Episode 38: Sara Hourani on Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Arbitration

In this episode Ian interviews Dr. Sara Hourani, a Senior Lecturer in Law at the School of Law, Middlesex University London. She also holds a Visiting Lectureship at the School of Law, Aix-Marseille University (France). Sara received an LLB degree from Grenoble II University (France), an LLM in International Trade Law and a PhD in Law from the University of Essex (UK). She was granted the prestigious UK Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) PhD scholarship to pursue her doctoral studies and has been the recipient of different grants and awards to carry out her research since.  Sara’s research examines the impact of automation introduced through new technologies, such as blockchain, smart contracts and artificial intelligence, on international commercial arbitration systems. Her work on the topic analyses the implications of such automation on access to justice and due process amongst other issues.  She has presented this work at numerous conferences and seminars and has published this work in various forms, including a co-edited book titled ‘Access to Justice in Arbitration: Concept, Context and Practice’ published by Wolters Kluwer in 2020. For further information, see Sara’s bio page at:  https://www.mdx.ac.uk/about-us/our-people/staff-directory/dr-sara-hourani/ and https://odr.info/sara-hourani/