The Graduate School of Public and International Affairs (GSPIA) is proud to announce that Alex Neve, Senior Fellow and Visiting Professor at GSPIA, has been selected to deliver the 2025 CBC Massey Lectures.
Entitled Universal: Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World, the will examine how human rights are being undermined around the world – both in repressive regimes and within democracies – and explore the imperative of international solidarity and renewed commitment to human dignity. Neve will draw on his decades of human rights advocacy to reflect on global challenges and spotlight the efforts of defenders pushing back against injustice.
Neve served as Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada’s English branch from 2000 to 2020, leading human rights missions in countries across Africa, Asia, and the Americas, as well as in Canadian Indigenous communities and at Guantánamo Bay. A lawyer by training, he holds a law degree from Dalhousie University and a Master’s in international human rights law from the University of Essex. He is an Officer of the Order of Canada and has received multiple honorary doctorates in recognition of his contributions.
The Massey Lectures – presented by CBC Ideas, Massey College, and House of Anansi Press – will take place in five Canadian cities in fall 2025, including in Ottawa on October 30 at the Babs Asper Theatre. They will be broadcast on CBC Radio and published in book form.
GSPIA congratulates Professor Neve on this well-deserved honour.