Ian Stedman

School of Public Policy and Administration
Assistant Professor
Office: McLaughlin College 135
Phone: (416)736-2100 Ext: 33460
Email: istedman@yorku.ca
Media Requests Welcome
Accepting New Graduate Students
Ian Stedman is an Assistant Professor, Canadian Public Law and Governance in the School of Public Policy and Administration. He is cross-appointed to the graduate programs at Osgoode Hall Law School, Science and Technology Studies and in Socio-Legal Studies. Professor Stedman serves on the Executive of both the Centre for AI & Society and Connected Minds (CFREF) at York University.
After being called to the bar of Ontario in 2009, Professor Stedman practiced law in the private sector before moving to the public sector where he advised public officials about their ethical and legal obligations. His expertise in public sector governance, particularly in relation to ethics and accountability, accordingly, underscores much of his academic work.
Professor Stedman's research program is focused both on the law of public sector governance and accountability and also on bringing that literature to bear on the regulation of innovative and emerging technologies (with a particular focus on healthcare).
Being a person who lives with a rare genetic disease, Professor Stedman also advocates for the rare disease community and has a growing research program focusing on the technologies and policies driving greater personalization in healthcare. He currently sits as Vice Chair of the CIHR Institute of Genetics' Institute Advisory Board and Chair of the Canadian Autoinflammatory Network / Réseau Auto-inflammatoire Canadien . Before joining the School of Public Policy and Administration, Professor Stedman held the inaugural research fellowship in Artificial Intelligence Law & Ethics at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children’s Centre for Computational Medicine and a post-doctoral fellowship researching the Governance of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare at Dr. Rebecca Pillai Riddell’s Opportunities to Understand Childhood Hurt (OUCH) Lab, at York University.
Professor Stedman serves as a legal member on two Research Ethics Board panels at SickKids (including the first-of-its-kind panel dedicated exclusively to data science) and was a member of York University’s A.I. and Society Task Force. His work in the area of law and technology earned him the IP Osgoode David Vaver Medal for Excellence in IP Law in 2020.
Graduate Research Supervision: Professor Stedman is willing to read preliminary proposals from strong students in the areas of interest listed above and to comment on his interest in supervision prior to the submission of an official application. He is broadly interested in supervising research in the areas of: 1) public sector ethics, and 2) the legal and ethical implications of technologies and policies relevant to personalization in healthcare, including current and potential uses of genomics and artificial intelligence.
Degrees
Honours B.A. (Philosophy), University of Western OntarioM.A. (Philosophy), York University
LL.B., University of Alberta
LL.M., University of Toronto
Ph.D. (Law), Osgoode Hall Law School
Appointments
Osgoode Hall Law SchoolProfessional Leadership
2023-present: Lead of Knowledge Mobilization Committee, Connected Minds (CFREF at YorkU)
2022-present: Chair of Public Relations Committee for The Centre for AI & Society (YorkU).
2020-present: Vice Chair of CIHR Institute of Genetics' Advisory Board.
Community Contributions
2016-present: Research Ethics Board, Hospital For Sick Children (SickKids), Legal Member.
2021-present: Member, Temerty Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Education in Medicine at University of Toronto, Health Data Nexus' Data Governance Committee.
Research Interests
- David Vaver Medal for Excellence in IP Law - 2020
- Ontario Graduate Scholarship - 2017-18
- Harley D. Hallett Graduate Scholarship - 2015-16
- Hon. William Z. Estey Teaching Fellowship - 2015-16
- Robert Law Fellowship in Legal Ethics - 2014-15
“Public Officials and Conflicts of Interest” in Gerry Ferguson, ed., Global Corruption: It's Regulation under International Conventions, US, UK, and Canadian Law and Practice. (Victoria, BC: University of Victoria Press, 2022), pp. 834-875.
“Regulation of Lobbying”, with Gerry Ferguson in Gerry Ferguson, ed., Global Corruption: It's Regulation under International Conventions, US, UK, and Canadian Law and Practice. (Victoria, BC: University of Victoria Press, 2022), pp. 877-926.
Stedman, I. (2021). Colleen M. Flood, Vanessa MacDonnell, Jane Philpott, Sophie Thériault, and Sridhar Venkatapuram, eds. Vulnerable: The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19. Ottawa, ON: University of Ottawa Press, 2020. 630 pp. Canadian Journal of Law and Society / Revue Canadienne Droit Et Société, 36(1), 185-187. doi:10.1017/cls.2021.1
"The promises and challenges of clinical AI in community paediatric medicine", Paediatrics & Child Health, 2023, pxac080.
