Dr. Meredith Terretta, Professor of History at the University of Ottawa, is Principal Investigator. Her interdisciplinary research produces empirically-researched historical explanations of why human rights have failed to deliver substantive equality, particularly in colonial/formerly colonized territories. She examines the history of international refugee law and the ways that state and non-state actors have shaped and deployed it. Terretta has published two single­authored books and eleven peer­reviewed articles in French and English in flagship journals in history, law, political science, and human rights. She has seven book chapters in print and one forthcoming.Terretta has experience in working with IT specialists to develop digital platforms for humanists. Terretta is responsible for 50% of this project. Her roles are:

Dr. Sarah Katz-Lavigne, Junior Lecturer, Sociology of Africa, University of Bayreuth, is co­investigator. Dr. Katz-­Lavigne is an emerging scholar who studies the extraction of minerals from large­scale mining sites in the southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo. She has extensive experience in both desk­based and qualitative research (including semi­structured interviews, focus group discussions, and key informant interviews in a range of contexts). Her roles on this project are:

Dr. Abdoulaye Gueye, full professor of sociology at the University of Ottawa, is co­applicant. He is the author of numerous works including Les intellectuels africains en France and De la dépendance vis­à­vis de l’Occident au besoin de diaspora intellectuelle africaine. He has contributed several chapters to edited collections as well as articles to leading journals in his field, including The DuBois Review and Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and the Middle East. In the last several years, Gueye has researched the integration of African universities and their researchers into international research networks. His approach is to analyze the mechanisms and forms of research collaboration between African researchers holding positions at North American universities and their African colleagues based in Africa. One aim of this research is to show how African universities and researchers affiliated with them leverage organic links with African researchers employed at North American institutions to penetrate international research networks. Gueye’s roles are:

Dr. Nadège Compaoré is an Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Toronto. Her work lies at the intersection of IR theory, African politics, global extractivism, as well as gender and race in global politics. Dr. Compaoré’s current research on the extractive sector is concerned with: (1) claims of sovereignty by states and communities affected by oil and mining extraction in Africa; and (2) Canada’s “Home State Responsibility” in Africa’s mining sector. Dr. Compaoré has also been working on issues relating to decolonizing IR theory, and on the evolution of Black female internationalism. She received her PhD in Political Studies from Queen’s University. Compaoré’s role is:

Kartikay Chadha is a long-term research assistant at the Visual Analytics Laboratory at OCAD University. Chadha has expertise in computer programming and big data quantitative and qualitative analyses. He has experience managing digital humanities projects. In preparing this application we consulted with him extensively on web application design and budget. If funded, we plan for Chadha to lead the web application development part of our project, provided our timelines align.

Dr. Gideon Christian is an Assistant Professor of Artificial Intelligence and Law at the Faculty of Law, University of Calgary. His research focuses on legal and ethical issues arising from the development and use artificial intelligence technologies. His current research seeks to develop the concept of algorithmic racism. Gideon is also the President of African Scholars Initiative (ASI-Canada), a registered Canadian charity that seeks to attract and mentor bright future scholars of African descent who intend to pursue graduate education in Canada. Gideon has appeared before the Canadian House of Commons at committee level to advocate for fair immigration policy for Canadian study visa applicants from Africa.