Professor Dong-Xia (Lily) Yang is visiting the School of Law this week, and has provided us with an excellent overview of some of the agricultural law issues which are relevant to China. Professor Yang is the Director of the Research Center of Agricultural Law, which is located within the Agricultural Management Institute of the Ministry of Agriculture of the People’s Republic of China. She is also the Secretary-General of the China Association of Agricultural Law (CAAL). She holds a PhD, LLM and LLB all from China University of Political Science and Law in Beijing, China.

Lily, who is a current visiting professor at the University of Sydney, decided to visit the UNE School of Law for the week so she could meet with the researchers from the Australian Centre for Agriculture and Law. Lily met Associate Professor Amanda Kennedy while Amanda was visiting China last year. During this time, they became fast friends and realised they shared a number of the same research interests.

Lily’s research interests are broadly in the area of the legal implications of agricultural trade, intellectual property issues concerning seeds and plant breeder’s rights, rural development and food security.

The AgLaw Centre at UNE will be hosting Lily from 29 August until 1 September. Lily is enjoying her time in Armidale. She notes that Australia is beautiful and that Aussies are very friendly.

When Lily is not working, she enjoys spending time with her family. She loves romantic movies, dancing and listening to classical music. She likes seeing kangaroos and koalas in Australia.