George Tian

Dr George Tian is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) and Director of Academic Programs. He is an internationally recognised interdisciplinary legal scholar specialising in intellectual property, technology regulation, international trade and commercial law, and digital governance, with particular expertise in cross-border regulatory governance and emerging technologies.

His current research focuses on the law and governance of low-carbon sustainable supply chains, examining how artificial intelligence, digital technologies, international trade law, and regulatory innovation can support trusted and sustainable global value chains. His work aims to align innovation with the public good through legal and technological solutions that promote sustainability, accountability, and responsible digital transformation.

Dr Tian is the author of Re-thinking Intellectual Property: The Political Economy of Copyright Protection in the Digital Era (Routledge, 2009) and co-author of Australian Commercial Law (2nd ed., Cambridge University Press, 2020). He is also the lead author of the forthcoming books Regulatory Compliance in Carbon Governance (LexisNexis) and Carbon Traceability and Law in International Supply Chains (Springer Nature).

He is currently Co-Chair of the American Society of International Law (ASIL) Private International Law Interest Group (2024–2027), Secretary of the International Federation for Information Processing (IFIP) Working Group on AI Governance, and Deputy Co-Lead of the Silicon Valley Arbitration & Mediation Center (SVAMC) Online Dispute Resolution Working Group. He also serves as a UDRP Panellist appointed by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) (since 2011) and has been a registered Australian Trade Marks Attorney since 2009.

Prior to joining UTS, Dr Tian served as a Consultant with the Trade and Investment Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) and the International Labour Organization (ILO) Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific. He also worked as Project Coordinator in the Commercial Litigation Department of Clayton Utz.

Dr Tian was a Visiting Scholar at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School (Summer 2005), a Visiting Research Fellow at the Oxford Intellectual Property Research Centre, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford (Michaelmas 2011), and a Visiting Fellow at the Centre for Asian and Pacific Law, Sydney Law School (2025).