NLU Delhi’s Research Centres Launch New Age Digital Courses on Forensics, Mental Health and Technology Law & Policy
New Delhi: National Law University Delhi is leading the way in promoting and advancing interdisciplinary legal studies in India. Recently, its centres Project39A and Centre for Communication Governance (CCG) have launched new age digital courses on topics such as forensics, mental health and technology law & policy.
“NLU Delhi’s focus since inception has been to look beyond normative legal studies pattern and frame new multi-disciplinary courses and encourage research in specialised areas that are still nascent,” said Professor Srikrishna Deva Rao, Vice Chancellor, NLU Delhi.
“This focus only got stronger with the implementation of the National Education Policy 2020, the thrust of which is to transform cross-disciplinary research in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). This gets reflected in the work our research centres are constantly undertaking,” he added.
On Monday (28 February, 2022) NLU Delhi’s Project39A launched two new online courses on forensics and mental health in collaboration with Eleos Justice at Monash Law School, Australia. The courses- Decoding Forensics for Legal Professionals and Forensic Mental Health and Criminal Justice- are aimed at imparting an understanding of the use and limitations of forensics science in criminal law and relevance of mental disability in criminal justice system, respectively.
Ms. Maitreyi Misra, founding member of Project 39A, said, “In the course of our work, we’ve realised the barriers that a lack of interdisciplinary learning was creating for students and practitioners of law. (Thus, the courses) have been designed with the purpose of getting the different fields to speak to each other, rather than at each other in the courtroom. We have forensic scientists and forensic psychiatrists speaking to lawyers and the law, which enhances the learning experience but also has real world consequences in terms of the application to legal practice.”
Recently, NLU Delhi’s CCG launched the first edition of Technology Law and Policy Certificate Course. The course touches on key contemporary themes of information technology and cyber laws, privacy and data protection, emerging technology, platform governance, cybersecurity & information security, intellectual property & technology, and competition law & technology.
“The course is designed to help students learn the legal, public policy and socio-political contours of cyberspace, and technology law and policy and their implications for our society. Our aim is to build the capacity of young professionals, students and stakeholders in the ecosystem around technology law and policy issues,” said Dr. Daniel Mathew, Director, CCG, NLU Delhi.
This is not the first time, however, that NLU Delhi has launched courses on niche themes that are under addressed in legal academia. NLU Delhi runs a course on copyright & copyright law called “CopyrightX: NLUD” which is an affiliate course of the CopyrightX program, offered by Professor William Fisher and Professor Ruth Okediji at the Harvard Law School. The course is unique not only in pedagogical terms but also in terms of subject matter. It offers a rather atypical take on copyright law as it attempts to raise moral and ethical questions on copyright as viewed from the perspective of consumers.
CopyrightX:NLUD, like the recently launched online courses of Project39A, forms an essential part of the university’s consistent effort to work towards internationalisation. Over the years, NLU Delhi and its research centres have collaborated and engaged with world-class universities like Harvard Law School, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, University of Sheffield, United Kingdom, University of Passau, Germany among many others. Such tie-ups assist the university in framing niche and exclusive curriculums, courses and modules with a global outlook.