Research institutes
Our research strengths are consolidated within several institutes and centres affiliated with our faculty or housed on our grounds.
Access to Justice Centre for Excellence (ACE)
The UVic Access to Justice Centre for Excellence (ACE) was established by the University of Victoria, Faculty of Law late in 2015 in response to the growing concern within the justice community about the problem of diminishing access to justice, and in the belief that there is a unique and important role that the academy can and should play in the resolution of this problem.
Indigenous Law Research Unit (ILRU)
The Indigenous Law Research Unit (ILRU) is a dedicated research unit at the University of Victoria’s Faculty of Law committed to the recovery and renaissance of Indigenous laws. We believe Indigenous laws need to be taken seriously as laws. We partner with and support work by Indigenous peoples and communities to ascertain and articulate their own legal principles and processes, in order to effectively respond to today’s complex challenges.
Centre for Asia-Pacific Initiatives (CAPI)
CAPI was established to expand and strengthen our links with universities and other institutions in the Asia-Pacific region. CAPI’s primary mandate is to conduct and facilitate research on policy issues related to Asia-Pacific. The Centre also serves as a regional research facility to the university and the surrounding community.
Centre for Global Studies
The Centre for Global Studies focusses on a mandate to promote collaborative, multidisciplinary, and cross-regional research and engage in connecting research in the field of globalstudies to local, national, and international communities. As such, CFGS is uniquely positioned to bridge academic research and student mentoring with knowledge mobilization and effective community engagement.
Centre for Studies in Religion and Society
The Centre for Studies in Religion and Society (CSRS) is a community of academics dedicated to the scholarly study of religion in relation to all aspects of human society, from law and politics to family and culture to history, the sciences and the arts. We have no affiliation with any religion and no religious agenda. We are equally interested in Eastern, Western, ancient and contemporary religions. The CSRS hosts a vibrant community of interdisciplinary scholars, researchers, students, artists, and community members through its diverse fellowship programs.
Institute on Aging & Lifelong Health (IALH)
POLIS Project on Ecological Governance
Established by the Eco-Research Chair of Environmental Law and Policy, POLIS is a place where academic and community researchers work with others to dismantle the notion of the environment as merely another sector, and to make ecological thinking and practice a core value in all aspects of society. POLIS is unique in its focus on trans-disciplinary research, education and advocacy oriented towards defining and cultivating ecological governance.
Animals & Society Research Initiative (ASRI)
ASRI is a research forum and working group at the University of Victoria for those interested in the critical examination of normalized practices and conceptualizations of human-animal/interspecies relations. ASRI provides a supportive, interdisciplinary research exchange opportunity in which faculty, students, and staff from across the university, as well as interested community members can engage with critical animal studies and other critical perspectives to interrogate the discourses, practices and assumptions that function to objectify and subordinate more-than-human animals.
Victoria Colloquium
The Victoria Colloquium on Political, Social and Legal Theory provides a forum for regular interdisciplinary exchange among faculty, graduate students, and upper-level LL.B students on critical issues in political, social and legal philosophy. Each year the colloquium brings six theorists to UVic for an intensive seminar. Visitors are theorists of international recognition, speaking to an aspect of their work currently under development.