Burkhard Schafer studied Theory of Science, Logic, Theoretical Linguistics, Philosophy and Law at the Universities of Mainz, Munich, Florence and Lancaster. His main field of interest is the interaction between law, science and computer technology from doctrinal, comparative and legal-theoretical perspectives.
He is co-founder and currently Director of the SCRIPT Centre for IT and IP law, where his work covers all aspects of technology regulation, from IP law to data protection to e-commerce to e-forensics. Most recently, this lead to his involvement as Co-I with Creative Informatics, the large R&D project for the Creative Industries. As a co-founder and co-director of the Joseph Bell Centre for Legal Reasoning and Forensic Statistics, he also works on questions of legal technology and its role in the justice system. Most recently, this meant an interest in computational creativity, emotional AI, and what these concepts mean when applied to law.
He is involved with a number of organisations that promote the exchange between computer science and law, including the German Association for Informatics, BILETA, and the Evidence and Investigation network of the Scottish Institute for Policing Research. Burkhard Schafer is currently member of the expert group of AI4People, chairing their working group on an ethics framework for legal technology, and member of the data ethics group of the Turing Institute. He is also a member of the legal technologist accreditation panel of the Law Society of Scotland.