May 15, 2017
Dr. Ayesha S. Chaudhry, Associate Professor of Islamic Studies in the Department of Classical, Near Eastern, and Religious Studies, and Associate Professor at the Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality and Social Justice, has been awarded a Canada Research Chair in Religion, Law and Social Justice. The Canada Research Chairs Program has awarded a total of $125,900,000 in funding to 142 chairholders at universities across Canada.
Created in 2000, the Canada Research Chairs Program (CRCP) has helped attract and retain some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds. There are currently over 1,600 chairholders working at over 70 postsecondary universities across the country in a wide range of fields. The CRCP is a tri-agency initiative of theSocial Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). For a full list of the 2016-17 Canada Research Chair recipients, please visit: http://www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca/media-medias/lists-listes/2017/may-mai-eng.aspx
Dr. Chaudhry is the author of Domestic Violence and the Islamic Tradition: Ethics, Law, and the Muslim Discourse on Gender (Oxford University Press, 2014). Her research focuses on Islamic legal and theological reform, with eye towards promoting human rights by focusing on women’s rights. Dr. Chaudhry is deeply committed to bridging the academic and civil society divide, which is mutually edifying. In service of this commitment, she is actively engaged in civic discourse around religion. She has consulted on high-level national and international cases concerning human rights and religious pluralism and freedom. She works with NGO and international development organizations to improve women’s rights and promote pluralism. She is currently working on two major projects, one entitled “Feminist Shari’a” and the other “The Colour of God”.
