LL.M. graduate Gideon Emcee Christian (’08) has been awarded a doctoral fellowship of $105,000 for the next three years from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to support his thesis, “Sustainable Legal Framework for Transboundary Movement and Management of Electronic Waste.”

Now in the first year of his doctoral studies, Gideon’s research examkines the transboundary movement of used electrical and electronics equipment (UEEE), or e-waste, from developed to developing countries.  In particular, he is studying the situation in his home country of Nigeria, the largest recipient of e-waste in Sub-Saharan Africa.

One positive aspect to this trend, Gideon explains, is its potential for bridging the digital divide between developed and developing countries, and providing strong leverage for socio-economic and technological growth in the developing world.

The more pressing concern, however, is the growing environmental and health disaster resulting from unsustainable management of e-waste.  Gideon’s research seeks to study the global response to the transboundary movement of e-waste to developing countries and develop a legal framework for the regulation and sustainable management of e-waste at domestic, regional and international levels.

The Civil Law Section’s Professor Markus Gehring, Jean Monnet Chair in Sustainable Development Law, will supervise the thesis.  Common Law Professors Amir Attaran and Lynda Collins are members of the thesis committee.

Gideon obtained his LL.B. from the University of Lagos in Nigeria, and earned his LL.M. at uOttawa in the Law and Technology Program.  He is a two-time winner of the International Development Research Center (IDRC) Internship Research Award, (2008, 2009) worth a combined value of $100,000.  He is also a member of Nigerian Bar, the American Society of International Law (ASIL) and the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS).

U of Ottawa, Canada

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