Postgraduate research students

Biography

Zihao Li is a current PhD Researcher, Guest Lecturer and Research Assistant at CREATe Centre, School of Law. He is also a Research Fellow at Stanford University. Meanwhile, he has been invited as a Guest Lecturer to Trinity College Dublin, Ireland. Zihao is qualified in both Computer Science (B.Eng.) and Law (LL.B.) in 2017 from Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China. During 2015, he studied as an exchange student in University of California, Irvine, USA. He also holds LL.M. in Intellectual Property and Digital Economy from University of Glasgow.

His research interests concentrate on the relationship between law, data and information technology. Recently, his research mainly covers data protection law, AI and regulation, Internet and intellectual property, blockchain and law, and electronic evidence forensics. His publications have been included in diverse interdisciplinary databases, including Web of Science, Springer Link, IEEE Xplore, Scopus and HeinOnline.

Zihao is also a member of the CREATe Centre, Scottish Law and Innovation Network (SCOTLIN) and the founding president of IP society in University of Glasgow. Based on his interdisciplinary and international background, Zihao’s research aims to explore what is the best way to regulate data and protect individuals in the increasingly widespread application of big data and machine learning era in China and EU.

Research Interests

• Data Protection Law
• Information technology Law
• Internet and Intellectual Property Law
• Cybersecurity and E-evidence Forensics

Research Assistance

• CREATe research assistant on digital resources
  • Take charge of updating research and websites 
• Beeptrace Blockchain-based Privacy Preserved Contact Tracing App for COVID19 
  • Collaborative research with James Watt School of Engineering, take charge of legal landscape of data protection law; 
  • Explore the relationship between blockchain-based technologies and data protection law and examine how to reconcile blockchain and GDPR;
  • Take charge of the legal compliance of the research project, including DPIA, Privacy Policy etc.
• Scotland Law and Innovation Network (SCOTLIN)
  • Working as research project administrator to establish the network and ensure digital accessibility and publish reports;
  • Establish and maintain SCOTLIN’s social media presence, the website, the mailing list, and social media
• Darwin Project for “5G + Connected and Autonomous Vehicles” (CAVs)
  • Took charge of legal landscape study especially focus on data protection and regulation law in the context of 5G and CAVs; Explored the date sharing between personal data, non-personal data under CAVs; Collaborating with Adam Smith Business School, University of Glasgow.
• Open Mining Infrastructure for Text and Data Mining (OpenMinTeD)
  • Review Open License Standardization and Compatibility in the context of Text and Data Mining and supplement annotation into a license matrix at University of Glasgow. Available at https://openminted.github.io/releases/license-matrix/
• Cyber Security Antivirus ARP Attack Research at Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China;
  • Utilized Veil and Metasploit in context of Kali Linux to test antivirus applications; Analysis digital evidence forensics of such cyberattacks based on Chinese cybersecurity law and Criminal law.
• Gamed Based Cybersecurity Education Platform at Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China;
  • Collaborative design a game-based education platform for data protection and cybersecurity legal education.

List by: Type | Date

• Professor Martin Kretschmer
• Dr Luis Porangaba
• Dr Thomas Margoni

Modern Law Review (MLR) Scholarship

Selected Conference Presentations

• Zihao Li, 'Protection of Intellectual Property vs Explainability of Algorithm: A Case Study of Online Algorithmic Pricing' 2022 Annual Conference of European Policy for Intellectual Property (EPIP), University of Cambridge (September, 2022)
• Zihao Li, 'Regulating Online Algorithmic Pricing Through Data Protection Law: A Comparative Study between EU and China' 113th Annual Conference of Society of Legal Scholars (SLS), King's College London (KCL) (September, 2022)
• Zihao Li, 'The Reason Behind the EU Data Protection Law’s Failure to Effectively Protect Users from Online Algorithmic Pricing', 1st Annual Conference of Scottish Law and Innovation Network (SCOTLIN), Stirling (April, 2022)
• Zihao Li, 'Online Algorithmic Pricing and EU Data Protection Law', 2022 Annual Conference of British and Irish Law Education Technology Association (BILETA), University of Exeter (April, 2022)
• Zihao Li, 'Data Governance, Cyber Sovereignty and Sustainability: How Data Protection Law Should Promote Sustainable Development of Cyber Ecosystem from Chinese Perspective', 9th International Conference on Law, Language and Discourse, Zhejiang University (August, 2021)
• Zihao Li, ‘Can Data Protection Law Protect Online Consumers Against Personalized Pricing? A Critical Review of Algorithm Regulation from Data Protection Law Perspective’, 111th Annual Conference of Society of Legal Scholars (SLS), University of Exeter (September, 2020)
• Zihao Li, ‘A critical review of Automatic Price-making Algorithm and EU Data Protection Law: Is GDPR enough to achieve the goal of transparency and fairness in the era of e-commerce?’, University of Hong Kong Law Doctoral Colloquium, University of Hong Kong (September, 2020)

• Guest Lecturer at School of Law, Trinity College Dublin 2023
  • Taught LLM course: Intellectual Property Law and Emerging Technologies
• Guest Lecturer at School of Law, University of Glasgow 2023
  • Taught data protection law and automated decision-making on LLM course Information Law and Policy;
  • Individually instructed and mentored graduate-level students in data protection law and technologies

As for extracurricular activities, Zihao was interviewed by China Central Television (CCTV) on behalf of researchers from University of Glasgow in 2020. He is the founder president of Information Technology Committee of IP society in University of Glasgow. He was also the vice president in Information Technology Association in Chongqing University of Posts and Telecommunications.

In terms of internships, Zihao has had several internships in the Chinese People’s Intermediate Court, both in Criminal Court and Civil Court to assist judge to draft the verdict of several cases. He also had an internship in the Chinese Administration for Industrial and Commercial, assisting in the dealing with online intellectual property infringement.