Centres & Programs

The Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (CERES) is one of North America’s leading academic institutes for the study of the member countries of the European Union, the countries of the former Soviet Union, and Central and Eastern Europe. The Centre promotes interdisciplinary scholarship and teaching in the social sciences and humanities. Each year CERES organizes several regionally focused seminar series and is host to a number of scholars in residence. Drawing upon the expertise of more than fifteen departments and dozens of faculty members, CERES also sponsors an undergraduate degree program in European Studies and a Master’s degree program in European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies. Through its intensive relations with the European Commission, the German Academic Exchange Service, the wider local community in Toronto, and institutions of higher learning across Europe, Ukraine, and Russia, CERES supports the exchange of ideas and scholars across the Atlantic.

Established in 1981, the University of Toronto’s Centre for South Asian Studies (CSAS) fosters academic research, teaching and public discussion on South Asia in an effort to address global questions. A constitutive unit of the Asian Institute at the Munk School for Global Affairs and Public Policy, the Centre is supported by the Faculty of Arts & Science with core faculty across the University of Toronto’s three campuses. It is a key international hub for critical conversations across the humanities and social sciences on South Asian worlds, both inside and outside the subcontinent.

CSAS conversations also address incarnations of “South Asia” and its regions as objects of knowledge, from mythic to governmental to geopolitical. The Centre’s programming thus reflects an interface of approaches that has distinguished research on South Asia in recent years, incorporating deep specialist and empirical knowledge, transnational methods, gendered readings and cutting-edge theoretical investigation. Delving into local contexts, CSAS programming addresses questions as wide-ranging as the workings of postcolonial democracy, law, and activism; histories and contemporary configurations of the sacred and secular; political economy and cultures of capitalism; media, technology, and the public sphere; the material and imaginative terrains of literary and visual cultures; and the present life of ancient civilizations.

The University of Toronto houses one of the strongest concentrations of scholars in North America working on Southeast Asia in the social sciences and the humanities. The Centre for Southeast Asian Studies is comprised of scholars working and teaching on Southeast Asia at the University of Toronto. The Centre’s mandate is to provide a forum to discuss, initiate, plan, and coordinate research, teaching, and other activities relating to Southeast Asia. As a constituent unit of the Asian Institute, the Centre seeks to complement the broader coordinating role of Asian Studies at the University of Toronto by providing a more focused attention to teaching, research, and other activities relating to Southeast Asian studies.

The CEFMF is an interdisciplinary institute devoted to the study of France and the francophone world at the University of Toronto. It sponsors a wide range of programs bringing together scholars and students within the University, from across Canada, and from around the world. The Centre supports pathbreaking interdisciplinary research into various aspects of the francophone world, encourages its study at the undergraduate and graduate levels, and engages in outreach towards the broader community across the Greater Toronto Area.

The Centre for the Study of Global Japan facilitates research, teaching, and public outreach on Japanese politics and diplomacy.  Within the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, it promotes deeper understanding of Japan in its region and in global perspective. The Centre helps develop research networks, convenes lectures and workshops, hosts guest researchers, and seeks out new opportunities for faculty and student exchange between Canada and Japan.

The Centre for the Study of Korea was established in the fall of 2006 with the goal of promoting critical approaches to the research of Korea. It aims to develop pedagogical materials for teaching about Korea both in the university and to the public. The Centre also has a constantly evolving line-up of speakers from North America, Asia, and Europe featured in lectures and events throughout the academic year. Participation in events is open to from members of the university community as well as communities throughout the Greater Toronto Area.

The Centre does not itself offer any teaching programs but it supports courses on Korea through the Faculty of Arts and Science. Please see the Department of East Asian Studies website for further information.

The Centre for the Study of the United States (CSUS) represents the largest collection of U.S.-focused scholars in Canada, as well as the greatest concentration of U.S. expertise in Canada’s history. With over 66 faculty affiliates, we have unprecedented strength in U.S. expertise and in American Studies, both institutionally and nationally. CSUS and American Studies bridge the social sciences and the humanities in three major areas of activity: undergraduate teaching, research, and programming for the university community and beyond.

CSUS was established in 1999 to build and promote the University’s resources in American Studies and U.S.-focused research and teaching. Its vision is to build on its position as the nation’s premier site of interdisciplinary U.S.-focused research, teaching, and public programming. The Centre bridges the social sciences and the humanities in its work, as well as collaborates closely with scholars in law, business, and public policy. In addition to bridging the social sciences and the humanities, it balances a focus on the U.S. as an object of study with transnational, comparative, and international approaches.