“Distinctive or not, our Canadian model of parliamentary ethics is in need of modernization” Canadian Public Administration, March 2022, Vol 64, Iss 1, pgs 1-7.
"Trust, Tort Law and The Integration of Black Box Artificial Intelligence into Clinical Care" (co-authored with Michael Brudno) Health Law in Canada Journal, November 2021, Vol 42, No 2, pp 57-79.
"From Clinic to Computer and Back Again: Practical Considerations When Designing and Implementing Machine Learning Solutions for Pediatrics" (co-authored with Sujay Nagaraj, Vinyas Harish, Liam G McCoy, Felipe Morgado, Stephen Lu, Erik Drysdale, Michael Brudno, and Devin Singh) Current Treatment Options in Pediatrics
“Human Germline Genome Editing is Illegal in Canada, But Could it be Desirable for Some Members of the Rare Disease Community?” (50/50 with Erika Kleiderman, Centre of Genomics and Policy, McGill University, Canada) Journal of Community Genetics
“A Call to Action: Moving Forward with Canadian Artificial Intelligence Policy” (50/50 with Aviv Gaon, Professor, IDC Herzliya, Israel) Alberta Law Review, July 2019, Vol 56, Iss 4, p. 1137.
Opinion piece: "Lost in the haze: has the need for ethics law reform been overshadowed by Trump and COVID?", The Hill Times (19 January 2022) on pages 15 and 17 of The Lobbying & Ethics Policy Briefing.
Opinion piece: "Maybe artificial intelligence will drastically change health care, but who will benefit?", The Hill Times (8 February 2021) on page 30 of Health Policy Briefing.
PhD Dissertation: "Resisting Obsolescence: A Comprehensive Study of Canada's Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner and the Office's Efforts to Innovate While Strategically Asserting Greater Independence", Osgoode Hall Law School.
"It’s time to rethink what the medical profession considers a ‘rare disease’", The Conversation (27 February 2019).
Current Courses
Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fall 2023 | GS/DMGM5120 1.5 | A | Canadian Administrative Law and Ethics | LECT |
Fall 2023 | AP/PPAS4190 3.0 | A | Ethics and the Public Service | SEMR |
Upcoming Courses
Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
Winter 2024 | AP/PPAS4130 6.0 | M | Politics, Law and the Courts | SEMR |
Ian Stedman is an Assistant Professor, Canadian Public Law and Governance in the School of Public Policy and Administration. He is cross-appointed to the graduate programs at Osgoode Hall Law School, Science and Technology Studies and in Socio-Legal Studies. Professor Stedman serves on the Executive of both the Centre for AI & Society and Connected Minds (CFREF) at York University.
After being called to the bar of Ontario in 2009, Professor Stedman practiced law in the private sector before moving to the public sector where he advised public officials about their ethical and legal obligations. His expertise in public sector governance, particularly in relation to ethics and accountability, accordingly, underscores much of his academic work.
Professor Stedman's research program is focused both on the law of public sector governance and accountability and also on bringing that literature to bear on the regulation of innovative and emerging technologies (with a particular focus on healthcare).
Being a person who lives with a rare genetic disease, Professor Stedman also advocates for the rare disease community and has a growing research program focusing on the technologies and policies driving greater personalization in healthcare. He currently sits as Vice Chair of the CIHR Institute of Genetics' Institute Advisory Board and Chair of the Canadian Autoinflammatory Network / Réseau Auto-inflammatoire Canadien . Before joining the School of Public Policy and Administration, Professor Stedman held the inaugural research fellowship in Artificial Intelligence Law & Ethics at Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children’s Centre for Computational Medicine and a post-doctoral fellowship researching the Governance of Artificial Intelligence in Healthcare at Dr. Rebecca Pillai Riddell’s Opportunities to Understand Childhood Hurt (OUCH) Lab, at York University.
Professor Stedman serves as a legal member on two Research Ethics Board panels at SickKids (including the first-of-its-kind panel dedicated exclusively to data science) and was a member of York University’s A.I. and Society Task Force. His work in the area of law and technology earned him the IP Osgoode David Vaver Medal for Excellence in IP Law in 2020.
Graduate Research Supervision: Professor Stedman is willing to read preliminary proposals from strong students in the areas of interest listed above and to comment on his interest in supervision prior to the submission of an official application. He is broadly interested in supervising research in the areas of: 1) public sector ethics, and 2) the legal and ethical implications of technologies and policies relevant to personalization in healthcare, including current and potential uses of genomics and artificial intelligence.
