These endeavours are supported through the launch of the Dean’s Research Professorships, a new initiative designed to support mid-career faculty members pursuing significant research aligned with the Faculty’s strategic priorities. Made possible through dedicated fundraising efforts, the two-year appointments foster research excellence in public law, law and technology, and equity, diversity and inclusion.
The inaugural recipients are Professor Y.Y. Chen, who will undertake the Research Professorship in Migrant Health Equity, Professor Michael Pal, who will hold the Research Professorship in the Law of Democracy, and Professor Amy Salyzyn, who will launch the Research Professorship in Technology and Justice Futures.
Over the next two years, each professorship will support an ambitious research agenda with meaningful scholarly and public impact.
Research Professorship in Migrant Health Equity: Professor Y.Y. Chen
Professor Chen’s Professorship situates health equity at the core of migrant justice. A leading voice in immigration health law, he will use this new appointment to consolidate his existing scholarship and complete a monograph examining the law, policy, and ethics of migrants’ entitlement to publicly funded health care in liberal democracies. Drawing on constitutional law, international human rights law, public health research, and critical theory, the book will advance contemporary debates about how public law should respond to structural inequities affecting migrants.
Professor Chen will also undertake an exploration of a related complex issue: the access to health care of children born in Canada to foreign national parents. This research will examine competing claims about fairness, equality rights, and resource allocation, interrogating how public law mediates between migrant families’ rights and broader societal concerns. The work will bring together interdisciplinary collaborators and support the development of efforts to further amplify and expand research in this area.
Research Professorship in the Law of Democracy: Professor Michael Pal
Professor Pal’s Professorship will deepen and expand his internationally recognized scholarship on constitutional democracy, election law, and the growing role of technology in democratic processes. Professor Pal’s research program will have three main projects. First will be the completion of a groundbreaking book manuscript on the comparative constitutional law of election commissions. The book will examine election commissions as a “fourth branch” of government and analyze their role in safeguarding democratic integrity worldwide.
Second will be his ongoing work as part of a Trans-Atlantic Partnership Grant on “Open Constitutional Democracy.” Deliberative democrats argue that we should replace legislatures with randomly selected groups of citizens. The project, with partners in the U.K. and Switzerland, examines how to implement more deliberation in contemporary democracy, while preserving foundational constitutional principles such as bills of rights and the separation of powers.
Third, Professor Pal will also advance a major research stream on AI and democracy, developing an international workshop on AI and elections with the goal of producing an edited volume with global contributors. Additionally, he will develop an article on “Artificial Elections,” exploring how AI and emerging technologies are reshaping electoral processes. Professor Pal will also foster connections between leading universities and election management bodies in Canada and abroad to set the stage for a future partnership to generate public-facing reports on adapting election law to the age of AI.
Research Professorship in Technology and Justice Futures: Professor Amy Salyzyn
Professor Salyzyn’s Professorship marks the launch of the next phase of her research at the intersection of technology and the justice system. Building on major national grants, her work will examine how technological innovation in courts and legal practice can enhance access to justice while identifying and mitigating the risks it may pose.
During the Professorship, Professor Salyzyn will lead a project on “Democratizing Court Data Access.” In an era where artificial intelligence and data analytics are reshaping legal services, access to court data has become a foundational issue. Her research will examine how court data is defined, governed, and shared in Canada, and how legal frameworks relating to privacy, copyright, judicial independence, and open courts must evolve in response to new technological realities. The project will culminate in a White Paper and peer-reviewed scholarship proposing a national strategy for court data access. Through workshops engaging judges, policymakers, data providers, and access-to-justice organizations, Professor Salyzyn’s work aims to shape how Canada approaches justice data in the digital age.
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The Common Law Section’s Dean’s Research Professorships provide recipients with dedicated time and resources to complete major scholarly works, build research networks, mentor students, and pursue competitive external funding.
By supporting ambitious research at critical career stages, the initiative reinforces the Faculty’s belief in the transformative impact of legal scholarship, not only within academia, but in shaping public policy, democratic institutions, technological governance, and access to justice.
Congratulations to Professors Chen, Pal and Salyzyn!