We invite you to join us as a Graduate Fellow or as a Visiting Researcher.
Graduate Fellowships:
Outstanding students admitted to our LLM Program with specialization in Law and Technology or our doctoral program in the area of Law and Technology are eligible to apply for a CLTS Graduate Fellowship. Successful applicants will work directly with a participating Faculty member on a current research project throughout the year, and are eligible for:
• A bursary (up to $10K or more for LLM students; $20K for PhD students);
• An invitation to participate in the Graduate Fellows’ brown bag lunch series;
• Funding of up to $2K to attend an approved conference;
• An internship at a private, public or not-for-profit organization.
Applications are due by February 15, 2016. Acceptances are conditional upon an admission offer by Graduate Studies in Law to either the LLM or PhD program.
CLTS Graduate Fellowship Opportunities:
Online eQuality
Funding available for graduate students on the topic of online equality for youth – with specific focus on “cyberbullying” and behavioural target marketing. The economic model behind e-commerce (i.e. disclosure of information in exchange for services) creates a bias in favour of disclosure. Youth are key to understanding the privacy implications of this bias, because, as early adopters of online media, they drop terabytes of data (often unknowingly) as they go about their daily lives. This data is processed to target them with behavioural marketing to shape their attitudes and behaviours, often outside the reach of existing regulations because privacy policies do not provide full disclosure of the analytics used (making informed consent difficult), and profiling draws in non-personal data (which sidesteps the consent process). Moreover, the marketing analytics used sort youth into categories that often reproduce real-world patterns of discrimination. Marketers use the resulting profiles to integrate messages into youth's social environment, encouraging them to internalize the identity created for them by the algorithmic sort itself, creating a feedback loop that reinforces mainstream stereotypes: online architectures encourage certain kinds of identity performances (e.g. highly sexualized performances of girl), and combine with social norms to open youth up to discrimination (e.g. slut shaming, homophobia). Research will examine, among other things, youth conceptions of privacy, publicity and equality in online spaces, and policy and educational responses designed to promote respect for diversity, human rights and digital citizenship for all Canadian youth. Please contact Professor Jane Bailey at [email protected] for more information about this opportunity.
Access and Benefit Sharing over Genetic Resources / Biodiversity, Biotechnology, and Environmental Law
Graduate funding is available for Canadian students interested in pursuing LLM research in the fields of biodiversity, biotechnology, and Canadian and international environmental law. Specifically, candidates interested in conducting graduate research work on emergent Canadian and international laws and policy on access and benefit sharing (ABS) relating to genetic resources in the context of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Nagoya Protocol on ABS will be given priority under this funding opportunity. Students applying for these opportunities should have a demonstrable interest in or association with Aboriginal communities. Priority may be given to Aboriginal candidates. This unique graduate funding opportunity comes with significant mentorship and potential for national and international career opportunities. Funding is available to support two-year LL.M research candidates at an annual amount of $15,000. Interested candidates are encouraged to contact Professor Chidi Oguamanam ([email protected]) in tailoring their research proposals within the ambit of the projects. Relevant research includes those interested in exploring the intersections of traditional or Aboriginal knowledge, intellectual property rights, constitutional (charter) ramifications, biotechnology and access to and utilization of genetic resources, the role and expectation of industry, regulatory agencies and stakeholders in ABS in the Canadian context. For more information about the overall project, please visit http://www.abs-canada.ca/.
Artificial Intelligence and the Law
Funding available for graduate students at the PhD level with an interest and expertise in ethical and legal issues arising from artificial intelligence. Students will work and study at the University of Ottawa with Professor Ian Kerr and his research team. Research will focus on various questions including: AI & privacy, AI & the legal profession, and AI & the law. Please contact Professor Ian Kerr at [email protected] for further information about this opportunity.
