the University of Leicester, UK. She has several articles published in national and international peer reviewed journals was awarded a Queen Elizabeth Scholar – Advanced Scholars Fellowship to conduct research on agrochemical test data protection, gender and innovation in Africa. In 2009, Uchenna won a scholarship to conduct specialized research into issues underlying IP and development at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law in Munich, Germany.

Dr. Ugwu is currently working as a Policy Researcher at the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society, University of Toronto, Canada. Since 2022 she has worked as a consultant for the UNECA RITD drafting policy papers, the most recent being the preparation of a Private Sector Bill of Rights for Creating an Enabling Business Environment in African Countries to Enhance the Implementation of the AfCFTA. Dr Ugwu is a member of The Open African Innovation Research (OpenAIR) Network, at the Faculty of Law, University of Ottawa. Dr. Ugwu is a member of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Women in Innovation, and Center for International Governance Innovation. She has delivered keynote presentations at several conferences including the 2019 CAAS/ACEA Conference in Montreal and the 2017 International Conference on the Right to Development in South Africa. She has previously participated in development projects at: the Centre for International Governance Innovation (CIGI), Waterloo, Canada in 2016; the Biodiversity Program of the Centre for International Sustainable Development (CISDL) in 2016; the Open Africa Innovation Research Project of the University of Ottawa from 2015-2017; and the International Law Development Project at the Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property, Competition and Tax Law in Munich, Germany (2009). She is a practicing lawyer, being called to the bar of Nigeria and a member of the Nigerian Bar Association since 2003.