The extraordinary growth of economies in the Asia Pacific region in the past two decades, in combination with a revolution in communications and the shattering forces of globalization, has transformed national societies, redefined relations among nations and people, and established new links connecting the region with the rest of the world. Whether we are discussing economic development, peace and conflict, the activities of multi-national corporations, religious tolerance, the well-being of children or simply the distribution of power within nations, Canadians need comparative knowledge of cultures in the Asia Pacific and the capacity to use the languages of countries about which questions are posed.

The Dr. David Chu Program is a place where the study and learning of this important region of the world takes place. The goal of the program is to work cooperatively, both inside and outside the University, to gain new perspectives in the study of the Asia Pacific. The program has direct ties with the Department of East Asian Studies. Our major activities include undergraduate teaching, scholarships, the distinguished leaders program, visiting scholars and research projects, and a community network involving speakers, seminars, and workshops.

For more information on the program and its requirements, please visit the Asia-Pacific Studies website.

Established as a degree program in 1985 and as a centre in 2001, the Trudeau Centre gives a select group of undergraduates, from Canada and around the world, the practical knowledge they need to advance the cause of peace. Students pursue either a major or a specialist degree in a multidisciplinary undergraduate program. The Centre also provides a study-abroad program to augment classroom work, opportunities to conduct original research in the field, and direct engagement with some of the world’s top researchers on the causes and resolution of violence.

Scholars associated with the Centre work within and beyond the traditional purview of international affairs, studying interstate war as well as major conflict inside countries, including revolution, insurgency, ethnic strife, guerrilla war, terrorism, and genocide. They seek to identify the deep causes of this strife—from poverty, resource scarcity, and weapons proliferation to competing claims for justice and failures of foreign-policy decision making.

The University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy combines training in analytical methods and practical management skills with an immersion in the latest thinking on global issues. The Master of Global Affairs degree positions graduates to accelerate their careers in business, government and NGOs, as these sectors pursue their strategies in an increasingly interconnected and multipolar world.

The Munk School of Global Affairs is a hub for scholars and practitioners at the forefront of research, debate, and action in global affairs. Against the backdrop of one of the world’s most diverse cities, the University of Toronto’s new professional school is curating a vital dialogue about the challenges, organizations, and ideas that are reshaping the international landscape—creating an environment which will equip students to thrive in a world where working internationally demands not only professional skills but strategic agility and cultural fluency.

Immersed in this unfolding conversation, students enhance the value they derive from their formal studies even as they expand their networks to include hundreds of global alumni, scholars, mentors, and employers.

For more information on the application process, please visit the Master of Global Affairs’ website.

The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy’s two -year Master of Public Policy (MPP) program is highly interdisciplinary, bridging the spheres of domestic policy and international or global policy in order to address the complex issues facing modern governments and other policy-making organizations.

In this program, you will gain the knowledge and experience you need to become a leader in addressing today’s complex policy problems. Located on the St. George campus in the heart of downtown Toronto and in close proximity to an extraordinary concentration of policy leaders, you will be in the centre of a vibrant and engaged community and have constant access to the best minds in policy. However you aim to advance the public good, a Munk School education will empower you to achieve your professional and personal goals. The University of Toronto is Canada’s largest university, recognized as Canada’s top university and one of North American’s best public research universities. U of T’s distinguished faculty, institutional record of groundbreaking scholarship and wealth of innovative academic opportunities continually attract outstanding students and academics from around the world.

The MPP program features core instruction on a small-group, cohort-based model. In addition to the core material considered essential for policy practice, students take electives both within the School and in the broader University. Invited visiting public sector leaders and external researchers bridge theory and practice, providing contact with senior professionals in government and the broader public, private and community sectors. The program also provides access to courses and research facilities available in many other graduate departments, centres and institutes across the University.

The American Studies program is designed to provide students with a broad, yet deep, education about the United States. To ensure breadth, students are required to take an interdisciplinary core course that ranges widely both with respect to the themes covered and disciplinary perspectives applied. As well, the program offers a wide selection of courses from participating departments and programs in the Faculty, giving students broad exposure to fundamental themes of American life. To ensure depth, the American Studies program relies heavily on upper level courses, including its own capstone seminars at the 400-level. For more information on the program and its requirements, please visit the American Studies website.

