About Us
The team at the iNtaka Centre is dedicated to exploring the legal, technical, ethical and social implications of the accelerating interplay law, technology, innovation, data and society. Our team seeks to shape the next generation of African lawyers and non-legal scholars and practitioners and prepare them to navigate the modern law and technology landscape.
Meet The Team
Dr. Tobias Schonwetter is an Associate Professor, the Director of the Intellectual Property Unit and the Founding Director of the iNtaka Law Tech Centre at the University of Cape Town's law faculty. He teaches IP and IT law. He currently leads several development and innovation oriented research and capacity building projects, including Open AIR (www.openair.africa). He regularly advises various government and non-governmental entities on issues relating to IP and, in particular, copyright and open access. In 2018, Tobias became an Associate Member of the Centre of Law, Technology and Society at the University of Ottawa, Canada; and in 2019 he joined the Department of Science and Innovation’s Open Science Advisory Board.
Previously, Tobias was a Senior Manager - Technology and Innovation Law - at PwC South Africa, the Regional Coordinator for Africa and Legal Lead in South Africa for the Creative Commons Corporation, a guest editor for the African Journal of Information and Communication and a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Cape Town's Intellectual Property Research Unit. Over the years, Tobias was involved in numerous research projects, including the Open Review of the South African Copyright Act 1978 project, the African Copyright and Access to Knowledge (ACA2K) project, the Exploring the Emerging Impacts of Open Data in Developing Countries (ODDC) initiative, the African Scholars for Knowledge Justice (ASK Justice) project, the WikiPrimary project and the Open and Collaborative Science in Development network (OCSDnet) and One Ocean Hub.
Tobias studied and practised law in Germany and holds Ph.D. and LL.M. degrees from the University of Cape Town.
Charlise Finch is an LLB graduate from the University of Cape Town. Charlise is pursuing a masters in Commercial Law. She is also a teaching assistant in the commercial law department and a part time legal consultant for De Wet and Du Plessis attorneys
Charlise has a profound interest in Intellectual Property Law, Company Law and Constitutional Law. During her undergraduate degree, Charlise has been elected to be the Secretary-General of the Black Lawyers Association, a mentor for the Law Faculty as well as an administrative assistant in the Law Faculty office.
She has been a mentee in the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit for the International Association for Women's Judges as well as a Legal Advisor for the UCT Law Clinic and Students for Law and Social Justice. Currently Charlise works as a research assistant for the iNtaka Center for Law and Technology.
Takura is a research assistant and website editor at the Intaka Centre for Law and Technology based at the University of Cape Town. He specialises in multi-disciplinary work that ranges from law, media and marketing and design thinking.
Takura holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) and Bachelor in Industrial Sociology from the University of Cape Town. Takura also has received training on design thinking from the HAsso-Plaatner d-school Afrika UCT. Currently, he is completing a Masters in Intellectual Property at the University of Cape Town.
Takura is affiliated to We Deserve Justice, a NPO that specialises in matters of gender based violence GBV . He is also affiliated with the Commercial Law Clinic ( CLC) , a law clinic that assists SMEs with all their commercial law needs. He also works with a host of SMEs and assists with digital marketing and general consultancy.
Kyle Janse is an LL.B Graduate at the University of Cape Town and is currently pursuing his Masters in Intellectual Property. He is currently a junior researcher at the Centre for Analytics and Behavioural Change, an organisation at the forefront of innovation and disruption of harmful narratives online. And a research assistant at Land and Accountability Research Centre, which focuses on governance, land rights and mining in rural areas.
Kyle serves as a report writer and legal consultant. He is also a research assistant at iNtaka Centre for Law and Technology. Further, he has drafted legal opinions and articles on matters such Covid-19 vaccination, Public Participation and regulating social media.
Hanani is a senior research assistant at the iNtaka Centre for Law and Technology based at the University of Cape Town. He has vast experience in the research space having worked as a research assistant for organisations such as AfricanLii, the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit, The IP Unit and Research ICT Africa. He has worked on a number of continental and regional projects such as the African Unions Continental Data Policy Framework and The SADC Digital Economy Model Law Framework amongst others. Hanani is also an Associate in the legal department at AfriConsultFirm where he deals chiefly with commercial, entertainment and intellectual property law matters in an advisory role.
He holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB cum laude) from the University of Fort Hare, a Masters in Intellectual Property Law (LLM) from the University of Cape Town and is currently working towards his PhD in Commercial law at the same institution. The working title of his PhD thesis is “Data regulation: a bridge or wall to big data driven economic development. Lessons for a developing country.” He is a Mandela Rhodes Foundation alumni scholar (class of 2019) and his key intellectual interests include innovation, research and development, data regulation, the arts and music and financial technology.
Tayla holds an LLB from the University of Cape Town and is currently serving her articles of clerkship at Michalsons. She has a keen interest in the intersection of law and technology, with a specific focus in public law. She is also a senior research assistant and project coordinator at the Democratic Governance and Rights Unit where she is responsible for projects of the National Prosecution Authority, South African Chapter of the International Association of Women Judges and other organisations geared toward providing open access to legal resources in pursuit of improving access to justice. Beyond this, she has also started branching out into providing legal commentary for print and radio.
Tayla is a participant in the African cohort of the McKinsey & Co Forward program. She is also an LLM candidate at the University of Cape Town, specialising in Constitutional and Administrative Law and holds a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Cape Town.