Media Releases

Referendum experts from University of Edinburgh visiting Toronto in June

May 29, 2014

TORONTO, ON – The Uni­ver­si­ty of Edin­burgh is bring­ing a num­ber of high pro­file aca­d­e­m­ic experts to Toron­to from 17–21 June, as part of its Gen­er­al Coun­cil Meet­ing this year.

Two aca­d­e­mics in par­tic­u­lar will be avail­able to speak to reporters about the Sep­tem­ber 18th Inde­pen­dence Ref­er­en­dum in Scot­land and how this event com­pares to the Cana­di­an expe­ri­ence with Que­bec sep­a­ratism.  Avail­able for inter­views are:

Pro­fes­sor Char­lie Jef­fery
Posi­tion: Pro­fes­sor of Pol­i­tics
Back­ground: Char­lie Jef­fery has held a Chair in Pol­i­tics at Edin­burgh since Octo­ber 2004 Expert on: Ref­er­en­dum, Que­bec, the state of the union; polit­i­cal rela­tions between Scot­land and Eng­land; pub­lic atti­tudes.
http://www.pol.ed.ac.uk/people/academic_staff/jeffery_charlie

Dr. Nico­la McE­wan
Posi­tion: Pub­lic Pol­i­cy Direc­tor
Back­ground: Holds a MA Polit­i­cal Sci­ence from West­ern Uni­ver­si­ty in Lon­don, Ontario, and is Senior Lec­tur­er in Pol­i­tics and Deputy Direc­tor of Research for the School of Social & Polit­i­cal Sci­ence at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Edin­burgh
Expert on: Ref­er­en­dum, Que­bec, Com­par­a­tive ter­ri­to­r­i­al pol­i­tics and pub­lic pol­i­cy, Nation­al­ism and the pol­i­tics of nation­al iden­ti­ty, Devo­lu­tion in the UK and mul­ti-lev­el gov­er­nance, Elec­tions and elec­toral par­tic­i­pa­tion, Scot­tish pol­i­tics http://www.sps.ed.ac.uk/staff/politics/mcewen_nicola

In addi­tion, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Edin­burgh will con­fer hon­orary degrees on three notable Cana­di­ans at a cer­e­mo­ny on June 19 at the Art Gallery of Ontario:

·       Gen­er­al John de Chaste­lain, head of the Inter­na­tion­al Com­mis­sion on Decom­mis­sion­ing in North­ern Ire­land

·       Bev­er­ley McLach­lin, Chief Jus­tice of the Supreme Court of Cana­da

·       Gar­rett Her­man, expert on Charles Dar­win

·       Mar­garet Atwood, writer – will also receive an Hon­orary degree on the Fri­day

Inter­views with the Hon­orary Grad­u­ates are avail­able upon request.

A con­sti­tu­tion­al debate will also form part of the Gen­er­al Coun­cil pro­gramme.  Media are wel­come to attend both. A copy of the pro­gramme is here:  http://www.ed.ac.uk/alumni/services/news/events/toronto-2014/programme

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If you are inter­est­ed in inter­views with our aca­d­e­mics, Hon­orary Grad­u­ates, or attend­ing any of the Gen­er­al Coun­cil events tak­ing place in Toron­to, please con­tact:

Andrew Mof­fat
Press and PR Offi­cer — Inter­na­tion­al
Uni­ver­si­ty of Edin­burgh
Tel: 0131 650 9836
andrew.moffat@ed.ac.uk

Media Rela­tions
Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to
Tel: 416–978-0100
media.relations@utoronto.ca