The Collaborative Master’s and Doctoral Specialization in South Asian Studies offers entry into a graduate student community, as well as a basic methodological grounding for students already accepted into a graduate program in one of the collaborating departments (listed on the program website). The program is not a degree-granting program. Rather it is designed to give students from a wide range of departments at the University of Toronto an interdisciplinary overview for the critical study of South Asia as a field of expertise and as a lens through which to read a wide range of global processes. Engagement with these questions through the collaborative program will be noted on the transcripts of participating students.

All students who wish to participate in the collaborative program, at the master’s or doctoral level, are required to take the core course, SAS2004H, Critical Issues in South Asian Studies: A Region and the Disciplines. This course aims to familiarize students with aspects of the construction and critique of area studies, the history of disciplinary engagement with the region, and major contemporary debates in the field.

Students in the program are also required to be active participants in the Centre for South Asian Studies lecture and seminar series. The wide range of events organized by the Centre and the Asian Institute offers a significant opportunity for students to think critically about the role of area studies in providing new perspectives on problems of universal significance, as well as to meet regularly and build a community. For further information about the program requirements and collaborating departments, please visit the Centre for South Asian Studies website.

The Asia-Pacific region has emerged in the past half century as a major force in global economics and politics. The interdisciplinary master’s program in Asia-Pacific Studies is designed for students wishing to pursue professional careers that will require them to understand this vibrant and sometimes tumultuous part of the world, whether their chosen fields are in academia, business, government, international or non-governmental organizations. Located at Canada’s premier research university, the program limits the number of students to 20 in order to facilitate learning and intellectual exchange in a small group setting.

The program is not a degree-granting program. Rather it is designed to provide graduate students from a wide range of departments at the University of Toronto advanced training in traditional disciplines and also interdisciplinary expertise in historical and social science studies of modern East and Southeast Asia. It also provides a strong background for a doctoral-level academic focus on Asia-Pacific. The major topical areas of study include political economy, modern and contemporary social history, international relations, gender and the family, political and social change, economic development, and cultural studies.

Please note that this is not a standalone graduate program. Students wishing to be admitted to the collaborative program must apply online to one of the home departments. For more information about the application process, including a list of participating home department units, please visit the program website.

The Dr. David Chu Program in Contemporary Asian Studies (CAS) program prepares undergraduate students for new global dynamics, of which Asia’s rise over the past century has been a key component. Several of the world’s largest and fastest-growing economies are in Asia, yet the outcomes of modernization across the region have been varied, as seen through differing approaches to democracy, the distribution of wealth, ethnic diversity, gender dynamics, human rights, and immigration policy. The pathways to modernity in Asia are also varied, with diverse colonial/independent histories, roads to democracy, and strategies for economic growth. The CAS program provides undergraduate students with the knowledge and analytical tools to dissect these outcomes and processes and draw meaningful linkages between them. The CAS program provides a multidisciplinary lens through which to examine the links between Asia’s history, its emergence onto the global stage, the challenges and opportunities inherent in its modernity, and its future(s) in the global arena. Both the major and minor programs are thematically-driven and pan-Asian in geographic scope, providing empirical and critical coverage of South, Southeast, and East Asia. Students will encounter multiple disciplinary approaches to the study of the region, including anthropology, economics, geography, history, political science, and sociology. For more information on the program and its requirements, please visit the Dr. David Chu Program in Contemporary Asian Studies website.

Europe, like other major regions of the globe, has long been a significant focus of study at the University of Toronto. In recognition of the major role played by the European region on the global stage, and the importance of understanding the continent in a comprehensive way, the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy offers an undergraduate major program in European Studies and a minor program in European Union Studies.

Drawing on the expertise of thirteen departments, the program is designed for students who desire the linguistic competence, the cultural comprehension, and the specialized knowledge necessary to operate effectively in the “new” Europe. The major provides undergraduate students with the opportunity to focus on the region through a wide variety of courses and disciplines. It offers preparation for further specialized study at the graduate level, or for work either in Europe itself or within a Canadian-based organization dealing with Europe. Students may also take a minor program in European Union Studies, which consists of four full credits. For more information on the program and its requirements, please visit the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies’ website.

