Dr Michaela MacDonald
Senior Lecturer in Law and Technology
Email: michaela.macdonald@qmul.ac.ukRoom Number: Engineering, Eng 204
Teaching
I am a Senior Lecturer in Law and Technology on the Joint Programme with BUPT, where I teach across a range of interdisciplinary modules at the intersection of law, business, and technology.
AI Law
This module introduces students to the core concepts and real-world applications of artificial intelligence, alongside the legal and governance frameworks shaping its development and deployment. Through case studies and comparative analysis, it explores critical issues such as data privacy, intellectual property, liability, and ethical implications of AI. Students will develop informed perspectives on regulatory approaches across different jurisdictions and gain skills in evaluating the societal and legal impact of AI technologies.
Product Development and Management
This module equips engineering students with the principles and practical skills needed to develop, manage, and deliver successful products from concept to market. It covers key areas such as user-centered design, project planning, innovation strategy, and lifecycle management. Through group-based activities, assignments and real-world case studies, students learn how to align technical development with customer needs, commercial goals, and sustainability considerations.
Through this broad and evolving teaching portfolio, I integrate legal scholarship with real-world industry insights to equip students with critical and future-facing knowledge.
Research
Research Interests:
My research sits at the cutting edge of law, technology, and digital culture, with a particular focus on interactive entertainment. As co-editor-in-chief of the Interactive Entertainment Law Review and co-editor of the forthcoming Research Handbook on Interactive Entertainment Law, I contribute to shaping global discourse on the legal and regulatory frameworks governing video games and immersive media. My work includes high-impact contributions to policy initiatives, such as the UKIPO’s Metaverse Report and a WIPO study on copyright infringement in the games industry. I continue to investigate the complex legal challenges emerging around immersive technologies, user-generated content, digital assets, and identity in virtual environments.
Publications
My publications reflect the interdisciplinary and practice-oriented nature of my work, with outputs spanning peer-reviewed journal articles, book chapters, commissioned reports, and public scholarship.
Journal articles
G Dimita, YH Lee, M MacDonald, ‘Flexible tools of governance or dangerous authoritarian constitutions? The role of EULAs’ (2023) 6(1)
G Dimita, YH Lee, M MacDonald, ‘Hypes, fads and dead-ends: a mere distraction from the real questions’ (2022) 5(2) IELR, p 57
G Dimita, YH Lee, M MacDonald and M Mimler, ‘Video games are magic’ (2022) 5(1) IELR, p 1
G Dimita, J Festinger, YH Lee, M MacDonald and M Mimler, ‘Wellbeing, mental health, and video games: a shifting narrative from player to industry perspective’ (2021) 4(2) IELR, pp 85-86
G Dimita, J Festinger, YH Lee, M MacDonald and M Mimler, ‘“The ultimate unboxing”: in search of the right questions to ask about loot boxes’ (2021) 4(1) IELR, pp 1-2
G Dimita, J Festinger, YH Lee, M MacDonald and M Mimler, ‘Video games: flagships of digital colonialism or solitary beacons of creative freedom and diversity?’ (2020) 3(2) IELR, pp 75-76
Book chapters
A Katz, M MacDonald, ‘Open Source Software’ in Jeremy Holt and Jeremy Newton (eds) A Practical Guide to IT Law (3rd edn, BCS 2021), pp 165-195
T, Astley, U Gunes, A Katz, M MacDonald, J Svorc, ‘Data Protection in Practice’ in Jeremy Holt and Jeremy Newton (eds) A Practical Guide to IT Law (3rd edn, BCS 2021), pp 116-142
A Katz, M MacDonald, ‘Autonomous Agents and the Roman Law of Slavery’ in Lilian Edwards, Burkhard Schafer and Edina Harbinja (eds) Future Law (Edinburgh University Press 2020), pp 293-310
Commissioned reports
G Dimita, YH Lee, M MacDonald, et al., ‘IP and Metaverse(s)’, UKIPO 2023, https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ip-and-metaverses-an-externally-commissioned-research-report/ip-and-metaverses-an-externally-commissioned-research-report
G Dimita, YH Lee, M MacDonald, ‘Copyright infringement in the video game industry’, WIPO report, WIPO/ACE/15/4 (September 2022)
Miscellaneous
A Catton, G Dimita, M MacDonald, 'MTJG London 2023 - The Constitution of the Metaverse: Proto-Metaverses and How Videogames Have Changed Everything', Queen Mary Law Research Paper No. 450/2025, https://ssrn.com/abstract=5241302
M MacDonald, 'Defining Digital Ownership: Evaluating the Legal Uncertainty of the Property (Digital Assets) Bill', Queen Mary Law Research Paper No. 444/2025, https://ssrn.com/abstract=5164730G Dimita, M MacDonald, U Suthersanen, 'Response to the Copyright and AI Consultation', Queen Mary Law Research Paper No. 443/2025, https://ssrn.com/abstract=5164699
M MacDonald, ‘The Intersection between IP and the Metaverse: Preliminary Observations’ (January 2023), Queen Mary Law Research Paper No. 397/2023, https://ssrn.com/abstract=4338884
G Gabison, M MacDonald, G Westkamp, U Suthersanen,‘ QMIPRI Response to the Law Commission’s Digital Assets Consultation Paper‘ (November 2022), Queen Mary Law Research Paper No. 396/2022, https://ssrn.com/abstract=4287493