Academics from the City Law School working in collaboration with Keio University Law School in Japan have been awarded funding under the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) and Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) UK-Japan Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities (SSH) Connections Scheme 2019.

Professor Elaine Fahey, Dr Luke McDonagh, Dr Enrico Bonadio, Professor David Collinsand Anthony Rogers have been awarded funding for their project titled TRILATTRADE: UK-EU-Japan Trade Relations: Modelling Trade, Regulation and IP.

The project runs for 18 months from January 2019 and includes the organisation of interdisciplinary conferences in London and Tokyo, doctoral mobilities and incoming research fellowships to City Law School.

TRILATTRADE’ examines three thematic strands in UK-EU-Japan relations going forward: overall economic law; regulation theory and data transfers; and IP law and policy.

The award deepens links between City and Keio, fostered over the past number of years which have included research and teaching exchanges, visiting fellowships and sabbatical stays.

The ESRC-funded TRILATTRADE research project seeks to model the legal framework of the trilateral UK-EU-Japan Trade, Regulation and IP relationship. Trade, regulation and IP constitute three core pillars of international, national and regional economic law and policy frameworks. This is relevant to the functional operation of trade and its innovation.

This project will address these core pillars with three interlocking thematic strands:

I. UK-Japan Trade

III. UK-EU-Japan Intellectual Property

These strands have the overarching aim of generating networks of scholars, practitioners, think tanks, government and commercial actors working in UK-EU-Japan trade, regulation and Intellectual Property (IP) working on the future regulatory and legislative landscape.

• Two conferences to be held at City Law School, City, University of London and Keio Law School, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan respectively.
• Doctoral student mobility for research exchange visits between both institutions, with a particular focus on thematic strands II & III;
• A research Fellowship for a Keio scholar hosted at The City Law School, with a particular focus on thematic strand I;

The project aims to generate trade and business opportunities as well as models for good global governance in law and policy as a future research agenda.

It also builds on the collaborative relationship between City Law School and Keio Law School, both key legal research institutions in their respective countries.