Staff profile

Biography

Leonie is a PhD candidate at Durham University, starting her studies in October 2024. Having grown up in Switzerland she moved to the UK to peruse higher education. She obtained her First Class LLB in Law with Business from the University of Exeter, before joining Durham Law school for an LLM in International Trade and Commercial Law. 

During her the final year of her LLB she worked on as an SCP Intern for a project in the Exeter Law school, conducting legal research for a sustainable food policy within Cornwall. She was fortunate to continue working with Exeter academics on two further research projects once she had graduated. As a research assistant for the Exeter Business school, she helped draft a proposal to DEFRA advocating for law reform making it easier for businesses to recycle textile waste. Her final research assistant role helped facilitate several research articles on organisational challenges to workplace violence in the NHS. 

Since 2025 she was been working as PTTA on the Tort law module. She is also involved with the Durham AI Safety Initiative (DAISI), a student-organised group which seeks to increase access to discussions on AI risk and safety for students and staff. If you are interested in joining DAISI or getting involved, send her an email at leonie.a.stuessi@durham.ac.uk.

Current Research

Leonie’s current research is conducted under the supervision of Dr Mauricio Figueroa and Associate Professor Ge Chen, having previously been supervised by Associate Professor Angelia Jia Wang (Macau) and Associate Professor Stergios Aidinlis (Monash). Her research focuses on the ability to protect AI content under existing copyright law, extending beyond the question of if copyright law can protect AIGC and asking whether it should. 

Beyond her PhD research she is working on a publication into the right to likeness as a means to protect individuals and public figures from deepfakes.