Email: [email protected]
Office: SW701
Address: School of Law, College of Business and Social Sciences, Aston University, Birmingham B4 7ET, UK

Wenlong Li has joined Aston Law School since November 2024 as a Lecturer in Law specialising in data and AI regulation. A lawyer by training, his research focuses on privacy and data protection law, AI regulation, and fundamental rights. Wenlong’s recent work attends to the rapid development and adoption of generative AI, addressing the challenges of applying data regulations to AI. His research also explores several under-theorised issues with regards to AI regulation, such as addictive design, children’s rights and the development of standards for implementing AI-specific regulations.

An interdisciplinary researcher at heart, Wenlong combines doctrinal, empirical, and social science methods to tackle pressing challenges that extend beyond legal interpretation. His collaborations with sociologists, computer scientists, and political economy scholars have explored issues like algorithmic management and platform workers' rights, while his ongoing work with education scholars investigates AI-mediated threats to academic integrity in digital education.

Wenlong brings a rich blend of academic and industry experience to his role. As a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Birmingham, he co-founded the LEADS Lab and convened the Tech & Law Cluster. In the private sector, he has held research roles at multinational companies such as TikTok/Bytedance, Alibaba, and Tencent, where his action-oriented research addressed real-world challenges faced by industries, civil societies and governments. His research and teaching often adopt a global and cross-cultural perspective, drawing on his experience with diverse regulatory environments, particularly in the EU/UK, China and US.

Wenlong is affiliated with the Edinburgh Centre for Data, Culture & Society and serves as a scientific expert for the International Panel on the Information Environment (IPIE). A passionate advocate for mooting, Wenlong has been actively involved in the Oxford Price International Media Law Moot Court for over a decade as a mooter, judge, and coach. Previously, he served as an editor for SCRIPTed and guest lectured at Edinburgh Law School and the School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham. Wenlong earned his PhD in IT law from the University of Edinburgh in 2019, with a thesis exploring digital rights as a means of data protection.

My research unfolds at the vibrant intersection of emerging technology, law and ethics, with a focus on the regulatory/compliance priorities, strategies and challenges within global and sub-global contexts. My approach blends legal analysis with insights from STS, critical (data/AI) studies, ethics, sociology, computer science etc. to forge holistic and applied solutions to complex real-world challenges.

Key areas of interest

• AI regulation – focusing on generative AI and the influence of EU legislation and standardisation on global practices. I also explore critical and problematic areas such as addictive design, the protection of children in digital/AI contexts, and the legal/ethical use of computer vision and new biometrics for law enforcement.
  
  
• Privacy & data protection – attending primarily to the enforcement of the GDPR and equivalent regulations worldwide in the private section, examining pivotal issues from applied, comparative and global perspectives
  
  
• Platform Liability & Governance – keeping abreast of how EU regulations eg DSA and DMA are reshaping platform governance on top of the GDPR
  
  
• Freedom of Expression – covering a range of issues mostly in the digital context from hate speech to intermediary liability and content moderation. I also explore how aspects of media law adapt to digital contexts.
  
  
• Digital Experimentation & Innovation – advocating for a legal and ethical foundation that supports responsible innovative advancements
  
  
• Digital Labour Protection –bridging labour law and digital law and toolkits to promote the welfare and fair working conditions for platform workers
  
  
• Law and Technology (more generally) – engaging conceptual and theoretical intersection between technical constructs and multiple legal frameworks, such as the legal implications of data portability and machine-readability. 

BL3359 Emerging Technologies, AI and Law

BL3365 Data Protection Law

BL2200 Law in an Applied Context

BLK513 Legal Challenges: Starting an Innovative Business

PhD in Information Technology Law, University of Edinburgh, 2019

MSc with Distinction in Law and Journalism, University of Political Science and Law, China, 2015

LLB with First Class Honours in Law, University of Political Science and Law, 2012

2024.11-present: Lecturer in Law, Aston Law School

2023.10-2024.11: Research Lead, Privacy & Data Protection Office, Bytedance (TikTok)

2022.02-2023.10: Senior Researcher, Alibaba Research

2020.02-2022.02: Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Law, Ethics & Computer, University of Birmingham

2014.06-2015.09: Researcher, Tencent (Internet & Society) Institute