J. Mauricio Gaona wins the 2018 Principal’s Prize for Public Engagement through Media

The Faculty is pleased to announce that doctoral candidate and O’Brien Graduate Fellow J. Mauricio Gaona was awarded the 2018 Principal’s Prize for Public Engagement through Media in the Graduate Students, Research Associates and Post-Doctoral Fellows category.

J. Mauricio Gaona is a Saul Hayes Fellow and Graduate Supervisor Fellow (LLM Program) at McGill’s Faculty of Law, as well as an O’Brien Graduate Fellow at the McGill Centre for Human Rights and Legal Pluralism. He is recipient of various academic awards, including the Vanier Canada Scholarship awarded by the Social Sciences, Humanities, and Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) and 14 other awards awarded by governments, universities, and research institutes in Canada, United States, England, France, Italy, Finland, and Colombia.

An active media contributor, he pursues a wide variety of outreach activities ranging from opinion pieces in leading news outlets, to blogs, podcasts and many media interviews in several languages. Through his tireless engagement, he has helped the public gain a better grasp of human rights and refugee issues, both in Latin America and elsewhere around the world.

“I was thrilled to hear that McGill University has recognized our O’Brien Fellow’s exemplary commitment to public engagement and knowledge dissemination,” said Dean Robert Leckey upon sharing the news. “I am very proud to see our new generation of academics leverage their strong legal scholarship to advance public debates and influence our ideas and actions.”

About the award

The Principal’s prize for public engagement through media recognizes the efforts made by academic staff, post-doctoral fellows, research associates and graduate students who go beyond their studies and research to engage with the media or the public. Two prizes are awarded each year: one to academic staff, the other to a graduate student, research associate or post-doctoral fellow.