To honour the memory of Dr. Ian R. Kerr, Canada Research Chair in Ethics, Law and Technology at the University of Ottawa, we have established the Ian R. Kerr Memorial Fund, which will continue his remarkable legacy by supporting students, innovative programming, and cutting-edge research.

About Dr. Ian R. Kerr

A founding member of the University of Ottawa Centre for Law, Technology and Society,  Ian joined the Faculty of Law, Common Law Section in 2000 and was named as the Canada Research Chair in Ethics, Law and Technology in 2001. Ian identified the need to examine the legal and ethical implications of technology years before these issues emerged as leading societal concerns. His towering career spanned a myriad of law and policy challenges including robots and the law, artificial intelligence, privacy, surveillance, security, digital rights management, algorithms, electronic contracting, human rights, and human enhancement. As always, he brought a unique, multi-disciplinary perspective, drawing on his four-way appointment in Law, Medicine, Philosophy, and Information Studies.

Ian was an immensely gifted teacher, a world-class researcher, a devoted colleague, and generous friend and mentor. He was widely recognized as a remarkable talent, whose impact on students, faculty, and his field will be felt for decades to come. In the classroom, he challenged students to think in new ways and he worked to bring out the best in everyone. At the University of Ottawa, he was an exceptional builder, playing the lead role in creating the LL.M. in Law and Technology, the cross-border Techno-Rico course, and ID Trail, one of the first multi-million dollars multidisciplinary research projects focused on online identity. In the policy realm, his work was quoted by the Supreme Court of Canada, by politicians in the House of Commons and the Senate, and in numerous government reports.

Ian’s generosity, warmth, and good humour touched the lives of thousands of people. Whether national privacy commissioners or first-year law students, he made time for everyone, offering encouragement, insight, and a deeply held view that everyone had an opportunity and responsibility to help shape our collective digital future.

Ian Kerr’s vision was to ensure that top students from around the world would have the necessary funding and support to pursue their scholarly dreams researching legal, ethical and policy questions surrounding new technologies at the University of Ottawa Centre for Law, Technology and Society. 

To continue his efforts towards a more inclusive academy and empowering emerging researchers, the Fund will create graduate, doctoral, and post-doctoral scholarships to notably support students from non-traditional backgrounds or perspectives, or from abroad who are not usually supported by traditional funding schemes.

In 2023, the Ian R. Kerr Memorial Fund supported the launch of the Ian R. Kerr Fellowships for the LL.M. in Law and Technology.

Our vision for the Fund goes beyond the creation of Kerr Fellows supported by scholarships and research fellowships. The Fund will also support initiatives that continue his legacy of excellence in research, pushing the boundaries of thought leadership on technology and society. For example, the creation of the Kerr Lectures will be a new high-level event series to enable distinguished thinkers from around the world to share with the general public the results of original study on important subjects of contemporary interest on current and future technological issues.

Matching Program

To ensure Ian Kerr’s legacy in research excellence lives on at the University of Ottawa and beyond, Daniel Debow and Jordana Huber have generously pledged to match donations made to the Ian R. Kerr Memorial Fund to a maximum of $100,000. Take advantage of this incredible opportunity to double the impact of your donation!
"Ian was so many things; an innovative teacher, a remarkable leader, a wonderful human, and a friend. He was an inspiration to us, and we hope this matching incentive will inspire you to give generously to the Ian R. Kerr Memorial Fund. This fund will truly honour Ian's legacy - to help elevate the best and brightest students to advance knowledge and understanding of AI and emerging technologies, and of how their integration will have an impact on society. Together, let's make the fund the best it can be for years to come." – Daniel Debow and Jordana Huber
Give now!

How to donate

The Centre for Law, Technology and Society is part of the University of Ottawa, a Canadian charitable organisation, and can receive individual or corporate gifts in the form of cash or securities.

You can make a donation via:

You may be able to double or triple the impact of your gift with the help of your employer. Hundreds of companies in North America will match their employee's’ contribution to the University of Ottawa. More information can be found at www.uottawa.ca/giving/faq

Please send all cheques and forms to:
Centre for Law, Technology and Society
University of Ottawa
57 Louis Pasteur
Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5

US Residents

To be eligible for a charitable tax deduction on their United States income tax return, residents of the United States that are not uOttawa alumni should make their donations to the “Friends of the University of Ottawa”. 

Please send your cheque made payable to the “Friends of the University of Ottawa”, mentioning the allocation to the “Ian R Kerr Memorial Fund”  to:
Friends of the University of Ottawa
c/o Roha & Flaherty
1725 I Street N.W., Suite 300
Washington, D.C. 20006-2423

Please contact us for more information regarding international gift.

Your contact

If you want to discuss donation opportunities, please contact Florian Martin-Bariteau, Director of the Centre for Law, Technology and Society.