Dr. Scassa has held a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair (CRC) since 2007. Her advancement to a Tier 1 CRC will keep her research at the cutting edge of a legal landscape transformed by technological change. She is Canada’s leading scholar on geospatial information and the law and is one of only a handful of legal scholars in the world with a depth of expertise in this area. Her renowned expertise also places her at the top of the fields of intellectual property, privacy, and law and technology. Her body of research has been recognized with numerous awards, including the prestigious Walter Owen Book Award in 2013 for her co-authored treatise, Electronic Commerce and Internet Law.
Dr. Scassa’s research program for the next seven years takes a path-breaking approach to complex issues of law and policy. The ownership and control of data in our contemporary information society has a direct impact on our ability to hold governments and corporations to account. Laws, policies, contracts and computer code are all used by different actors to assert ownership and to exercise control over a broad range of data including personal information. The central aim of Dr. Scassa’s research is to develop law and policy frameworks to enhance transparency and to reinforce governance in an increasingly data-driven society.
The Canada Research Chairs Program invests approximately $265 million per year to attract and retain some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds. Chairholders aim to achieve research excellence in engineering and the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities, and social sciences.
Congratulations to Dr. Scassa on the prestigious and well-deserved achievement!