Affiliated research centres and programs

Centre for International Peace and Security Studies (CIPSS)

The Centre for International Peace and Security Studies at McGill University (CIPSS) and Université de Montréal (CEPSI) brings together researchers interested by issues related to international peace, security, global governance, international organizations, and international cooperation. It is one of few research centres in Canada to be both bilingual and based at two different universities.

The Centre was previously known as the Research Group on International Security (REGIS), a joint program in security studies between UdeM and McGill Faculty. REGIS was founded by T.V. Paul (McGill University) and Michel Fortmann (UdeM) in 1996. Currently, Jennifer Welsh is the Director of the McGill branch, while Theodore McLauchlin is the Director of the UdeM branch. Megan Bradley is CIPSS Associate Director. CEPSI/CIPSS now has 28 member researchers at the two universities, and each year, it welcomes numerous graduate students at McGill and at Université de Montréal.

CEPSI/CIPSS facilitates research through public activities such as the weekly CIPSS/CEPSI Speaker Series and the annual Graduate Student Conference. CEPSI/CIPSS’ Speaker Series runs weekly from September to April and seeks to offer opportunities for emerging and well-known IR scholars from across the world the chance to share their work, to create a forum for discussion and debate among members, to contribute to public debate on critical contemporary issues, and to give McGill and UdeM graduate students the chance to interact with researchers from other universities.

Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship (CSDC)

The Centre for the Study of Democratic Citizenship (CSDC) promotes excellence in scientific research in an essential niche by supporting research, the training of the next generation of scientists, and knowledge mobilization on the functioning of democracy. It is an unparalleled cluster in the Quebec ecosystem of scientific research by approaching democracy from the angle of citizenship, the political role that individuals play within their society and the capacity of institutions to meet their needs and desires. It also stands out for its strength in methodology, an element that is all the more crucial as the ways of doing research are transforming at lightning speed with the emergence of new tools and large sets of digital data.

The CSDC brings together researchers from several disciplines, at various stages of their careers and active in several regions of Quebec. It currently has close to fifty faculty members spread across 10 universities and one college, and approximately 200 student and postdoctoral members.

Centre de Recherche en Éthique (CRÉ)

The Centre de recherche en éthique/Centre for Research in Ethics (CRÉ) brings together researchers who address ethical questions from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Our core team consists of more than 77 co-researchers based at 11 universities and colleges in the province of Québec, complemented by 88 collaborators from other parts of Canada as well as other parts of the world. 

European Union Studies - Jean Monnet Centre Montreal

The University of Montreal and McGill University have jointly promoted research and teaching on the European Union since 2000. Heir to the first Jean Monnet Chair established outside Europe in 1993, the Jean Monnet Center Montréal brings together diverse researchers and students who work in a bilingual environment and are engaged with decision makers, the business world , youth, and civil society.

Global Research Network on Peaceful Change

GRENPEC (The Global Research Network on Peaceful Change) is a newly established research network organized by a group of leading scholars and prominent institutions worldwide, focusing on the study of peaceful change at the international, regional, and domestic levels. We conceive the notion of peaceful change varying along a continuum from minimalist conceptions stressing international change and transformation without the use of military force and war, to maximalist ideas that entail not only the absence of war, but also the achievement of sustained non-violent cooperation for creating a more just world order.

The goal of the network is to encourage scholars to engage these two challenging topics together, especially the causes, sources, mechanisms and consequences of peaceful change at the international, regional, and domestic levels. As an emerging and promising research program, the study of “peaceful change” has generated substantial academic and policy interests among IR scholars and practitioners. This is especially pertinent as we are in the throes of a new round of systemic conflict involving rising China and established powers, such as the US, as well as non-traditional security challenges such as the Covid-19 and climate change induced disasters.

The rise of new centers of powers and pressures generated by globalization have brought forth the need to understand peaceful change an urgent necessity. Nations spend tremendous energy and resources on military security through the acquisition and use of arms. The attention devoted to security through peaceful means and peaceful change is minimal. For instance, we have limited understanding of the conditions under which a rising power like China be accommodated as a global power without war. We also have limited understanding of how and when regions transform into peaceful orders or the reverse happens. As scholars with an interest in peaceful change, we are making important research contributions, but most of our works remain in our specialized domains. This research network is a loosely organized group of scholars and institutions worldwide who are engaged in the study of peaceful change at the international and regional levels. It will make new initiatives and linkup existing projects so as to publicize them and bring them together in a platform freely accessible to all.

Groupe de Recherche Inter-universitaire en Philosophie Politique (GRIPP)

GRIPP brings together faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students in political theory and political philosophy from McGill, the University of Montreal, the University of Quebec at Montreal, and Concordia University.

It organizes at least two conferences per year and an annual book manuscript workshop. It also awards competitive postdoctoral and graduate fellowships. GRIPP meets roughly biweekly for a political theory workshop to discuss one or more papers by an outside visitor or a member of the group, including regular sessions for the discussion of the GRIPP fellows' work in progress.

