Shawn Harmon

Shawn Harmon is a Partner at C3Legal Inc. and a Research Associate at Dalhousie University. His practice spans all aspects of insurance law, from coverage, to claims, to conflicts, as well as other areas of law, and his research encompasses issues related to the governance and regulation of health and emerging technologies, and the interaction of the research and governance setting with commercial interests (particularly intellectual property). He is also interested in the operationalization of values in law, social and health equity, and the ways that the law and its functioning can be improved by drawing on the rich moral foundation and practices of Indigenous Peoples.

Shawn is currently a co-investigator on the CIHR-funded project, 'Public Health Governance', which examines public health experiences and governance across Canada in the wake of the acute period of COVID, and aims to collaboratively design a public health framework for Canada. He also serves on the NSHA Research Ethics Board. Recent work has resulted in reports to government on data use and on immunization, and on potential legislative responses to Indigenous-specific racism in healthcare.

Past work has examined the nature of governance and role of socio-moral values in regulation relating to biobanks, regenerative medicine, and public health interventions, and in the realization of human rights in multiple settings. He has worked with the Argentine government in the development of biomedical legislation, and made representations to Taiwanese agencies. His research has been highlighted by the ESRC and AHRC in the UK and his research teams have earned institutional awards at the University of Edinburgh and Coventry University.

Prior to teaching and researching at Dalhousie University, Dr. Harmon was Lecturer in Risk and Regulation and then Reader of Law at the University of Edinburgh, where he participated in a wide range of interdisciplinary research. While there, he was associated with the ESRC Centre for Social and Economic Research on Innovation in Genomics (Innogen), and the AHRC Research Centre in Intellectual Property and Technology Law (SCRIPT), and he co-founded the J Kenyon Mason Institute in Medicine, Life Sciences and Law. He has also been an Honorary Fellow of the University of Edinburgh.

Dr. Harmon earned a BA (Political Science) from Saint Mary's University, an LLB (Common Law) from the University of New Brunswick,. He earned an LLM (International Law) and PhD in Law from the University of Edinburgh. He has also earned an UG Certificate in Cultural Studies from the Shandong Teachers University, China, a PG Certificate in Academic Practice from the University of Edinburgh, certificates in qualitative research from the University of Surrey and Oxford University, and a Certificate in the 4 Seasons of Reconciliation from the First Nations University of Canada.