The Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies is proud to acknowledge the outstanding contributions and achievements of our alumni. Our Alumni Awards shine a spotlight on the importance of alumni involvement within the centre, the university and the greater community, and celebrate the accomplishments of our alumni.
Meet our 2025 Alumni Award recipients
Congratulations to our 2025 Award Recipients, Professor Renisa Mawani and Dr. Giancarlo Fiorella!
Renisa Mawani (PhD 2001) is the recipient of CrimSL's 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award. This award recognizes a graduate from U of T CrimSL who has made significant and impactful contributions to the fields of criminology and/or sociolegal studies. It highlights a graduate whose scholarship, professional achievements, or community leadership reflect both individual excellence and the academic or public advancement of issues that address crime, law, or justice in our world.
Professor Mawani is Canada Research Chair in Colonial Legal Histories and Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia, located on the ancestral and unceded territories of the Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) peoples. From 2022-2025 she was a Global Professorial Fellow at the School of Law, Queen Mary University of London.
Professor Mawani is the author of Colonial Proximities (University of British Columbia Press, 2009) and Across Oceans of Law (Duke University Press, 2018), which was a finalist for the U.K. Socio-Legal Studies Association Theory and History Book Prize (2020) and winner of the Association of Asian American Studies Book Prize for Outstanding Contribution to History (2020). With Antoinette Burton, she is co-editor of Animalia: An Anti-Imperial Bestiary for Our Times (Duke University Press, 2020). With Antoinette Burton and Samantha Frost, she is co-editor of Biocultural Empire: New Histories of Imperial Life Worlds (2024) and with Kristie Flannery and Mikki Stelder, she is co-editor of Oceans as Archives (forthcoming in Routledge’s Ocean and Island Studies book series, 2025).
Mawani is currently working on a short book, The Laws of the Sea, which will be the inaugural volume in a new Cambridge Elements Series titled “Law and Humanities” and a longer monograph, Enemies of Empire, which is a sequel to Across Oceans of Law.
Giancarlo Fiorella (PhD 2023) will receive CrimSL's 2025 Emerging Leader Impact Alumni Award.
This award recognizes a recent graduate of U of T CrimSL who has made significant contributions to civil society and social justice causes within the fields of criminology, sociolegal studies, and broader justice-related arenas. This award recognizes those whose vision, innovation, and commitment have had a transformative impact — whether through advancing critical research, shaping policy, fostering institutional change, or championing equity and justice in their communities. It celebrates emerging leaders who embody the Centre’s values by bridging academic knowledge and real-world application, inspiring others, and leaving a lasting mark on the pursuit of justice and social progress.
Dr. Fiorella is the Director of Research and Training at Bellingcat, an award-winning digital investigative journalism NGO. At Bellingcat, Giancarlo has published on police violence, war crimes and other atrocities.
He is also an Assistant Professor at the Global Justice Investigations Lab at Utrecht University, where he teaches digital investigative research methods.
Join us at the Distinguished Alumni Lecture and award ceremony
The awards will be presented to recipients in a ceremony following the Distinguished Alumni Lecture on November 20, 2025.