Drones and Privacy in Public
Funding available for graduate students at the PhD level with an interest and expertise in ethical and legal issues arising from the use of drones in public spaces. Students will work and study at the University of Ottawa with Professor Ian Kerr and his research team. Research will focus on various questions including: the development of a Canadian legal framework for domestic drones, drones and privacy in public, and theories of privacy as they relate to the use of drones in public airspace. Please contact Professor Ian Kerr at [email protected] for further information about this opportunity.
Digital Law and Policy
Funding available for graduate students to work with Professor Michael Geist in the area of digital law and policy, with a particular emphasis on government policies focused on e-commerce and the digital economy. The emergence of the Internet as a mainstream tool for communication and commerce in the 1990s brought with it a national effort to facilitate broadband access, enhance e-commerce adoption, and foster the affordable availability of communication technologies. While Canada was widely viewed as a global digital economy leader at the turn of the century, in recent years there have been fewer policy initiatives to build on the prior success stories. Research will examine Canada's efforts to use law and policy to encourage the growth of the digital economy. This will include examining government policy documents, international developments, the influence of copyright, net neutrality, and privacy on the digital economy, and the role of the public interest in the policy process. Activities will include law and policy research, data analysis of broadband and e-commerce adoption, and field research on successful Canadian e-commerce companies.
Intellectual Property and Open Innovation
Funding is available for Canadian and international graduate students interested in researching the relationship between intellectual property and open innovation. IP can be an incentive for technological innovation, offering strategic advantages to those who control information. But IP can also be an impediment to innovation, hindering collaboration or access to knowledge. In the context of a paradigm shift toward more “open” models of intellectual property management strategy, Professor de Beer and his research team seek to understand which IP practices and policies work well, which do not and, most importantly, why. Case studies are being conducted in relation to information communications technology patents, large-scale science and technology partnerships in the life sciences, and digital content in the creative industries. Contact Professor de Beer at Jeremy.deBeer@uOttawa .ca for further information.
Intellectual Property, Innovation, International Trade and Development
The Open African Innovation Research partnership, known as Open AIR, seeks outstanding students from Canada and the countries of Africa to join the research team led by Professors de Beer and Oguamanam at the University of Ottawa. Open AIR is a unique collaborative network of researchers spread across 14 African countries, Canada and elsewhere in the world, all with the goal of understanding of how open collaborative innovation help businesses scale up and seize the new opportunities of a global knowledge economy, and which knowledge governance systems will best ensure that the social and economic benefits of innovation are shared inclusively across society as a whole. Open AIR has recently been awarded
prestigious, multi-million dollar grants to
support its work over
the next 3-7 years to
help ensure that the
network further strengthens its position as a sustainable, influential bridge of co-operation between the African continent and Canada. Selected graduate students will become members of Open AIR’s New & Emerging Researchers Group (NERG). Awarded the chance to work on Open AIR’s various projects, students will have the opportunity to interact and share insights and experiences with their peers, while also learning from Open AIR professors and practitioners who are leaders in their respective fields. NERG members will work alongside Open AIR’s collaborators from not-for-profit organizations, national and inter-governmental institutions, and more. Additionally, NERG members will have access to our network of leading professionals, organisations, NGOs, and academics. More details can be obtained at www.OpenAIR.org.za, or from Open AIR’s Ottawa-based Program Manager, Victoria Schorr [email protected] acting on behalf of Professors de Beer and Oguamanam.
Visiting Researcher Opportunities:
Researchers – faculty members or graduate students – from Canadian or international institutions are invited to complete a stay at the CLTS for a period determined by the visiting researcher in collaboration with the CLTS. The CLTS will provide a place to work, invitations to our speaker events and brown bag lunch series, and opportunities to engage with our renowned Faculty members. Visiting researchers will be paired with a Faculty member who will act as a liaison (for visiting faculty) / mentor (for visiting graduate students). Opportunities to present research may be possible. Expressions of interest and applications are accepted on a rolling basis.
For more information about these opportunities, please contact Madelaine Saginur at [email protected].