Welcome to the Yan P. Lin Centre
The Yan P. Lin Centre for the Study of Freedom and Global Orders in the Ancient and Modern Worlds brings together more than forty scholars from across the university working in comparative, historical, normative, and critical social inquiry. It provides a unified home for the humanistic social sciences, allowing for collaborations across the Faculties of Arts, Engineering, and Law, drawing on disciplines ranging from history, classics, architecture, political science, and philosophy. It is dedicated to studying social structures, social transformations, and ideas about social values from across eras and in regions around the world.
Events
The Centre offers a number of events throughout the year, including the Yan P. Lin Annual Lecture. Each research group organizes events tailored to its expertise.
Research Groups
The Centre is clustered into five research groups: Global Antiquities, Transitions and Gobal Modernities, Constitutional Studies, Global Justice, and Democracy, Space, and Technology.
News
Director Catherine Lu Reflects on Centre's 10th Anniversary
Published: 4 Nov 2025
2025 Annual Lecture of the Yan P. Lin Centre - ‘Constantinople 1453: The Fate of the Conquered and the Passage to Modernity’ by Anthony Kaldellis
Published: 20 May 20252025 Global Pasts Works-in-Progress Workshop and Awards Program
Published: 24 Apr 2025
Events
14 NovRGDST: Bricks, Cubicles, Labour, History: Harun Farocki’s Architecture and Design Films
17 NovRGGP : Illuminating the Page: McGill's Medieval Manuscripts
20 NovRGCS: Daniel Lee (Berkeley)
4 DecRGHNV : Michael Cholbi (Edimburgh) "Grief and Memory in Radically Extended Lives"
5 DecRGHNV: Michael Cholbi (Edinburgh) "Workshop on AI and the Philosophy of Grief"