Hellenic Studies at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy focus on the history, language, and culture of Greece and the wider Balkans. The program offers modern Greek language at the first, second and third-year levels along with a political science course at the third-year level on contemporary Greek politics and a fourth-year seminar on Greece, the Balkans and the European Union taught within the European Studies undergraduate program. In addition to the courses taught during the regular academic year, the University of Toronto’s Summer Abroad program offers an intensive course based in Thessaloniki, Greece, dealing with Greece and its region past and present.

The program is made possible thanks to the support of the Hellenic Heritage Foundation and the Greek-Canadian community. Please note that this is not a standalone undergraduate program. For more information, please visit the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies’ website.

The Hungarian language is spoken by ten and a half million inhabitants of present-day Hungary, about three million people in the neighbouring countries, and perhaps as many as an additional two million around the world. Despite the isolation that might have been imposed by the uniqueness of their language, Hungarians have been engaged with, and participants in, greater European affairs since their arrival in the Carpathian basin more than a thousand years ago. Hungarians have made signal contributions in the fields of arts, science, and mathematics, winning Nobel Prizes in Chemistry, Medicine, Physics, Economics, and Literature.

Hungarian Studies at the University of Toronto includes major and minor programs for undergraduate students at the Faculty of Arts and Science. These programs focus on the history, language, literature, and culture of Hungary, as well as its role on the international scene and presence in Canada. For more information on the program and its requirements, please visit the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies’ website.

Solving real-world policy challenges requires the use of multi-disciplinary tools to analyze problems, determine the best means to deal with those problems, and decide on the best course of action. An undergraduate Major in Public Policy provides a unique opportunity for students in Social Science disciplines to think in an interdisciplinary way, by drawing on theories and approaches, as well as toolkits developed in the core disciplines of Economics and Political Science, and beyond. Students in this program develop theoretical and applied reasoning skills in policy analysis, as well as a solid grounding in quantitative methods and research.

The Undergraduate Major program in Public Policy is offered jointly by the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, the Department of Economics, and the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. Students may enrol after their first or second year of undergraduate studies and must meet the prerequisite conditions for all second-year and higher courses.

Recognized as one of the best of its kind in North America, the Master of Arts program at the University of Toronto’s Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (CERES) offers students the opportunity to engage in a comprehensive, rigorous and hands-on study program. In addition to the top faculty in their fields, CERES provides generous funding to MA candidates through fellowships or financial support for internships, language training, and study abroad opportunities. In this two-year program, our students typically spend a summer or semester engaged in research or training internationally, with advisory and logistical support from CERES. This field component alone sets us apart from other MA programs. The diverse array of courses available to students of the MA program is supplemented by short intensive workshops—CERES hosts two or more per year on specialized topics of regional interest. CERES also provides students with unique learning opportunities outside the classroom, often involving short field trips to the region.

This is in addition to the Centre’s busy agenda of seminars and conferences. Every week, top specialists from around the world take part in an engaging series of debates at the Munk School. Students are encouraged as well to develop their own projects and initiatives, and every year CERES students host their own graduate student conference and publish graduate student work in the journal Eurasiatique.

For more information on the program and the application process, please visit the Centre’s website.

Think big. Work in teams to solve real world problems. Innovate. Munk One provides students with a focus on innovation and global problem-solving. Through case studies of complex challenges worldwide, Munk One students identify innovations that succeed, how successful innovation can be fostered, and why innovative solutions sometimes fail to address global problems. Beyond the classroom, you are placed in cutting-edge global affairs policy labs that are tackling real-world problems. Join a community of students engaging the role of innovation in areas such as cyber security, health, development and sustainability, and human rights.

• Number of credits: 2 credits
• Program structure: Two small half-year seminars and one full-year lab course
• Eligibility: Faculty of Arts & Science (St. George) undergraduate applicants

The minor in South Asian Studies, offered by the Centre for South Asian Studies at the Asian Institute, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, allows students to study South Asia in an approach attentive to global formations. With access to the faculty and resources of the Contemporary Asian Studies program, students are introduced to the study of South Asia—Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, and Sri Lanka—through a wide angle view of Asian modernities, political economies, and cultures, all the while delving into to specialist close-ups of South Asia. The program poses crucial questions for understanding global processes and diverse worlds—the tribal forest land, the bazaar, sacred sites, and the urban slum, among many others—preparing students for globally-minded careers and advanced social science and humanities research.

