Félicitations aux gagnants de la bourse John Peters Humphrey de l'année 2019
Godwin Dzah
PhD Candidate
Peter A. Allard School of Law
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
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Proposed Program of Study
Between International Law’s Universality and Epistemic Silences: Locating Africa’s Legal Contribution to the Law and Practice of Sustainable Development
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Godwin’s doctoral research explores the evolution of the concept of sustainable development within the global governance architecture. It interrogates the ways in which the concept is practicalised to conceal the contributions of African legal scholarship and African legal conceptions to its emergence and consolidation, as well as to the development-environment nexus. This project’s objective is not only to historicise African contributions to the law and practice of sustainable development, but also to elevate and scrutinise the peculiarities in the law and politics of Africa’s relationship with the concept. This inquiry thus showcases and invites an analysis of how Africa generally utilises environmental rights as the primary vehicle for operationalising sustainable development. While this project is undertaken within the context of a limited political geography, it is intended that the understanding elicited from the analysis will inevitably illuminate the blind spots in the global pursuit of sustainable development.
Siena Anstis
LLM Candidate
University of Cambridge
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Proposed Program of Study
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Siena Anstis is completing her Master of Law (LLM) at Cambridge University with a specialization in international law. Her research interests lie in the areas of human rights and technology and immigration and refugee law. During her LLM, she intends to examine the impact of the emerging private cyber surveillance industry on human rights, with a specific interest in the legal frameworks that govern their use in different jurisdictions and issues around accountability and transparency within the industry. She is particularly interested in understanding how the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights can be operationalized in an industry that exists in close partnerships with States that have an interest in maintaining secrecy around the development, sale, and use of cyber weapons.
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Siena holds a Bachelor of Arts from Concordia University in Journalism and Anthropology and a Bachelor of Laws/Bachelor of Civil Law from McGill University. She clerked at the Court of Appeal for Ontario and for the The Honourable Thomas Albert Cromwell, C.C. at the Supreme Court of Canada.
She has published on a wide range of subjects, from statutory interpretation to the right of habeas corpus in the immigration law context in Canada. She is a senior legal advisor with the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy at the University of Toronto and a refugee lawyer with Jared Will & Associates. She previously worked as a litigation associate at Morrison & Foerster LLP in New York City. Prior to law school, she was a fellow with the Aga Khan Foundation in Nairobi, Kenya and worked as a freelance journalist in Eastern Africa.
Maroussia Levesque​
LLM Candidate
Harvard University
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Proposed Program of Study
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Maroussia is an LL.M. Candidate at Harvard University specializing in international law and emerging technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI). She focuses on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to activate a clearer link between technology companies and human rights. Case studies include automated content moderation by social media platforms as it relates to freedom of expression and equality, as well as the interaction between AI-powered surveillance and the right to privacy at international law.
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As part of this project, Maroussia will consider the geopolitical implications of more robust responsibilities for private actors at international public law. Building on previous research on algorithmic fairness, she will also seek to foster an interdisciplinary understanding of issues at the intersection of law and technology by drawing from computer science, statistics and business frameworks.
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Prior to returning to school, Maroussia worked on foreign policy and AI matters for the Government of Canada, took part in the Quebec inquiry commission on the electronic surveillance of journalists, volunteered in Haiti and clerked for the Chief Justice at the Quebec Court of Appeal. She is a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers working group on algorithmic bias.