Award 25314-CA
Research Chairs in Policy, Law, and Governance
- COMPETITION CLOSED
- Awards to be taken up in the 2025-2026 Academic Year
- Applications accepted until September 16, 2024
- The next competition, for awards to be taken up in the 2026-2027 Academic Year, will open in February 2025
- US$25,000 for 4 months
- Grants begin in either September 2025 or January 2026
- Fulbright Canada Program Officer, Recruitment
- Formal letters of invitation should not be sought; however, applicants are encouraged to contact the institution to discuss research interests.
- The University of Ottawa is a bilingual institution. Laval University is a francophone institution. Some resource material may be in French. French is not required but would be an asset.
Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Global Governance, Balsillie School of International Affairs
Balsillie School of International Affairs in partnership with the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University
The Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) is an institute for advanced research, education, and outreach on global governance and international public policy. It is a joint initiative of the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University and the Centre for International Governance Innovation. The BSIA sits at the heart of the 'intellectual square mile' in Waterloo, straddling two renowned higher education institutions. This Chair will be held jointly at the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University.
Established in 1957, the University of Waterloo is one of Canada’s leading research universities, highly respected for its innovative academic programs, focus on technology and international connections. It recently launched its new “Technology Governance Initiative” to reflect a technology-embracing approach to core aspects of its research and teaching programs. The Fulbright Chairs are an integral part of the university’s internationalization strategy and its commitment to promoting interdisciplinary research.
Wilfrid Laurier University is a leading Canadian university known for academic excellence and a culture that inspires lives of leadership and purpose. Established in 1911, Laurier has a distinct commitment to teaching, research and scholarship combined with a strong student focus and a deep sense of community.
Specializations: In one or more of the core research areas of the School: conflict and security; environment and resources; global political economy; migration, mobilities and social policies; global institutions; diplomacy and justice; STEM for global resilience, technology governance.
Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Digitization and Democracy, McMaster University
Digital Society Hub & Department of Political Science
The Department of Political Science will host a visiting scholar interested in the positive and negative implications of digital technologies for democracy. This scholar will interact with existing and emerging research on these issues in the Political Science and other departments. As one of Canada’s leading universities, known for its innovation and research intensiveness, McMaster University offers visiting scholars exciting and unique opportunities for research, education and collaboration.
There are a wide range of potential themes that this could involve, such as the negative impacts of online disinformation; online voting; digital activism; e-government; platform capitalism; digitization and shifting conceptions of public and private; the impacts of digitization political narratives and affects; online hate; democracies and cyberwar, among others.
Specializations: Online disinformation; online voting; digital activism; e-government; platform capitalism; digitization and shifting conceptions of public and private; the impacts of digitization political narratives and affects; online hate; democracies and cyberwar.
Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Housing Policy & Society, McMaster University
Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative (CHEC)
The Canadian Housing Evidence Collaborative (CHEC) and the Faculty of Social Sciences will host a visiting scholar in the area of housing policy and society in a department appropriate to the candidate’s background or interests. This scholar will interact with existing and emerging research on these issues in within relevant departments and research centres in the Faculty. As one of Canada’s leading universities, known for its innovation and research intensiveness, McMaster University offers visiting scholars exciting and unique opportunities for research, education and collaboration.
There are a wide range of potential themes that this could involve, such as topics related to housing and health or other social problems, social and economic aspects of housing and housing policy, the intersection between social policy and housing policy or other topics related to affordable housing and policy.
Specializations: Housing policy; affordable housing; housing, health and well-being housing and social equity.
Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Public Banking, McMaster University
Department of Political Science
The Department of Political Science will host a visiting scholar interested in the political economy of public banking. This scholar will interact with existing and emerging research on this issue in the Political Science and other departments. The scholar will also interact with the Public Banking Project at McMaster. As one of Canada’s leading universities, known for its innovation and research intensiveness, McMaster University offers visiting scholars exciting and unique opportunities for research, education and collaboration.
