Dr Marietjie Botes
Honorary Research Fellow

SnT Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability Security and Trust, University of Luxembourg,

Biography

Marietjie has transitioned from a 20-year career as practicing attorney in health law and biotechnology to academia focussing on interdisciplinary research in the intersection between science, technology and law. She holds the degrees of BProc, LLB, LLM (Intellectual Property Law) and a PhD (Biotechnology Law).

In 2019 Marietjie joined the University of Kwa-Zulu Natal as a postdoctoral researcher in the Health Law and Bioethics research group lead by Prof Thaldar where she focussed on the governance of advanced biotechnical therapies, ethics pertaining to stem cell and genetic research, privacy issues relating to health information and data sharing and commercialisation. Marietjie also teaches Medical Law, Human Rights and Ethical Theories to medical students at the School of Health Sciences, University of Kwa-Zulu Natal.  

On 1 April 2021 Marietjie joined Prof Gabriele Lenzini’s IRiSC Research Group at the SnT Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability Security and Trust, University of Luxembourg, as a postdoctoral researcher where she focuses on Ethical, Legal, Social and Technical issues around Biotechnologies, Data Protection and Cybersecurity of Medical Devices and Digital Health, data governance and digital ethics.   

Additionally, she is still collaborating with comic artists and scientists to communicate their work to a broader audience and to redesign clinical research consent models fit for the future.

Academic Qualifications

  • BProc, LLB, LLM (Intellectual Property Law)
  • PhD (Biotechnology Law)

Research Interests

  • Health Law
  • Life sciences
  • Intersection between Law and Science (and Art)
  • Data sharing, Privacy and Consent

Recent Publications

  • (2020) “Human germline editing: Legal-ethical guidelines for South Africa” South African Journal of Science (SAJS)
  • (2020) “The national material transfer agreement: Proposals for improvement and pointers for implementation.” BMC Medical Ethics
  • (2020) “Human Biological Material” LAWSA
  • (2020) “COVID-19 and quarantine orders: A practical approach based on human rights.” South African Medical Journal (SAMJ)
  • (2020) “Contact tracing during the COVID-19 pandemic: Protection of personal information in South Africa.” South African Journal of Bioethics and Law.
  • (2020) “Sanctity of the human genome as foundation of life” Medical Archives Journal
  • (2011) “The application of the Consumer Protection Act in the South African health care context: Concerns and recommendations.” The comparative and International Law Journal of southern Africa.
  • (2015) “Legal Implications of translational promises of unproven stem cell therapy.” South African Journal of Bioethics and Law
  • (2016) Stem cell processing – Chapter 1. “Stem cell therapy: accepted therapies, managing the hope of society and a legal perspective.” Springer Nature
  • (2017) “Using comics to adequately communicate contract cancellation: a survey of pre-owned vehicle buyers in Pretoria, South Africa.” The Comics Grid: Journal of Comics Scholarship
  • (2019) “Safeguarding the future of genomic research in South Africa: Broad consent and the Protection of Personal Information act No.4 of 2013.” The South African Medical Journal.