Marietjie Botes, PhD

Marietjie Botes, PhD is a legal scholar and bioethicist whose interdisciplinary work integrates law, neuroscience, and global health ethics. Following a 20-year career as a practicing attorney specializing in health and biotechnology law, she transitioned to academia, where her research examines the ethical, legal, and social dimensions of emerging neurotechnologies and digital health innovations, with a particular focus on equity and governance in the Global South. She holds the degrees of BProc, LLB, LLM (Intellectual Property Law), and LLD (Biotechnology Law). Dr. Botes is a legal researcher with the BRIDGE Brain Data Governance Project at the University of Texas at Austin, where she leads research on the governance of brain and neural data. Her work explores data protection, consent, and sharing frameworks that safeguard mental privacy, cognitive liberty, and autonomy while promoting responsible and inclusive neuroscience research.

Dr. Botes has published extensively and co-edited two international special issues: Digital Ethics (Springer Nature) and Legal and Ethical Reforms for Neurotechnological Advancement in the Global South (Frontiers in Human Neuroscience). She is an elected member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, a board member of the Association for Responsible Research and Innovation in Genome Editing (ARRIGE), and serves as Country Representative for South Africa in the African Bioethics Network (ABN). Through science communication and public engagement, Dr. Botes also employs storytelling and visual media to foster inclusive bioethical dialogue on neuroscience, technology, and human rights.