Feyaad Allie picked for CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars program

Feyaad Allie, assistant professor of government, has been selected to join a prestigious group of researchers tackling some of the world’s most urgent challenges. 

The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, or CIFAR, recently named Allie one of its CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars for 2025. The highly selective program, now in its 10th year, invites junior faculty to apply for what it calls “impact clusters,” or inter-disciplinary groups who dive deep on significant issues with the long-term goal of finding breakthroughs. 

Allie, a political scientist who specializes in identity, inclusion, and democracy in South Asia (particularly India), was chosen for CIFAR’s “boundaries, membership, and belonging” cluster. 

“I was sitting in my office when I found out,” Allie recalled. “It was an exciting moment. It’s just nice to know the things I study have importance to people across disciplines and across different universities.”

Allie will spend the next two years collaborating with international set of subject matter experts in law, psychology, philosophy, economics, and more. “They’re all at the cutting-edge on the topic of intergroup relations,” he said. “I’ll have the opportunity to be mentored by these leaders while really engaging with their work in a multi-disciplinary way.”

With support from the Quebec-based Azrieli Foundation, Allie will also receive an unrestricted 100,000 Canadian dollars. “I’m planning to use the funding for wrapping up my first book project, which is all about the inclusion and representation of minority groups in multiethnic democracies,” he offered. “It highlights how hard it is for minorities to sustain power electorally. In office, minorities must walk this tricky balance of sustaining support from dominant groups while also attending to all of the heterogeneity within the minority group.” 

The funding will also enable him to conduct fieldwork, continuing his research agenda on the challenges and opportunities for building and sustaining liberal democracy. “I already have one co-authored project on the role civil society plays in helping political parties protect democracy,” Allie said. “Now I want to start developing a new project that tries to understand the role students and universities have played in the democratic trajectory of India and beyond.” 

Other CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars will join clusters studying everything from artificial intelligence to the intricacies of ice and glacier meltwater. The 2025 cohort consists of 12 emerging researchers based at institutions across Canada, the United States, Germany, Ireland, and Israel. The program drew a total 232 applicants this year.