Institute for the Study of International Development (ISID)

ISID's mission is to advance knowledge of the social, political, economic and environmental processes and conditions that enable people and societies to develop their full potential, living long, healthy, meaningful, and productive lives in community with others. The Institute supports critical cutting-edge research through fostering the engagement and collaboration of a multidisciplinary team of faculty, practitioners, and students.  ISID’s academic programs aim to train a new generation of passionate and innovative future leaders in the skills they need to conduct rigorous, normative and evidence-based analysis of the concepts, policies, and practices of international development.  The Institute's undergraduate International Development Studies program is one of the largest and most popular areas of study in the Faculty of Arts, consistently attracting at least 1200 students per year.

McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC)

The Institute welcomes researchers and students interested in interdisciplinary investigations of the history, politics and culture of Canada. The Institute, located on Peel Street, offers the Canadian studies program at McGill. It presents a series of events throughout the academic year, including its national-level annual conference on a subject of public policy interest. These events are open to the Montreal academic community and the general public, and feature distinguished researchers and public figures who share their views on a wide variety of scholarly and newsworthy subjects. The Institute offers several graduate-level fellowships to students engaged in research related to Canada.

McGill Refugee Research Group

The McGill Refugee Research Group brings together faculty, post-doctoral fellows, graduate students and undergraduates at McGill working on refugee and forced migration issues.

The aim of the McGill Refugee Research Group (MRRG) is to develop the refugee research community at McGill by:

• Connecting people across different faculties and departments with shared interests in refugees and forced migration;

• Sharing information about activities and opportunities in this field at McGill and in Montreal; and

• Hosting talks, workshops, film screenings and other events.

Quebec Studies Program

The central research mission of the Quebec Studies Program is to facilitate the understanding of Quebec society through a disciplinary approach. The program offers graduate students the opportunity to study Quebec in an international and comparative context. The Program offers seminars, monthly conferences featuring distinguished speakers, and two major annual conferences. the program also houses the Documentation Centre on Multinational studies. In addition, the Program awards a $15,000 teaching contract to a promising Ph.D. graduate or specialist in Quebec.

Research Group on Constitutional Studies (RGCS)

The Research Group on Constitutional Studies includes faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students from Political Science, Philosophy, and Law working in political theory, political philosophy, public law, constitutional jurisprudence, and comparative constitutionalism. Its areas of emphasis include the history and development of constitutional ideas; federalism and legal pluralism; theories of rights and justice; and the philosophy of law.

Research Group on Global Justice (RGGJ)

The Research Group on Global Justice studies questions concerning the philosophical and normative grounding of the historical and political development of global, international and transnational agents, institutions, structures and practices. Open with respect to theoretical perspectives and methodologies, the RGGJ focuses on themes such as the standing, rights and duties of individuals, groups, non-state actors, non-governmental organizations and states in a transnational context; the legitimacy of international institutions and structures; the concept of human rights; state sovereignty; the self-determination of peoples; international law; global distributive and social justice, and just development; justice in international migration; the ethics of war; feminist critiques and visions of international and global order; historic injustice in a global and transnational context; race, colonialism and empire in the formation of global order and justice; and environmental justice.

Simulation du Parlement Europeen, Canada, Quebec, Europe (SPEQUE)

Since 1998 when SPEQUE began, McGill has participated four times with a team representing a member state of the European Union. The week-long simulation of a session of the European Parliament, not only the Plenary sessions but also relevant Committees and Party Family Caucuses, took place the first year in the National Assembly, Quebec City, and the second in Strasbourg, France. The conference alternates location between Europe and Canada. In both 1998 and 1999, McGill's team won the prize for the best prepared country position paper. SPEQUE 2000 took place in Quebec City; the President of the organization was a McGill MA student. All documentation and most discussions take place in French. In years in which strong interest is shown in forming a team graduate and law students will be eligible to apply for it.

World Islamic and Middle East Studies Program

The undergraduate programs in World Islamic and Middle East Studies offer students language-based interdisciplinary training about the Islamic world. Combining humanities and social-science approaches, the programs introduce students to the textual traditions and social life of Muslims – and the non-Muslims interacting with them – in different times and places, including but not limited to the Middle East.

Students in the programs learn about the complexity and variety of Muslim societies and cultures across the world, paying attention to regional specificities but also becoming aware of past and present global links. With solid grounding in language training (Arabic, Persian, Turkish or Urdu), students take courses on history, law, sciences, philosophy, art, literature, political science, and anthropology, combining knowledge about the contemporary Islamic world and the traditions that are important for understanding it.

The Institute of Islamic Studies offers a Major and a Minor Concentration, an Honours and Joint Honours Program for students wishing to pursue more in-depth studies, and Language Minors in Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Urdu for students interested in language training.

Yan P. Lin Centre

The Yan P. Lin Centre for the Study of Freedom and Global Orders in the Ancient and Modern Worlds brings together more than forty scholars from across the university working in comparative, historical, normative, and critical social inquiry. It provides a unified home for the humanistic social sciences, allowing for collaborations across the Faculties of Arts, Engineering, and Law, drawing on disciplines ranging from history, classics, architecture, political science, and philosophy. It is dedicated to studying social structures, social transformations, and ideas about social values from across eras and in regions around the world.