With a curriculum motivated by the moving present—the changing face of South Asia today—the minor offers rigorous training in major debates and questions in the rich field of South Asian Studies, and provides a basic foundation for many directions of future study. From historical contexts of ethnic conflict, to postcolonial readings of ancient traditions, to the politics of religious and ethnic identities, to the workings of vast-scale democracy and capitalism, to the worlds of cinema and public culture, students are exposed to the dynamic landscapes—political, material, and mythic—that constitute present-day South Asia. Through open access to comparative courses in the Contemporary Asian Studies program, students can learn from tenured and tenure-track faculty specialists in South, East, and Southeast Asia. For more information about the program and its requirements, please visit the Centre for South Asian Studies website.

The Belt and Road in Global Perspective (BRGP) aims to take stock of the rapidly developing and widely varying changes that are occurring in the wake of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). It brings scholarly expertise to bear to understand these potentially massive transformations underway across Asia and Eurasia. Our project is part of a burgeoning partnership between the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy (University of Toronto), Nazarbayev University, and National University Singapore. The partnership is designed to develop collaborative, multi-disciplinary research projects that examine the myriad downstream effects of the ambitious BRI.

The Citizen Lab is an interdisciplinary laboratory based at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto, Canada focusing on advanced research and development at the intersection of digital media, global security, and human rights.

The Environmental Governance Lab is a research hub that focuses on the development of new ideas and tools to respond to the challenge of environmental governance at multiple scales. It is a home for research partnerships, a node in global research networks on environmental governance and transformative policy, and a platform for knowledge exchange with practitioners, policy makers, and the public.

The Eurasia Initiative is a new endeavour devoted to the study of the states and societies of the former USSR as well as their many links with Afghanistan, China, Iran, Russia, Turkey, and other neighbours. An undertaking of the Centre for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (CERES), the Initiative joins in the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy’s mission of interdisciplinary collaboration with a focus on taking innovative approaches to challenge prevailing ideas that shape our understanding of Europe, Asia, and the world.

The goal of the Future Skills initiative is to bring together academic researchers and stakeholders from different organizations (e.g., school boards, financial institutions, private sector, universities) to do empirical research on how education and professional development programs need to change in an era marked by disruptive technologies. Researchers and members of other organizations who are affiliated with the project are particularly interested in analyzing these questions from a human capital development perspective, focusing on the implications for education and training over the life course as well as supportive policies and programs.

Based at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, the  Global Economic Policy Lab (GEPL) examines developments in international trade, monetary and financial relations to understand how politics and markets interact and provide timely insights into economic policy options for decision-makers in the public and private sector.

In our global economy, it is becoming increasingly important for students to learn about the world and to think in a global context. The Global Ideas Institute provides over 150 high school students from across the Greater Toronto Area with the tools, knowledge, and guidance to develop innovative solutions to complex world issues. Over the course of the year, students gain exposure to leading global thinkers, develop complex problem-solving skills, and deliver pitches to a panel of distinguished experts. The Global Ideas Institute’s unique approach to complex problem-solving engages students and professionals from across the University of Toronto, supporting participants in this year-long learning and creative problem-solving process.

The Global Justice Lab is an interdisciplinary research laboratory focusing on justice systems under stress worldwide, whether that pressure comes from social change, crime and violence, political demands, or organizational dilemmas. Examples of the Lab’s current projects include global responses to crime and violence, innovation in urban systems of justice, international human rights practice, and evidence-based approaches to national security. The Lab engages in basic and applied research, including collaborative work with professional peers in government. Visit the Global Justice Lab homepage for more information. 

Whether voluntary or forced, well-governed or irregular, migration is an issue of global importance with profound local impacts. Indeed, we live in an unprecedented period of human mobility. Understanding it requires research into the drivers, routes, and actors involved in smuggling and trafficking; developments in border controls and regional security; the spread of anti-migration politics; political failure to cope with the global refugee crisis; and comparative studies of settlement and integration policies in receiving states in both the global north and global south.

The Global Migration Lab facilitates teaching, knowledge generation, and policy-relevant research on all aspects of migration and migration governance. The Munk School and the city of Toronto – one of the world’s great migration cities – offer the perfect vantage point for understanding global migration.

