Joanna Harrington
Law Professor | University of Alberta
Joanna Harrington is a law professor at the University of Alberta and a federal human rights commissioner. Her research and teaching activities focus on the interplay between national and international law, contributing to our understanding of foreign relations law, the protection of human rights, and efforts to address serious international and transnational crimes.
She is the author of over 85 publications, ranging from books, law journal articles and chapters in edited collections to blogposts and commentaries. Open to learning from other jurisdictions, her work has led to visiting fellowships at the University of New South Wales, the University of Oxford, and the University of Texas at Austin, the latter as a Fulbright Scholar. In 2018, she received the Canadian Association of Law Teachers Prize for Academic Excellence.
She has also served on secondment as a lawyer-diplomat with Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs (now Global Affairs Canada), providing advice to government on practical matters of international law and representing Canada in negotiations at the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Her consultancy experience includes work with the United Nations Development Programme, and she has been active in international education initiatives, teaching as an invited professor in Australia, China, Japan, Puerto Rico and Suriname.
She is the author of over 85 publications, ranging from books, law journal articles and chapters in edited collections to blogposts and commentaries. Open to learning from other jurisdictions, her work has led to visiting fellowships at the University of New South Wales, the University of Oxford, and the University of Texas at Austin, the latter as a Fulbright Scholar. In 2018, she received the Canadian Association of Law Teachers Prize for Academic Excellence.
She has also served on secondment as a lawyer-diplomat with Canada's Department of Foreign Affairs (now Global Affairs Canada), providing advice to government on practical matters of international law and representing Canada in negotiations at the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Her consultancy experience includes work with the United Nations Development Programme, and she has been active in international education initiatives, teaching as an invited professor in Australia, China, Japan, Puerto Rico and Suriname.
Joanna Harrington is the author, co-author or co-editor of six books. She is the author of three editions of the Public International Law title for the Halsbury’s Laws of Canada series (LexisNexis 2010, 2014, 2019); a co-author with John H. Currie, Craig Forcese and Valerie Oosterveld of International Law: Doctrine, Practice, and Theory, 2nd ed (Irwin Law, 2014); and a co-editor with Holly Cullen and Catherine Renshaw of Experts, Networks and International Law (Cambridge University Press, 2017).
She has also authored over 30 peer-reviewed law journal articles and book chapters, with works appearing in the American Journal of International Law, The Canadian Yearbook of International Law, the International & Comparative Law Quarterly, the McGill Law Journal, Modern Law Review, Queen's Law Journal and the Supreme Court Law Review. Recent chapters appear in Oliver, Macklem and Des Rosiers, eds, The Oxford Handbook of the Canadian Constitution (Oxford University Press, 2017); Jalloh and Marong, eds, Promoting Accountability under International Law for Gross Human Rights Violations in Africa (Brill, 2015); and Boister and Currie, eds, Routledge Handbook of Transnational Criminal Law (Routledge, 2014). She has also delivered over 80 presentations at international conferences, continuing legal education workshops, and community outreach events.
Working in collaboration with others, her research activities have attracted funding from Canada’s national granting agency, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), specifically the International Opportunities Fund (2005-2007), the Aid to Research Workshops and Conferences in Canada Fund (2008-2009), a Standard Research Grant (2010-2013), and a Partnership Grant (2016-2021). She is a member of the Canadian Partnership for International Justice / Partenariat Canadien pour la Justice Internationale (CPIJ-PCJI), which brings together law professors, NGO lawyers and students from across Canada in support of efforts to secure greater accountability before both national and international courts on behalf of the victims of international crimes.
She has also authored over 30 peer-reviewed law journal articles and book chapters, with works appearing in the American Journal of International Law, The Canadian Yearbook of International Law, the International & Comparative Law Quarterly, the McGill Law Journal, Modern Law Review, Queen's Law Journal and the Supreme Court Law Review. Recent chapters appear in Oliver, Macklem and Des Rosiers, eds, The Oxford Handbook of the Canadian Constitution (Oxford University Press, 2017); Jalloh and Marong, eds, Promoting Accountability under International Law for Gross Human Rights Violations in Africa (Brill, 2015); and Boister and Currie, eds, Routledge Handbook of Transnational Criminal Law (Routledge, 2014). She has also delivered over 80 presentations at international conferences, continuing legal education workshops, and community outreach events.
Working in collaboration with others, her research activities have attracted funding from Canada’s national granting agency, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), specifically the International Opportunities Fund (2005-2007), the Aid to Research Workshops and Conferences in Canada Fund (2008-2009), a Standard Research Grant (2010-2013), and a Partnership Grant (2016-2021). She is a member of the Canadian Partnership for International Justice / Partenariat Canadien pour la Justice Internationale (CPIJ-PCJI), which brings together law professors, NGO lawyers and students from across Canada in support of efforts to secure greater accountability before both national and international courts on behalf of the victims of international crimes.