For the past decade, Professor Art Cockfield, Law’93, has been extremely successful in securing grants to fund ground-breaking research in tax law, privacy law, and law and technology theory. The five projects he has been working on – both individually and as a member of the multi-disciplinary Surveillance Project at Queen’s – have earned grants totalling more than $4.5 million from Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). He has also received research funding from external organizations, including The American Tax Policy Institute, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, and the Centre for Law and Technology. Now that Dean Bill Flanagan has appointed him Research Mentor for the Law Faculty, Cockfield will be using his experience and his well-known generosity as a colleague to assist in supporting and enhancing the school’s already thriving research culture.

Queen’s Law Reports interviewed Professor Cockfield about his new role.

QLR: What will you be doing as the Faculty’s Research Mentor?

AC: My main job is to support members of the Faculty of Law who apply for external research grants. I’ll be working with Associate Dean (Graduate Studies and Research) Michael Pratt and the Office of the Vice-Principal (Research) to identify external funding opportunities relevant to my colleagues. Soon I’ll be helping Michael to establish an internal peer review process for our faculty members’ external grant applications. We’ll also be nominating Queen’s Law professors for awards and prizes and celebrating their outstanding research. Mostly, I will be providing comments on draft applications and answering questions about the grant application and review processes.

QLR: Why is this role important to the school?

AC: As Research Mentor, I can help promote the many benefits of research grants. These grants provide funding to hire law students as research assistants, which is particularly important given ongoing rising tuitions. Another nice thing about research grants is that they are often used to attract and fund graduate students who might otherwise study at another law school.

QLR: Which aspects of your new role do you look forward to most, and why?

AC: I enjoy working with colleagues and helping them refine their research agendas. Over the years, I’ve also had experience in making recommendations to external organizations for research grants. Now I can draw from that experience to assist our junior scholars in particular. Just last year, I chaired an international SSHRC review committee that reviewed a large ongoing grant at the University of Montreal – this was a challenge for me as the entire process was in the French language! I have also been an external reviewer for granting agencies in foreign countries, including Israel, Chile, Belgium and Australia.

QLR: What are your priorities as Research Mentor?

AC: Queen's Faculty of Law has a terrific, long-standing track record in terms of attracting external grants. My hope is to continue and perhaps even boost these ongoing efforts. In the long-term, my goal is to simply continue the tradition of great legal research at Queen's Law and to support the Faculty's already-impressive reputation in Canada and abroad.