Burkhard Schafer

Burkhard Schafer serves as Professor of Computational Legal Theory at the University of Edinburgh's Law School, where he has established himself as a leading authority at the intersection of law, science, and technology. After earning degrees in logic, philosophy, and computer linguistics from the University of Munich and a Master's in Law from Lancaster University, he has built an extraordinary career spanning over 25 years at Edinburgh. As co-founder and former director (2010-2021) of the SCRIPT Center for IT and IP Law and co-director of the Joseph Bell Centre for Forensic Statistics and Legal Reasoning, he explores both the challenges technology poses to law and its applications within legal systems. His research impact is evidenced through more than 120 publications on legal expert systems, semantic web applications, and technological regulation, garnering over 4,000 citations. His influence extends through significant appointments including chairing AI4People's legal services expert group, membership in the Turing Institute's data ethics group, and serving on various Scottish Government expert panels on digital ethics and policing technologies. Through his work on computational creativity, emotional AI, and their legal implications, he continues to shape understanding of how technology transforms legal thought while maintaining positions at multiple institutions including the Centre for Social Innovation at the University of New Brunswick and universities in Sao Paolo, Graz, and Grenoble.