The Global Taiwan Studies Program (GTS) at the University of Toronto brings Taiwan into comparative discussions and global conversations. Rather than thinking, studying and seeing Taiwan in isolation, the GTS at the Munk School of Global Affairs aims to situate a dynamic Taiwan into a rapidly changing global context. The program is uniquely multi- and inter-disciplinary, bridging conversations from engineering to policy, from politics to cinema. The centrepiece of the GTS for 2016-2017 is the launch of the graduate seminar at the Munk School – Small States in Global Affairs: Seeing Taiwan. The course, which is offered to graduate students in the Munk School, the Asian Institute, the School of Public Policy and Governance, the Departments of Political Science and Sociology, features leading scholars interested in both Taiwan and global affairs more generally. Students and faculty will engage in debates about democracy, inequality, environmental governance, cyber-security, gender and migration, among many others. Ensuring the GTS stays focused on the student experience, the program has also drawn together several funding co-sponsorships to provide superlative researchers and entrepreneurial students the opportunity to carry out applied research in Taiwan. Indeed, the Global Taiwan Studies Program is not limited to learning in the classroom, but encourages “learning by doing.” Over the next few years, the advisory committee to the GTS will curate a first-rate seminar series and other forms of public engagement, including lectures, panels and roundtables, and cinematic forums.

The core of Global Taiwan Studies at the Munk School is to promote the cutting-edge study of Taiwan by putting Taiwan into the centre of  fluid, dynamic global conversations.

The Innovation Policy Lab (IPL) is a research hub within the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy whose mission is to study, teach, and apply novel methods and disciplines to the study of innovation and its impact on growth and society.

Bringing together teams of researchers from multiple schools and departments at the University of Toronto, as well as from other institutions in countries across the globe, the IPL focuses on core questions in a number of areas including innovation and growth, innovation and inequality, globalization and innovation, social innovation, new technologies and their impact on society, innovation in traditional industries, and arts and innovation. Since our aim is not only to advance basic research but also to effect change, we pay particular attention to the role of public policy in nurturing innovation, while at the same time enhancing its positive impacts on society and limiting its negative consequences.

The research and teaching at the IPL are experimental, utilizing historical research, fieldwork, surveys, advanced econometrics, case studies and ethnography. We believe that different questions are better answered using a variety of research techniques and that those who study innovation need to adopt innovative and experimental approaches.

For those reasons, our teaching and educational methodologies are highly varied and changing, ranging from seminars to teaching courses that aim to immerse our students within the context of particular places and organizations. To do this effectively, the IPL faculty closely partner with a wide range of public and private organizations to co-produce educational experiences that provide a competitive edge to our students while having a real impact on innovation policy around the world.

The Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance (IMFG) is the only organization of its kind in North America, dedicated exclusively to the municipal finance and governance challenges faced by large cities and city-regions in Canada and around the world. IMFG’s approach is multi-faceted: it publishes independent, evidence-based research; promotes high-level discussion among Canada’s government, academic, corporate, and community leaders through conferences, seminars, and roundtables; supports graduate and post-doctoral students to build Canada’s cadre of municipal finance and governance experts; and hosts visiting scholars to share perspectives from other cities.

Established by a grant from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst (German Academic Exchange Service) and funds from the University of Toronto, the Joint Initiative is a program of cross-disciplinary support for research and scholarship at the University of Toronto in the area of German and European studies. It supports dissertation fellowships, research and travel grants, exchanges of faculty and graduate students between U of T and German universities, summer research projects for senior undergraduate students in the area of German and European studies, workshops, seminars, conferences, and a modest program of “seed money” for faculty research. For more information on applications for financial support, please visit the program website.

The Lionel Gelber Prize was founded in 1989 in memory of Canadian diplomat Lionel Gelber (1907-1989). The largest juried award of its kind, it seeks to deepen public debate on significant global issues by recognizing the world’s best non-fiction book in English on foreign affairs. The award is presented annually by the Lionel Gelber Foundation, in partnership with Foreign Policy Magazine and the Munk School of Global Affairs.

Ontario 360 is a project at University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. Its purpose is to scan Ontario’s challenges and opportunities and develop evidence-based public policy ideas for dissemination in advance of the Ontario election and during the post-election transition. Ontario 360 is independent, non-partisan, and fact-based. It provides a neutral platform for policy experts to put forward clear, actionable policy recommendations to promote a growth and opportunity agenda for Ontario. Our advisory council, authors, and faculty, students, alumni, and supporters do not necessarily endorse or affirm the policy recommendations advanced by the different contributors.

Established in 2001 with the support of Petro Jacyk and the Petro Jacyk Educational Foundation, the Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine focuses on contemporary Ukraine, as well as its history and culture. The major themes covered by the program focus on the challenges of independent Ukraine and include: building an effective state; foreign policy and international relations; education, culture and national identity.

