Dr. Shaheen Shariff

Professor Shaheen Shariff is an Associate Professor at McGill University. Her work is grounded in the intersection of law and education, with a focus on human rights and constitutional issues, diversity, legal pluralism and civil society. She is an Associate Member of the Center for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism at McGill’s Law Faculty and Affiliate Scholar at Stanford University Law School’s Center for Internet and Society. She is best known for her expertise on cyberbullying, sexting and sexual violence on university campuses, and advocates for a balance between free expression, privacy, safety, protection and regulation. Her research and teaching are centered in the study of law as it impacts educational policy, pedagogy and practice.

Professor Shariff served as expert witness at several Canadian House of Commons committees relating to proposed legislation and testified at the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights in 2012. She is currently on an advisory board for Quebec’s Premier Philippe Couillard to develop a provincial strategy on cyberbullying; and was an invited panelist at a conference on cyberhate at the United Nations Headquarters in New York, chaired by Secretary General Ban Ki Moon.  She also testified at the Nova Scotia Task Force on cyberbullying and was key advisor to the Quebec English School Board Association’s task force. She served on the Board of Directors of Kids’ Help Phone, and provided expert witness testimony that informed a landmark Supreme Court of Canada ruling on protection of children’s privacy rights.

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and the Quebec Ministry of Education have awarded her several research grants. She is currently the Project Director and Principal Investigator of a $2.6 million Partnership grant awarded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for a term of 7 years. She also serves on SSHRC grant review committees. She is also one of four recipients globally of Facebook's Inaugural Digital Citizenship Grant. Her work has culminated in 7 books (translations into Portuguese and Italian); and numerous journal articles and book chapters;  resources and videos found at www.mcgill.ca/definetheline. She also earned the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal for her public policy contributions to Canada.