Every single one of us is capable of being an ally for others. But the more senior you are, the more important – and valuable – your allyship will be. And that’s vital for creating an inclusive working culture where all team members can thrive.
IP Inclusive has many sub-groups and one of them, their senior leaders’ diversity “think tank”, focuses on championing equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) from the very top of an organisation. They’re delighted to be hosting this event with a panel of high-profile speakers including Court of Appeal judge Lord Justice Birss, Vandita Chandrani from Elekta AB and Suzanne Oliver from Scintilla. Together they will be sharing thoughts about allyship in the IP professions, and how we can all support the EDI movement from whatever position we personally occupy.
Who’s it for?
Though led by the think tank, the event is open to all IP Inclusive supporters. The discussions will be of particular value to people in senior leadership and management roles – but they encourage everyone to invite a guest or two, perhaps from a different role or career level, to gather a wider range of perspectives and help spread the word back in your own organisations.
Bring your questions too; there will be time for a Q&A session with the panellists, plus networking with refreshments – both before and afterwards – for the in-person attendees.
Where and when?
This hybrid event is being kindly hosted by Kilburn & Strode from their London office at 84 Theobalds Road, London WC1X 8NL. The panel discussion will be moderated by their Chair Gwilym Roberts. You can attend either in-person or online.
The panel discussion – and the online broadcast – will run from 5.30 to 6.30 pm. In-person attendees are welcome to join from 5 pm and to stay for refreshments and networking after the main event.
Meet the speakers
Gwilym Roberts (chair)
A dedicated supporter of IP inclusive, and with over 30 years in the profession, Gwilym Roberts advises clients on all aspects of the patent process including IP audit and capture, IP filing strategies and patent portfolio management techniques. He acts for a range of clients including individuals, SMEs, universities and spin-outs through to multi-nationals, and handles a broad and diverse range of cases before the UK Patent Office, EPO and WIPO.
As well as being a Visiting Professor at Queen Mary University of London, Gwilym is Honorary Secretary of the Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (CIPA), President of the British group of UNION and co-host of the podcast Two IPs in a Pod alongside CIPA’s Lee Davies. He is proud to have recently been designated the UK’s only patent attorney “Eminent Practitioner” by Chambers, and is passionate about ensuring that senior leaders across the profession support and drive the EDI agenda.
Sir Colin Birss
Lord Justice Colin Birss is a world-renowned IP judge. He was called to the Bar in 1990 and practised in intellectual property law. He was Standing Counsel for the Comptroller from 2003 to 2008. In 2008 he took silk and also became Deputy Chair of the Copyright Tribunal. In 2010 he was appointed as a Specialist Circuit Judge sitting in the Patents County Court (now IPEC). In 2013 he was appointed to the High Court, Chancery Division. He served as Supervising Judge for the Business and Property Courts on the Midlands, Western and Wales Circuits from 2017-2019 and in 2019 became Judge in Charge of the Patents Court.
Sir Colin is an independent judicial member of the EPO Boards of Appeal Committee, has been adviser to the WIPO Judicial Institute, is the former General Editor of Terrell on the Law of Patents, having stepped down this year after 30 years, and is a Council member of the UK Foundation for Science and Technology. He was appointed a Lord Justice of Appeal on 25 January 2021 and Deputy Head of Civil Justice from 11 January 2021. He has been a keen supporter of IP Inclusive and its Careers in Ideas outreach work since its inception.
Vandita Chandrani
Vandita Chandrani is the Associate General Counsel, IP, at Elekta, a provider of precision radiation therapy solutions pioneering the use of AI technology in oncology care. She joined the IP profession by training in private practice before moving in-house to Procter & Gamble, working as a patent counsel and then as a senior patent counsel. Both within the consumer goods and healthcare industries, Vandita has demonstrated her skills in devising creative commercial solutions that satisfy all parties. She uses her deep understanding of IP to demystify the topic and provides clear guidance and options to the businesses she advises.
Vandita is deeply passionate about diversity and inclusion (D&I) and is the D&I lead for the global legal team at Elekta, working closely with the management team to develop them a bespoke D&I strategy. She believes strongly that inclusion is the key to successfully creating and maintaining a diverse team and is helping to aid understanding within Elekta of how diversity needs vary based on an individual’s context.
Vandita was recently recognised for her work in WIPR’s ranking of influential women in IP 2024.
Suzanne Oliver
Suzanne is a dual-qualified UK and European Patent Attorney and in 2023 joined the Scintilla team as Director, IP Strategy. Prior to Scintilla she was responsible for Operations, Legal and IP at SeeChange Technologies, a wholly-owned subsidiary and subsequent spin-out of ARM Ltd. Prior to this, Suzanne managed ARM’s global patent and trade mark prosecution teams supporting a diverse portfolio of IP strategy, policy and development matters for the company. She holds several Board positions and has held the position of President of the UK IP Federation, of which she is now an Honorary Fellow.
Suzanne was named as an IAM “World Leading IP Strategist” for 2017, and as a Managing IP “Corporate IP Star” in 2018 and 2019. She was a national award winner for her Corporate Diversity and Inclusion Leadership work in 2018. She now works with many UK-based high growth start-ups and SMEs, both helping them to define their IP strategies and also with business mentoring.
Registration
This event is free. So are all IP Inclusive resources. That said, they do need money to keep the show on the road, so if you enjoy the event please consider contributing. For more information, visit the IP Inclusive fundraising page.