There are a wide range of potential themes that this Research Chair in Public Banking could involve. These include democracy, governance, energy transitions, water, infrastructure, inclusion, legal frameworks, social movements, community development, public-public collaboration, Indigenous sovereignty and economic development, and histories of specific public banks, among others.
The scholar would be expected to share their research and expertise at McMaster in the form of a workshop or public lecture. There would be opportunities to develop a joint research proposal.
Specializations: Public banks; public policy; social policy; law; sustainable development; political economy; climate policy; Indigenous studies; green finance.
Fulbright Canada Research Chair in International Studies, Université Laval
Graduate School of International Studies
The Graduate School of International Studies (ESEI) is a leading multidisciplinary hub for research, teaching, and public engagement in international issues. Deeply convinced that international questions call for disciplinary decompartmentalization, our exceptional scholars and experts produce cutting-edge and groundbreaking research in a number of fields, including international commerce, global security and insecurity, international law and international development. The Graduate School has six main Université Laval’s partners: the Faculty of Social Sciences; the Faculty of Law; the Faculty of Forestry, Geography and Geomatics; the Faculty of Business Administration; the Faculty of Agriculture and Food Sciences; and the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences.
The Fulbright Chair in International Studies will welcome scholars from several disciplines. The Chair will support ESEI’s core mission of studying international questions in a dynamic, interdisciplinary, and stimulating way. The Fulbright Chair in International Studies will consolidate and expand the Graduate School’s strengths and expertise in one or more of the following areas, broadly defined: multidisciplinary methodology, international political economy, international law, security and conflict studies, geopolitics, international migration, international development, and international business and finance. The Graduate School will provide office space to the holder of the Fulbright Chair in International Studies, making sure to offer several opportunities to the holder to engage, exchange and discuss international issues with the Graduate School’s scholars and those based in the partnered Faculties.
Specializations: Multidisciplinary methodology, international political economy, international law, security and conflict studies, geopolitics, international migration, international development, and international business and finance.
Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Governance and Public Administration, University of Ottawa
Faculty of Social Sciences
Centre on Governance
School of Political Studies
The Centre on Governance is a hub of ideas where academics and practitioners work together to study contemporary governance issues. The purpose of the Centre on Governance is to better understand contemporary governance, administrative and political issues that affect governmental and non-governmental actors. The Centre focuses more specifically on eight research areas: Public Governance and Management; University Governance; Urban and Territorial Governance; Cultural Policy Governance; Public Finance Governance; Governance of Social Policies; Federalism and Multilevel Governance; and Global Governance. The Chairholder will benefit from being situated in the heart of Canada’s capital, with access to federal, provincial and municipal government, private and non-profit stakeholders. The Centre is also closely associated with the School of Political Studies, one of the largest political science and government studies departments in Canada that is bringing together the study of political science and public administration. The Centre on Governance offers the perfect setting for studying government affairs in Canada.
Specializations: Contemporary governance, public policy, public management, public administration, public governance, federalism.
Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Human Rights and Social Justice, University of Ottawa
Human Rights Research and Education Centre
The Human Rights Research and Education Centre was founded in 1981, at the University of Ottawa, and is the oldest university-based human rights centre in Canada. The Centre brings together educators, researchers and students from the Faculty of Law (including both Common Law and Civil Law traditions), the Faculty of Social Sciences, the Faculty of Arts, the Telfer School of Management as well as researchers from the community. This rich environment responds to the need to approach issues regarding human rights from a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary perspective, both in order to respect such rights and to explore that which they require in a complex, interconnected world. The HRREC benefits from a bilingual and plurijuridical environment, and places a particular emphasis on public policy and social justice. Located in the nation’s capital, the Centre is in close proximity to Parliament Hill, federal government ministries, foreign embassies, the national offices of many non-governmental organizations, and is a short travel distance to the major cities of Montreal and Toronto.
Specializations: Study, protection and promotion of human rights across disciplines, sectors and geographic boundaries - Diversity, Identity, Inclusion and Equality; Conflict, Violence, (In)Security and War; Governance, Rights, and Rule of Law; Development, Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.
Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Science and Society, University of Ottawa
Institute for Science, Society and Policy (ISSP)
The University of Ottawa is a major, multi-cultural research university in the Nation’s Capital. The chairholder will contribute to the activities of the Science, Society and Policy Network of the University of Ottawa and be housed in the Institute for Science, Society and Policy (ISSP). The chairholder will have the opportunity to interact with faculty members from a number of different faculties (Social Sciences, Science, Arts, Engineering, Law, Management, and Medicine) and participate in projects concerned with policy to enhance S&T innovation, science/policy integration, energy and energy technology policy, and the governance of emerging and disruptive technologies.
The location in Ottawa in combination with the ISSP network will enable the chairholder to address joint U.S.–Canada interests, bilateral activities, and carry out comparative analyses. The chairholder will also contribute to the development of the emerging graduate program of the ISSP and contribute to major activities such as the international Bromley Lecture and Event (in collaboration with George Washington University) and the Institute’s Positive Energy and @Risk projects.
Specializations: Science, technology and society; science and innovation policy; science/policy interface; energy/energy technology policy; and technology governance.
Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Sustainability Transitions, University of Toronto Scarborough
Institute for Resilient and Inclusive Societies and Ecosystems (iRISE)
The challenges of the current climate crisis, the health of our planet, the well-being of individuals and societies, and the inclusiveness and sustainability of local and global economies are deeply intertwined. The solution to these challenges is rarely linear and requires us to bring different kinds of knowledges and communities into dialogue. The Fulbright Canada Research Chairholder will be engaged in research that seeks to address these challenges by synthesizing scholarly thought from different disciplines to create collaborative solutions to the vexing problems of our time, in Canada and around the world.
iRISE is a network of research institutes at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) comprised of three founding institutes: the Institute for Environment, Conservation and Sustainability; the Institute for Inclusive Health and Well-Being; and the Institute for Inclusive Economies and Sustainable Livelihoods. It also includes the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Institutional Strategic Initiative, which supports transdisciplinary research engaged in understanding and implementing the SDGs established by the UN in 2015. Through its establishment of iRISE, UTSC affirms its commitment to convergence research that empowers communities and individuals, and informs future global goals for a just, equitable, inclusive, and sustainable future.
Specializations: Research should relate to sustainability, broadly understood, and match research priorities of the institutes and Initiatives within iRISE, including environment and climate change, poverty reduction, health inequities, and sustainable development.
Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Northern Policy Studies, Yukon University
Indigenous Governance Program
Business Administration Program
Situated on the traditional territories of the fourteen Yukon First Nations, Yukon University is Canada’s first university north of 60. YukonU is guided by the indomitable spirit of the wilderness and millennia of resilience and resourcefulness. Our new Strategic Plan prioritizes the development of northern expertise. The Research Chair in Northern Policy is an essential part of this important work, as we position YukonU to contribute the knowledge and expertise needed to advance the vision and interests of Yukon First Nation governments and support the sustainability of Indigenous self-government and land claim agreements. The Chair will conduct research aligned with the focus of YukonU’s Bachelor of Arts in Indigenous Governance (IGD) and/or Bachelor of Business Administration (BBA) programs—the first undergraduate degrees offered independently by a postsecondary institution in Canada’s Far North—and set the foundation for potential new program development in the area of Northern Policy. We are looking for someone who is excited about collaborating with faculty members, mentoring new scholars, engaging students in research, and building new possibilities to serve the needs of Canada’s North. In addition to conducting research in an area of relevance to Northern Policy, the Chair will also be invited to teach within the IGD or BBA programs during the 4-month residency, with the potential division of responsibilities being 80% research/20% teaching. The Chair also has an opportunity to deliver a public lecture related to their research and to engage with Yukon University faculty and Yukon First Nations leaders.
Specializations: Indigenous self-governance/self-determination; land claims, modern treaties, and ancestral lifeways; entrepreneurship in remote/rural communities; community economic development, northern decolonization, and decolonial business development northern public policy in the context of climate change; arctic sovereignty.