Lori G. Beaman is currently the Principal Investigator of the Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF) Project, a $2.5 million, 7-year Partnership Grant funded by SSHRC and housed at the University of Ottawa. With a team of 21 researchers, this international, comparative, interdisciplinary research project identifies the social impact of the rapid and dramatic increase of nonreligion in Canada, Australia, the Nordic countries (Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland), the United States, the United Kingdom, and Latin America (Brazil and Argentina). The primary focus is to study the relationship between increasingly complex diversities created by growing nonreligion populations and institutions, and to build an evidence base from which to identify models for living well together in complex, diverse, and inclusive societies. The project looks specifically at social institutions where nonreligion is increasingly visible such as health, law, education, and in the environment and migration. In each of these areas, the NCF project asks how the approaches and interests of the nonreligious challenge existing and taken-for-granted practices and cultures.

Jennifer A. Chandler studies the legal and ethical aspects of biomedical science and technology, with a focus on (1) the intersection of the brain sciences, law and ethics, and (2) legal policy related to organ donation and transplantation. She holds the University of Ottawa’s Bertram Loeb Research Chair. She leads the “Neuroethics Law and Society” Research Pillar for the Brain Mind Research Institute and sits on its Scientific Advisory Council. In her research, she collaborates with a diverse international group of academics and clinicians and she led the recent publication of the first international comparative study of the laws of “psychosurgery” with the contributions of leading functional neurosurgeons from Europe, Asia and the Americas. She coordinates a new tri-national project – Hybrid Minds – bringing together researchers from Switzerland, Germany and Canada to examine the implications of embedding artificial intelligence within neuroprosthetics. For the past several years, she has run a discussion group called Mind-Brain-Law which went online during the pandemic and includes nearly 100 members from North and South America, Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. She is active in Canadian neuroscience research funding policy, and currently sits as a member of the Advisory Board for the Institute for Neurosciences, Mental Health and Addiction. Jennifer Chandler also regularly contributes to Canadian governmental policy on contentious matters of biomedicine. She is a member of the Government’s independent panel advising on safeguards related to medical assistance in dying in the context of mental illness, and was a member of the 2018 government-commissioned National Expert Panel on Medical Assistance in Dying. She is currently co-chairing the law and ethics working group of a CBS-sponsored clinical guideline development process looking at the definition of brain death and criteria for the determination of brain death, and she also chairs the Ethics Committee of the Canadian Society for Transplantation.

CHLPE's inaugural Director from 2015–2023, Colleen M. Flood is recognized as one of Canada’s leading scholars in the area of health law and policy, and is an accomplished leader, author, and commentator. She has made a significant impact on the policies and areas of research informing health services and care delivery sectors and public health, both in Canada and around the world. Her comparative research has been incorporated into national and global debates over privatization, health system design, accountability, and governance, pandemic preparedness and response and the role of courts in defending rights in health care. Her latest work focuses on the governance of health-related artificial intelligence.

Professor Gilbert's research interests lie primarily in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, with a particular emphasis on equality rights, reproductive rights, medical assistance in dying (MAiD), sexual violence, and safe sport/abuse in sport. Her most recent work considers best practices in codes of conduct that focus on sexual violence, with a particular emphasis on sexual violence and abuse in all levels of sport in Canada. She has also recently written on the impact of conscience protections on access to contraception, abortion and MAiD in Canada. She clerked for Chief Justice Antonio Lamer at the Supreme Court of Canada and Mr. Justice Robertson at the Federal Court of Appeal. She is President of the Board of “Women Help Women”, an international abortion service provider. She also sits on the Boards of Dying with Dignity Canada and Fòs Feminista.

Michelle Giroux's research focuses on end-of-life care as well as filiation and the definition of the family. She works on topics related to assisted reproduction, including the fundamental right to know one’s origins and motherhood for others. She is interested in multidisciplinary approaches to analyzing law.