The mission of the program is to promote scholarly understanding of the government, economy and society in contemporary Ukraine, as well as the country’s history and culture, primarily through the encouragement and support of collaborative projects (typically involving workshops, conferences, lectures, seminars, and visiting scholars) and through the support of graduate students studying Ukraine at the University of Toronto.

The program actively encourages scholars in Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto and Ukrainianists at other North American institutions to develop joint projects, and facilitates the study of Ukraine by organizing workshops, conferences, lectures and seminars. The program brings visiting scholars from Ukraine and invites Ukraine’s statesmen and cultural figures to speak in its guest lecture series.

This program offers students with interests in Ethnic, Immigration and Pluralism Studies the opportunity to widen their horizons, to expand their knowledge beyond a single disciplinary base, and to take advantage of the wealth and diversity of academic resources available at the University of Toronto, a university situated in a large and culturally cosmopolitan city.

Each participating faculty provides a distinctive perspective and knowledge-base for the study of topics such as ethnic and race relations, international migration and immigration, cultural and linguistic communities, inter-group dynamics, nationalist movements, aboriginal affairs, and human rights. The program also features a basic interdisciplinary seminar on “Ethnic Relations Theory, Research, and Policy.” This wide range of program opportunities makes it valuable for students planning careers in academic research and teaching, policy research, and professional practice and administration.

Students may also take advantage of special lectures, conferences, and workshops sponsored by the Robert F. Harney Professorship and Program in Ethnic, Immigration and Pluralism Studies. These events bring eminent researchers and practioners from around the world to enhance the research community at the University of Toronto, and to further broaden the foundation for professional development.

Ethnic and Pluralism Studies at the University of Toronto is not a degree granting program. Rather it is a collaborative graduate program open only to students who have been admitted to and enrolled in a master’s or doctoral program in one of the affiliated departments. Upon successfully completing the requirements, in addition to a master’s or a doctoral degree in their disciplines, students will receive a specialization noted on their transcripts as “Completed Collaborative Program in Ethnic and Pluralism Studies.” For more information on the application process, including a list of participating departments, please visit the program website.

It has been said that development is about delivery: the will and ability to deliver interventions to very poor people in order to improve their lives. The development “space” is filled with great ideas and innovative solutions, from technological interventions to new policy initiatives. But the effects of these potentially game-changing ideas are severely mitigated if they do not actually get to the people they are intended to benefit. We think of this challenge in terms of “reach.” To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, development solutions much reach those who need them most.

Those who live at the base of the pyramid – the poorest of the poor – are also the hardest to reach. Many are homeless or live far in the countryside; they might lack formal identification; or they are socially marginalized because of their ethnicity or gender. As Anthony Lake of UNICEF puts it: “Disaggregate the data and we find that our statistical national successes are masking moral and practical failures. People are left behind simply because they live in rural communities or urban slums, in conflict zones, as part of indigenous groups, with disabilities or because they are girls.”

We are a research initiative based in the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto. Our team is led by Professor Joseph Wong and supported by the Mastercard Center for Inclusive Growth. The Reach Alliance is composed of researchers from across various disciplines and the University of Toronto. Together, we examine the delivery of social services to those who are hardest to reach.

The Richard Charles Lee Asian Pathways Research Lab (APRL) is an initiative of the Asian Institute at the Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto. The Lab’s mission is to produce innovative theoretical and methodological frameworks to understand human migrations and mobilities with a focus on Asian life histories and experiences. The APRL cultivates engaged qualitative research, student training, and public dialogue on migrations from Asia to Canada in the context of cross-cutting global themes. These themes include: Asian modernities, broadly conceived within East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia, capitalisms, diaspora and transnationalism, and urban life in global contexts. Each year the APRL offers essential training for undergraduate students to use qualitative methods to study the process of migration from, within and between Asian and Canada, with a particularly focus on life-histories of Asian Canadians in the Greater Toronto Area. The manager of the APRL for the period of 2017-2018 is Emily Hertzman. Please contact her directly to get involved with the lab.

The Urban Policy Lab is a hybrid teaching and research hub at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy that brings together students, faculty, and practitioners to improve urban policy in the Toronto region and across Canada. The Lab serves as a focal point for the School’s urban initiatives and training ground for future urban policy professionals, offering students new experiential learning opportunities through a range of collaborative research and civic education projects linking the academic, government, and not-for-profit sectors.