Young Researchers at the UWr – Laura Słocka
Conducting scientific research, especially involving the analysis of the laws of a country as distant as Chile, is quite a challenge. Of course, thanks to new technologies, it is possible to complete many research tasks practically without leaving home, but the real value of scientific research is still the opportunity to share your research results with other experts in order to initiate discussion on a given legal problem – emphasises our PhD student Laura Słocka.
At the University of Wrocław, we exceptionally recognise not only finalists and laureates of Olympiads and candidates who have passed their matriculation exams with flying colours, but above all those who want to develop their interests and become ‘Young Researchers’.
Meet another ambassador of the ‘Young Researcher’ programme at the University of Wrocław. Laura Słocka is a doctoral student at the Doctoral College of Legal Studies of the Doctoral School of the University of Wrocław.
What area of law do you deal with?
– New technologies today require lawyers to think outside the box, because very often you have to navigate through different branches of law. I conduct my research activities mainly in the area of data protection law, but also in medical law, human rights or civil law. My research concerns neurodata processing within the framework of advanced neurotechnology, i.e. devices that analyse brain activity using artificial intelligence algorithms and process it into commands sent to external devices. There has been recent media coverage of an exoskeleton that enabled a completely paralysed person to move, or the controversial Neuralink, an invasive brain-computer interface. My research is precisely about the need to adopt new neurolaws in relation to the latest neotechnological developments.
What are neurolaws?
– Neurolaws is a concept under which various legal solutions are covered to protect users of neurotechnology from the consequences of unethical use of neurodata. The use of neurotechnology involves crossing the last barrier of privacy, after all we can read a person’s thoughts and now even influence them. Legal solutions are needed to guarantee not only the protection of privacy, but also to limit the use of neurodata bases.
How did you become a participant in the Young Researcher Grants 2023-2025 programme?
– I have been researching neurotechnology in law for over five years. Watching the development of the technology itself and legislative activity around the world, I quickly noticed that Chile had become a pioneer in neurolaw. It then became clear to me that I needed to focus my research on this country. Despite analysing all the bills with their justifications, the final wording of the laws, the voices of doctrine and case law, I still found it difficult to work out why neurodata were compared to human organs such as the heart, lungs or kidneys. I realised that differences between the legal systems in Europe and Chile, as well as cultural considerations, might be behind it. I started looking for funding opportunities to carry out research locally, in Chile, and found an announcement on the University of Wroclaw’s website about the ‘Young Researcher Grants 2023-2025’ competition.
In the meantime, I got in touch with a researcher from the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, a university whose researchers co-wrote the first legislation in the world relating directly to neurotechnology.
Thanks to the support of my Supervisor, prof. dr hab. Jacek Gołaczyński, I very quickly prepared a research plan in Chile and the grant application itself. I was awarded a two-week residence grant at the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile, the best university in South America.
What have you gained from the programme?
– While completing the grant, I had many meetings with various scientists researching ethical aspects of neurotechnology, gave an open lecture on neurotechnology in EU law and collected valuable material for further research. It was an amazing opportunity to discuss for hours various issues related to neurodata processing.
I found answers to the questions I had. I learnt about the political and cultural context of the amendment of the Chilean Constitution and the law on neurotechnology, and I understood how the approach after privacy in Europe differs from that in South America. This cannot be read between the lines of scientific publications, but has to be seen, felt and understood in order to discover what is really behind Chilean legislation. After all, no one writes about the fact that Chileans have no problem with their PESEL number being used to calculate discounts in shops and a fingerprint replacing a door key or card in public buildings. And in the same country, it was considered that the processing of neurodata could reveal too much information about the user of neurotechnology, so it should be very strictly limited.
Why such extreme approaches to data protection in Chile?
– I will answer this question soon in my PhD thesis.
And why did you choose the University of Wrocław?
– Conducting scientific research, especially involving the analysis of the laws of such a distant country, is quite a challenge. Of course, thanks to new technologies, many research tasks can be completed virtually without leaving home. But the real value of research is still to be able to share your research results with other experts to initiate discussion on a given legal problem. And the University of Wrocław understands very well the need to create space for these discussions and the necessity to internationalise research, supporting young scientists in their development as well as in obtaining funding for their research.
The University of Wrocław also connects science with business, thanks to which I am preparing my doctoral thesis within the framework of the ministerial programme ‘Implementation PhDs’. This allows me to combine my professional work at the dotlaw firm with my scientific work, and knowing that the results of my scientific research actually solve the problems of the business world is an additional motivation.
Do you intend to associate your future with the University of Wrocław? What are your professional/academic plans?
– Academic work gives us a completely different perspective on various legal problems, allows us to argue more effectively and to understand ratio legis in depth, which is not without influence on the quality of our legal advice. That is why I would like to continue combining my professional work with scientific activity at the University of Wrocław after completing my PhD. This is all the more so because the topic of my research, which is the legal aspects of neurotechnology, will still be a challenge for legal science for many years to come due to the complexity of neurotechnology and its constantly accelerating and unpredictable development.
I am currently focusing on completing my doctoral dissertation, which deals with the right to privacy of neurotechnology users. At the same time, I am focused on expanding my scientific network and exchanging experiences, which is why I will soon be visiting Switzerland as part of the ‘PROM – short-term academic exchange’ grant funded by NAWA, where I will conduct the next stages of my scientific research. Immediately after Switzerland, I will take an active part in an international scientific conference on neurotechnology in Munich, and this is just the beginning of the year.
It promises to be a very busy and interesting year! We are keeping our fingers crossed!
A reminder of the ongoing calls (in Polish)
More about the programme and other Young Researchers (in Polish)
Complied by Katarzyna Górowicz-Maćkiewicz
Date of publication: 30.01.2025
Added by: M.J.
