Rita is an international expert in intellectual property and information technology law, with a recent focus on legal regulation and governance of Artificial Intelligence technologies. She acquired her PhD degree from Albert Ludwig University of Freiburg/Max Planck Institute for Intellectual Property and Competition Law (Germany, suma cum lauda) in 2010. Since then she researched and lectured in universities in Japan, Germany, Lithuania, and Australia. To date, she published around 40 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, as well as a monograph on Applicable Law to Copyright Infringement: A Comparison of ALI and CLIP Principles. Rita was invited to present in conferences in Europe, Japan, Hong Kong and the United States, and prepared reports for the European Commission, European Patent Office, and governments of South Korea and Lithuania.  

Rita is currently a Lead Investigator at the project on 'Government Use of Face Recognition Technologies: Legal Challenges and Solutions' funded by the Lithuanian Research Council ($230,000). Previously she was a recipient of a research grant by the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science for her project on 'The Law Applicable to copyright'. She served on the Industry Advisory Board for the ARC Linkage Project 'The economic and cultural value of Australian music exports,' and as an expert on a number of projects funded by the European Commission.

She is a member of the management committe of the Australian Society for Computers and Law (AUSLC, NSW Branch) and an active member of the Intellectual Property Association of Australia and New Zealand (IPSANZ). 

Rita is willing to supervise student projects in the areas of information technology and intellectual property law, media law, cultural heritage law and related areas.