Degrees
Honours B.A. (Philosophy), University of Western OntarioM.A. (Philosophy), York University
LL.B., University of Alberta
LL.M., University of Toronto
Ph.D. (Law), Osgoode Hall Law School
Appointments
Osgoode Hall Law SchoolProfessional Leadership
2023-present: Lead of Knowledge Mobilization Committee, Connected Minds (CFREF at YorkU)
2022-present: Chair of Public Relations Committee for The Centre for AI & Society (YorkU).
2020-present: Vice Chair of CIHR Institute of Genetics' Advisory Board.
Community Contributions
2016-present: Research Ethics Board, Hospital For Sick Children (SickKids), Legal Member.
2021-present: Member, Temerty Centre for Artificial Intelligence Research and Education in Medicine at University of Toronto, Health Data Nexus' Data Governance Committee.
Research Interests
Awards
- David Vaver Medal for Excellence in IP Law - 2020
- Ontario Graduate Scholarship - 2017-18
- Harley D. Hallett Graduate Scholarship - 2015-16
- Hon. William Z. Estey Teaching Fellowship - 2015-16
- Robert Law Fellowship in Legal Ethics - 2014-15
All Publications
“Public Officials and Conflicts of Interest” in Gerry Ferguson, ed., Global Corruption: It's Regulation under International Conventions, US, UK, and Canadian Law and Practice. (Victoria, BC: University of Victoria Press, 2022), pp. 834-875.
“Regulation of Lobbying”, with Gerry Ferguson in Gerry Ferguson, ed., Global Corruption: It's Regulation under International Conventions, US, UK, and Canadian Law and Practice. (Victoria, BC: University of Victoria Press, 2022), pp. 877-926.
Stedman, I. (2021). Colleen M. Flood, Vanessa MacDonnell, Jane Philpott, Sophie Thériault, and Sridhar Venkatapuram, eds. Vulnerable: The Law, Policy and Ethics of COVID-19. Ottawa, ON: University of Ottawa Press, 2020. 630 pp. Canadian Journal of Law and Society / Revue Canadienne Droit Et Société, 36(1), 185-187. doi:10.1017/cls.2021.1
"The promises and challenges of clinical AI in community paediatric medicine", Paediatrics & Child Health, 2023, pxac080.
“Distinctive or not, our Canadian model of parliamentary ethics is in need of modernization” Canadian Public Administration, March 2022, Vol 64, Iss 1, pgs 1-7.
"Trust, Tort Law and The Integration of Black Box Artificial Intelligence into Clinical Care" (co-authored with Michael Brudno) Health Law in Canada Journal, November 2021, Vol 42, No 2, pp 57-79.
"From Clinic to Computer and Back Again: Practical Considerations When Designing and Implementing Machine Learning Solutions for Pediatrics" (co-authored with Sujay Nagaraj, Vinyas Harish, Liam G McCoy, Felipe Morgado, Stephen Lu, Erik Drysdale, Michael Brudno, and Devin Singh) Current Treatment Options in Pediatrics
“Human Germline Genome Editing is Illegal in Canada, But Could it be Desirable for Some Members of the Rare Disease Community?” (50/50 with Erika Kleiderman, Centre of Genomics and Policy, McGill University, Canada) Journal of Community Genetics
“A Call to Action: Moving Forward with Canadian Artificial Intelligence Policy” (50/50 with Aviv Gaon, Professor, IDC Herzliya, Israel) Alberta Law Review, July 2019, Vol 56, Iss 4, p. 1137.
Opinion piece: "Lost in the haze: has the need for ethics law reform been overshadowed by Trump and COVID?", The Hill Times (19 January 2022) on pages 15 and 17 of The Lobbying & Ethics Policy Briefing.
Opinion piece: "Maybe artificial intelligence will drastically change health care, but who will benefit?", The Hill Times (8 February 2021) on page 30 of Health Policy Briefing.
PhD Dissertation: "Resisting Obsolescence: A Comprehensive Study of Canada's Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner and the Office's Efforts to Innovate While Strategically Asserting Greater Independence", Osgoode Hall Law School.
"It’s time to rethink what the medical profession considers a ‘rare disease’", The Conversation (27 February 2019).
Current Courses
Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
Fall 2023 | GS/DMGM5120 1.5 | A | Canadian Administrative Law and Ethics | LECT |
Fall 2023 | AP/PPAS4190 3.0 | A | Ethics and the Public Service | SEMR |
Upcoming Courses
Term | Course Number | Section | Title | Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
Winter 2024 | AP/PPAS4130 6.0 | M | Politics, Law and the Courts | SEMR |