PeopleofSuperintelligence

Researcher

Lilian Edwards

Lilian Edwards is a legal scholar of internet law and AI regulation who has worked on law and artificial intelligence since 1985. After posts at Strathclyde and Edinburgh, she won the Barbara Wellberry Memorial Prize in 2004 for online privacy work in which she invented the notion of data trusts, held chairs and professorships at Southampton, Sheffield and Strathclyde, and took a new Chair in Law, Innovation and Society at Newcastle University in 2018. In 2017, she and Michael Veale published “Slave to the Algorithm?”, which argues that a GDPR right to an explanation is unlikely to be a complete remedy for algorithmic harms; the paper won the Future of Privacy Forum award for best paper in 2019. She joined the Ada Lovelace Institute in 2021 as Expert Legal Adviser on the EU AI regulation. She is now Emerita Professor at Newcastle, Honorary Professor at CREATe in Glasgow and Director of Pangloss Consulting, and her 2026 paper “AI, Digital Platforms, and the New Systemic Risk”, written with Philipp Hacker and Atoosa Kasirzadeh, appeared at FAccT ’26.

Now at
Newcastle University, University of Glasgow and Pangloss Consulting
Born
1961
Badges

Years link to their sources.

Timeline

  1. 1985–2006

    Internet law at Edinburgh

    She is involved with law and artificial intelligence from 1985, works at the University of Strathclyde from 1986 to 1988, and joins the University of Edinburgh's Faculty of Law in 1989. At Edinburgh, she creates one of the EU's first programmes in Internet Law and co-founds the SCRIPT Centre for research into IP and technology law, staying until 2006.

  2. 2004

    Barbara Wellberry Memorial Prize

    She wins the Barbara Wellberry Memorial Prize in 2004 for her work on online privacy, in which she invents the notion of data trusts.

  3. 2006–2010

    Professor of Internet Law

    She holds the Chair of Internet Law at the University of Southampton from 2006 to 2008, then serves as Professor of Internet Law at the University of Sheffield. In late 2010, she returns to Scotland to become Professor of E-Governance at the University of Strathclyde.

  4. 2017–2020

    Slave to the Algorithm paper

    In 2017, she and Michael Veale publish “Slave to the Algorithm?” in the Duke Law & Technology Review, arguing that a GDPR right to an explanation is unlikely to be a complete remedy to algorithmic harms. She wins the Future of Privacy Forum award for best paper in 2019, and the award for best non-technical paper at FAccT in 2020 for work on automated hiring.

  5. 2018

    Chair at Newcastle University

    In 2018, she resigns her Strathclyde post to take up a new Chair in Law, Innovation and Society at Newcastle University. She heads up digital law work there and leads on regulation of data for the Data NUCore.

  6. 2021–2022

    Expert legal adviser at Ada

    In October 2021, she joins the Ada Lovelace Institute as part-time Expert Legal Adviser on secondment from Newcastle University, to lead research, analysis and convening on the EU AI regulation. Her featured work there includes the March 2022 expert opinion “Regulating AI in Europe: four problems and four solutions” and the April 2022 explainer on the EU AI Act proposal.

  7. June 2026

    AI and systemic risk paper

    Her paper “AI, Digital Platforms, and the New Systemic Risk”, written with Philipp Hacker and Atoosa Kasirzadeh, appears at the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency (FAccT ’26) in Montreal in June 2026.

  8. As of October 2026

    Emerita and honorary professor

    She is Emerita Professor of Law, Innovation and Society at Newcastle University, Honorary Professor at CREATe at the University of Glasgow, and Director of Pangloss Consulting. ELLIS lists her as a Scholar at Newcastle Law School.

Career

  1. Since 2018Newcastle UniversityChair in Law, Innovation and Society
  2. NowUniversity of GlasgowHonorary Professor
  3. NowPangloss ConsultingDirector
  4. 2021–2022Ada Lovelace InstituteExpert Legal Adviser on the EU AI regulation
  5. 2008–2010University of SheffieldProfessor of Internet Law
  6. 2006–2008University of SouthamptonChair of Internet Law
  7. 1989–2006University of EdinburghCo-founder
  8. 1986–1988University of StrathclydeProfessor of E-Governance

From the biography.

  1. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other universityIncludes Lilian Edwards. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology trained or employed 44 of the 187 AI major-prize winners, more than any other university. We compare doctorate and 5+ year employment links, career timing and current workplaces for 187 major-prize and 1,111 best-paper winners.
  2. More people shaping AI studied at Massachusetts Institute of Technology than at any other institutionIncludes Newcastle University. We estimate where the people shaping AI studied and where their careers led. Massachusetts Institute of Technology leads with 467 former students, including 291 recorded doctorates.
  3. The company share of AI researchers’ top papers was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974Includes Newcastle University. We estimate where the people shaping AI worked when their most-cited papers appeared: the company share was 31% in 2020–2024 and 8% in 1970–1974, and Google led all organizations in 2020–2024.
  4. Universities had a net outflow of 2,068 moves in AI careersIncludes University of Edinburgh. Our estimates of career flows and median h-index across universities and companies in AI, including the role of joint appointments and earlier academic jobs.

Colleagues

People with dated positions at the same organization in the same years.

Sources and credits

Photo: We have no published photo of Lilian Edwards yet. Send us a free-licensed photo.

  1. Staff Profile | Newcastle Law School | Newcastle University ncl.ac.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  2. Professor Lilian Edwards joins the Ada Lovelace Institute as part-time Expert Legal Adviser | Ada Lovelace Institute adalovelaceinstitute.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  3. Lilian Edwards - Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  4. Slave to the Algorithm? Why a ‘Right to an Explanation’ Is Probably Not the Remedy You Are Looking For | Duke Law & Technology Review dltr.law.duke.edu. Checked 21 October 2026.
  5. Lilian Edwards | Ada Lovelace Institute adalovelaceinstitute.org. Checked 21 October 2026.
  6. Browse by Glasgow Author eprints.gla.ac.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  7. SJ Interview: Lilian Edwards solicitorsjournal.com. Checked 21 October 2026.
  8. Watermarks, Watermarks Everywhere, and not a Stop to Think? EU AI Act Art 50 comes to town. - CREATe create.ac.uk. Checked 21 October 2026.
  9. Lilian Edwards | European Laboratory for Learning and Intelligent Systems ellis.eu. Checked 21 October 2026.