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Call for Applications - 2025 Summer Academy

Published: 7 February 2025

SGITransformativeBusinessLawSummerAcademy

04 – 9/10 May 2025, Montréal

Faculty of Law | Desautels Faculty of Management

Call for Applications

Building on the success of the 2023 Academy and the2023 Impact Paper, the CIBC Office of Sustainable Finance at ’s Desautels Faculty of Management and the Business Law Platform at ’s Faculty of Law invites applications from current students or recent graduates (2023 and later) in law, management, finance, sociology, environmental studies, and related disciplines for participation in the SGI Transformative Business Law Summer Academy (TBLSA) 2025.(Course number: LAWG 518, Section 001/009, 3 credits; students can only enrol on MyCourses after successful completion of application process).

TBLSAis a 6-day long, residential, intensive training and collaboration course dedicated to the in-depth study of pressing topics in the areas of sustainable finance, corporate governance, ESG, human rights and democratic governance, and climate change. TBLSAFellows(students) come from across disciplines to work in small teams on specific aspects of a multi-dimensional case study. The teams are mentored by Faculty experts and will have 4 days (Mon-Thurs) to research, draft and design a memo (chapter with policy recommendations), on their part of the case study. On the final day of the Academy (Friday, 09 May), all groups will combine their memoranda into a policy paper, which will be presented to a public audience as the “2025 TBLSA Impact Paper”, simultaneously with a YouTube video outlining the Academy’s key findings. Like the previous Academy’s impact paper, the 2025 TBLSA Impact Paper too will become a publicly available resource for lawyers, managers, and researchers in the field. The 2025 Academy will lead into the AnnualBusiness & Human Rights Conferenceof the Canadian Chapter of the International Law Association, onSaturday May 10th, 2025. All Academy Fellows are invited to attend the Conference and representatives of all six Academy working groups are invited to present the Academy’s findings and policy recommendations at the Conference. Attendance of and contribution to the ILAC Annual Conference is not mandatory, but strongly encouraged.

Upon successful completion of the Academy course, all Fellows will earn a-TBLSA Certificateand students can receive 3 academic credits if they are registered for the summer term. Course completion will be evaluated based on an individual reflection essay on the Fellow’s work group theme (due after the Academy, 30%), the Fellow’s individual presentation of research and policy recommendations during the Academy (30%), and on group work as reflected in the chapter contributed by the team to the 2025 TBLSA Impact Paper (40%).

The 2025 TBLSA case study is themed “Contested Sustainabilities” and will focus on the following aspects of climate governance and sustainable development:

  1. Legislating Sustainability(Modern slavery, global value chain governance, directors’ duties and corporate accountability);
  2. Litigating Sustainability(Climate litigation against corporate and governmental actors);
  3. Algorithmic Sustainability(Critical data studies analysis ofBig Datagovernance of climate vulnerabilities, policy strategies and implications for democratic climate governance);
  4. Financial Sustainability(Implications, challenges, prospects of using the financial sector – both stock, and private equity, via pension funds, asset managers and other institutional investors – to (allegedly) promote sustainability);
  5. Indigenous Knowledge, Human Rights and Sustainability(Canadian (and Australian) indigenous peoples’ engagements with extractive industry and governments, pathways for conciliation and transformation);
  6. ESG, DEI, Sustainability, and then what?(More than a decade since ESG has succeeded CSR, what has been achieved, why does so much fail, and what can be done differently? Who is to take the lead, governments, corporate actors, civil society?).

To apply, please submit yourapplication package asone single PDF file with your last name in the file name, containing(i) a 1-page Statement of Interest, (ii) a resumé,and(iii) a 500-word, fully self-authored writing sampleon a current climate change, ESG, democratic governance, green finance, or sustainable development issue. Applications must be sent toby Monday, 10 March 2025, midnight (Anywhere on Earth). The application package must have theapplicant’s name in the file name and in the document itself. Please also indicatewhich of the above 6 themes interests you the most.

Meals – all lunches and three dinners – during the Academy are covered by the organising team. Fellows are responsible for their other expenses such as those relating to travel and accommodation.

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