Mimi Zou

Dr Mimi Zou is Director of Studies in Law at Regent's Park College and Principal Investigator of the Deep Tech Dispute Resolution Lab at the Law Faculty. Her main areas of expertise are in law and technology, comparative commercial and contract law, employment law, and dispute resolution, with over 60 academic publications in these fields. She is a member of the World Economic Forum Experts Network in the areas of China, Justice, and Blockchain and an advisory board member of the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation, which advises the UK Government on the trustworthy use of data and AI and responsible innovation. From 2017 to 2020, she held the first post in Chinese law at the University of Oxford as Fangda CDF in Chinese Commercial Law, St Hugh's College. 

Dr Zou obtained her Doctor of Philosophy in Law and Bachelor of Civil Law (Distinction) degrees from Oxford (St John's College and Christ Church) on a Commonwealth Scholarship and a James Fairfax Oxford Australia Scholarship. She also graduated with first-class honours degrees in Law, Economics, and Social Sciences (University Medal) from the University of Sydney. She has been admitted as a lawyer in the state of New South Wales (Australia) and a solicitor of England and Wales. She has also been called to the Bar of England and Wales. 

Her former academic appointments include: Edwards Fellow at Columbia Law School, Assistant Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Senior Researcher at Utrecht University. Dr Zou has also been a visitor at a number of leading Chinese universities and research institutes. She is an editor of the Hong Kong Law Journal (SSCI) and founding series editor of a new collection of monographs on Data Science, Machine Intelligence, and Law (Springer Nature).

She won the 2016 International Association of Labour Law Journals Marco Biagi Prize for Best Paper and was a finalist in the 2016 Taylor & Francis Commonwealth Scholar Best Journal Article Prize. She received the first Innovation in Teaching Award from the Faculty of Law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 2015 for pioneering a variety of blended and elearning initiatives. Her research has been cited in an Australian appellate court and several parliamentary inquiries and covered by international media outlets such as The New York Times, BBC, The Guardian, Reuters, China Daily, and South China Morning Post.

Dr Zou has worked or served as an adviser and consultant for international organisations, government departments, and firms in tech and professional services sectors in China, Europe, USA, and Australasia for over 18 years. She provides training on China-related legal, economic, cultural, and strategic issues for senior civil servants, diplomats, officers of the armed forces, lawyers, and business professionals around the world. She is a member of the UNIDROIT Working Group on Digital Assets and Private Law, an expert member of the World Bank Group's Access to Justice and Technology Taskforce, a special adviser to the Great Britain China Centre (a non-departmental public body set up by the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office), a distinguished expert on the Asia Society Policy Institute Belt and Road Task Force, a founding advisory board member of the Asia Pacific Legal Innovation and Technology Association, and a member of the Astana International Financial Centre Legaltech Advisory Board. In 2016, the Asia Society named Dr Zou an ‘Asia 21 Young Leader’. She has been a finalist in the UK Asian Women of Achievement Awards, British Council's Education UK Alumni Awards, Young Australian of the Year Awards, Young Women to Watch in International Affairs, Women of the Year Awards, and the inaugural 40 Under 40 Most Influential Asian-Australians Awards.