A woman overlooks a rice paddy.

The Nathanson Centre fosters cross-disciplinary research into issues of human rights, crime and security, bringing together diverse perspectives and insights around a common goal: addressing inequality.

Spotlight

People, Places, and Cases: Paul Smithers Guest Lecture

            The study and practice of Law cannot exist without caselaw. Indeed, caselaw, that is, the written reasoning and decisions of judges, forms the backbone of our entire legal order. Given its importance, it is understandable that law students are offered training specifically designed to imbue them with the skills necessary to readand dissect it. […]

Mining and the Clean Energy Transition: Insights from Christopher Pollon’s Pitfall

Summary by Grace Lowes In a recent book talk, journalist Christopher Pollon explored the complexities of modern mining and its role in the clean energy transition, as detailed in his book Pitfall: The Race to Mine the World’s Most Vulnerable Places. Pollon’s discussion, enriched by commentary from mining law expert Sara Ghebremusse, provided a stark view of […]

Event Recap: Or Emet Lecture “Will America’s President be a National Security Threat?” by Professor Harold Hongju Koh

Summary by Dinithi Jayasuriya On October 10th, 2024, Professor Harold Hongju Koh joined the Nathanson Centre to present the Or Emet lecture, “Will America’s President be a National Security Threat?”. This lecture is based on his forthcoming book, The National Security Constitution in the Twenty-First Century. This book focuses on the overlooked American constitutional crisis, […]

A DATABASE TO SUPPORT DETAILED ANALYSIS OF INVESTMENT TREATY ARBITRATION

 Investment treaties have become a bugbear for governments and the people they represent. Their stated and laudable goal has long been to protect investors from unjustified discrimination or abuse in host states. But the treaties have been taken far beyond this advertised purpose into a wild west of international adjudication: forum-shopped claims, creative expansion of […]

Call for applications – Visiting Fellows

A group of protestors.

How to apply

The application process for Nathanson Centre Graduate Fellowships is detailed in a call for applications that we issue each year — typically in early August. You can download the most recent call for applications by clicking the button below.

Events

January

15

“Mountains beyond Mountains: The challenges for non-state actors to contribute to climate governance”, HYBRID

This panel will explore issues surrounding the role of non-state actors in the fight against climate change. The movement from state-centred regulation towards transnational regulatory models that transcend national borders forces us to de-construct and re-construct our understandings of the role of the state versus those outside the state such as corporations and NGOs.   […]

Read more ›

October

21

“MINING, SACRIFICE ZONES, AND THE CLIMATE TRANSITION” A book talk by award-winning journalist Christopher Pollon, author of Pitfall

In this wide-ranging talk, the author connects his own family history of mining in northern Ontario to the migrations of poor migrants into mining zones across the global south. This includes artisanal miners, numbering at least 40 million people world-wide, who rely on scraping a living from small-scale mining for gold, diamonds, and so-called “battery […]

Read more ›

October

16

Corporations and Climate Change: Where Does Canadian Law Stand? With Professor Hassan M. Ahmad

Climate change is a reality and increasingly becoming an existential threat.  Canadian corporations that emit significant amounts of greenhouse gases have thus far borne little, if any, accountability for their climate impacts. This presentation will share the findings of a report authored by Professor Hassan M. Ahmad as part of a comparative project spearheaded by […]

Read more ›

Connect

A group of students.

Graduate
students

If you’re a Master’s or doctoral student at York University conducting research related to the Nathanson Centre’s purpose, you may be eligible for a fellowship.

A woman working in a library.

Research
associates

The Nathanson Centre welcomes visiting and postdoctoral fellows from around the world, supporting timely, relevant research in our areas of focus.

A group of people in a meeting.

Research
partners

We partner with other research centres, academic institutions, governments and a range of organizations on collaborative studies, conferences and other initiatives.

A man being interviewed.

Professional
community

If you work in law, business or the media and are seeking insights on issues of human rights, crime and security, we’ll connect you with a Nathanson Centre expert.