The “Academic Writing Workshop” was organized by Centre for Innovation, Intellectual Property and Competition (CIIPC) and the IPR Chair, National Law University Delhi under the aegis of IQAC. The event was organized in hybrid mode with participants attending physically on the NLUD campus and many joining virtually via video conferencing.
The workshop commenced with an inaugural session featuring welcome remarks by Ms. Nishtha Sharma, Research and Programme Coordinator, CIIPC-IPR Chair, National Law University Delhi. Ms. Nishtha introduced the distinguished speaker Dr Pratyush Nath Upreti, who is a Senior Lecturer in Law at the School of Law, Queen’s University, Belfast. Before his appointment at the Queen’s University, Belfast, he held a position at the Faculty of Law, University of Helsinki and the Max Planck Institute for Innovation and Competition Law, Munich. He has acted as an expert and commissioned studies for the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development and is currently a member of the expert committee on the resource project of World Health Organization (South-East Asia). Apart from this, he is also an author of Intellectual Property Objectives in International Investment Agreements (Edward Elgar, 2022) which was voted for the IPKat 2022 IP Law Book of the Year, and Co-editor of Intellectual Property Rights in the Post-Pandemic World (Edward Elgar, 2023).
Special Lecture:
The workshop delved into the intricacies of legal research and academic writing and Dr. Upreti offered his expertise to provide a comprehensive exploration of academic writing. The first half of the Workshop focused on legal research and the second half on academic writing. The Speaker started off the session by explaining what is meant by legal research. It was highlighted that both research and writing are two parts of the same coin i.e. they are intertwined processes. However, there are certain key differences between them that must be understood. Dr Upreti shared his personal experience and highlighted the importance of taking breaks during research to refresh perspectives. The Speaker also explained the various elements of research and elaborated on different research methodologies.
The Speaker laid special emphasis on empirical research and focused on explaining how to approach data collection and field work. The discussion centered around how to establish research objectives, how to use data to establish arguments, how to use data to enhance the overall objective of the work and how to avoid biases. The lecture was an interactive one with examples to show how research can be narrowed down using mapping methodology.
Dr Upreti also focused on academic writing and the importance of audience awareness. Academic writing, in any form, caters to different audiences and therefore calls for tailored approaches. It was further highlighted that academic writing must be precise, formal, clear, simple and direct. It must not be descriptive or authoritative. This was followed by another exercise to show how an abstract should be written. Dr Upreti mentioned that research paper abstracts should be on point and straightforward. The workshop explored different forms of academic writing like book chapters, journal articles, policy reports, etc.
The workshop ended with a brief discussion on how to approach peer review and publishing strategies. It encapsulated the essence of academic writing and was followed by an interactive Q&A session. The attendees gained insights in varied forms of legal research and writing. The workshop was followed by high tea.