Research

Corporate
governance

My research develops along two strands: the governance of emerging technologies, particularly how corporations use and govern artificial intelligence, and board diversity.

A boardroom with chairs around a table beside floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking a city skyline
Photo: Yibei Geng / Unsplash.

Research interests

Two strands

01

Governance of emerging technologies

I focus on how corporations use and govern artificial intelligence, and on how Canadian law can strengthen accountability for the risks and harms that follow. My doctoral work developed this in the context of foreign bribery and corruption, examining how Canadian multinational corporations can use AI to detect and prevent corruption while managing the legal, ethical, and governance risks those technologies carry. I argued that AI-enabled compliance tools work best when embedded in an integrated corporate governance and sustainability framework, and identified the governance conditions that integration requires. Two journal articles arising from that research are in progress.

02

Board diversity

I focus on the representation of women, and particularly Black women, on corporate boards. Drawing on feminist legal theory and critical race theory, I interrogate why Canada's comply-or-explain measures, including the national instruments issued by the Canadian Securities Administrators, disclosure requirements under the Canada Business Corporations Act and the Toronto Stock Exchange, and corporate equity, diversity and inclusion commitments, have produced symbolic legitimacy without disrupting the racialized and gendered hierarchies that perpetuate Black women's exclusion. I argue that quotas, while useful, are insufficient in isolation, and that transformative change requires structural reform of recruitment practices, mentorship pathways, and gatekeeping mechanisms.

The integrated anti-corruption framework Corporate governance, sustainability and ESG, and artificial intelligence combine into an integrated framework for combating corporate corruption. The dissertation framework Corporate governance Sustainability & ESG Artificial intelligence Combating corporate corruption
My doctoral framework explored the role and challenges of leveraging AI and ESG in the corporate anti-corruption context.

Funding

Scholarships
& awards

Competitive funding from national research councils, professional bodies, and university foundations supporting doctoral and graduate research in corporate governance and anti-corruption law.

2023Doctoral Fellowship AwardSocial Sciences and Humanities Research Council
2023Bertram Scholarship AwardCanadian Foundation for Governance Research
2022Scholarship for Graduate Legal StudiesLaw Society of British Columbia
2021Graduate Fellowship AwardLaw Foundation of BC
2019Allard Scholar Graduate FellowshipPeter A. Allard School of Law
2018Peter A. Allard School of Law Graduate FellowshipPeter A. Allard School of Law
See the publications Talks & presentations