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Legal Frameworks & Data Governance

  2. Priority Areas
  3. Legal Frameworks & Data Governance

Ensuring responsible governance in a rapidly evolving field

Legal frameworks are essential to building trust, enabling innovation, and supporting the responsible use of genomic data for public health. At the heart of our work is the belief that effective legal frameworks and governance structures empower countries to act swiftly and collaboratively during outbreaks – while upholding national sovereignty, ethical standards, and public interest.

At the Centre for Outbreak Preparedness, we work with governments, academic institutions, and regional partners to strengthen the legal underpinnings of pathogen genomics and wastewater surveillance. In collaboration with the Centre for International Law (CIL) at the National University of Singapore, we provide legal expertise that spans technical guidance, policy development, and capacity-building across Asia.

What we do

The Centre for Outbreak Preparedness supports countries in building strong legal foundations for outbreak preparedness by developing practical legal tools, offering technical guidance on emerging technologies, and helping shape governance frameworks for areas like wastewater surveillance and digital innovation. Through regional consultations, workshops, and collaborations with partners, we ensure legal approaches are grounded in both public health realities and global best practices.

Primary focus areas:

Legal capacity building

We regularly co-develop and host regional events, webinars, and workshops to help the public health community better understand the role of legal frameworks in pathogen genomics and wastewater surveillance. These sessions build a shared foundation for how legal tools can support equitable data sharing, responsible innovation, and effective outbreak response.

We are also supporting the development of training workshops on key legal contracts – such as Material Transfer Agreements (MTAs), Data Transfer Agreements (DTAs), and Research Collaboration Agreements (RCAs) – that are critical to facilitating cross-border collaboration, equitable R&D partnerships, and sustainable innovation in the region.

Empowering innovation with strong governance

New technologies like artificial intelligence, federated learning, and cloud-based data platforms are transforming how we detect, monitor, and respond to outbreaks. We work at the intersection of law and innovation to ensure that governance frameworks keep pace with these developments and enable their responsible and equitable use.

Our legal team provides guidance on emerging issues such as co-developed intellectual property, cross-border data flows, and the integration of digital tools into public health systems. We collaborate with partners to develop practical recommendations, support policy development, and contribute to regional frameworks that anticipate future legal needs in outbreak preparedness.

Cross-cutting legal support for public health priorities

We provide legal guidance and technical input to other Centre for Outbreak Preparedness workstreams, including those focused on wastewater surveillance, vaccine equity, and digital health tools. This cross-cutting support ensures that legal and ethical considerations are embedded into programme design and implementation from the outset.

Events and Resources

Ethics, legal and risk communication in wastewater environmental surveillance

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Can Access Be Built into Pharmaceutical R&D? Evidence from Alternative Innovation Models for Global Health

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Pathogen Access and Benefit Sharing: Global and Regional Legal Perspectives

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Get in touch

Contact us at gmsv2070@nus.edu.sg

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