Irvin Studin


Irvin Studin is a Canadian academic, publisher, writer and think tank president. He is the Founder, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Global Brief magazine, and President of the Institute for 21st Century Questions, a Canadian think tank.
A former athlete, he played soccer in the USL A-League and the Canadian Professional Soccer League, and was a two-time All-Canadian and captain of the York University Varsity Soccer Team. He earned two Blues with Oxford University's varsity soccer team.

Academic and policy career

Having attended York University for undergraduate studies, he graduated with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the Schulich School of Business in 1999. Studin studied abroad at the University of Oxford under a Rhodes Scholarship in 1999, completing a Master of Arts degree in philosophy, politics and economics two years later. He continued his education at the London School of Economics in 2001 and 2002, studying international relations. Returning to York University in 2007, Studin completed a Doctor of Philosophy degree in constitutional law in 2011 at Osgoode Hall Law School, winning the Governor General's Gold Medal.
Studin was the first recruit of the Government of Canada's Recruitment of Policy Leaders Program in 2001-02, and was a member of the small team that wrote Canada's first-ever national security policy in 2004. He was the principal author of Australia's 2006 national counter-terrorism policy. Following a career in the Privy Council Office in Ottawa and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet in Canberra, Studin began a career as an educator, editor and writer.
Previously a professor and program director at the School of Public Policy and Governance, University of Toronto from 2009 until 2014, Studin was a visiting professor at schools of public policy in North America, Europe and Asia, including the Lee Kwan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, Ukraine’s Higher School of Public Administration and Russia's Academy of National Economy and Public Administration. Studin has also served as an associated member of the faculty of Chaire Raoul-Dandurand en études stratégiques et diplomatiques at Université du Québec à Montréal. He was an appointed member of the first-ever advisory board for the Canadian Foreign Service Institute, Canada's diplomatic academy.
Studin has written, in various languages, for papers and publications ranging from the Financial Times to Le Monde, the Globe & Mail, Toronto Star, National Post, Ottawa Citizen, La Presse, Le Devoir, Policy Options, the Montreal Gazette, the Indian Express, Vedomosti, the South China Morning Post, The Australian and The Straits Times.
On February 2020, he announced his intentions of running in the 2020 Conservative Party of Canada leadership election.

Playing career

Studin played college soccer with the York Lions, where he served as team captain.
In 1997, he played with the Toronto Lynx in the USL A-League, alongside teammates like Dwayne De Rosario, Paul Stalteri and Pat Onstad. He made his debut on May 23, 1997 in a match against Charleston Battery. In 1998, he signed with Glen Shields S.C. in the newly formed Canadian Professional Soccer League. The following season, he signed with rivals York Region Shooters. Studin was inducted into the York University Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
He represented Canada at the 1997 Maccabiah Games and the 1999 Pan-American Maccabi Games.

Personal life

Studin was born in Rome, Italy to a Russian Jewish family from Odessa, Soviet Union. The family immigrated to Hamilton, Ontario in 1976, when Studin was two months old. He grew up in North York and Thornhill, Ontario, and attended Aurora High School, graduating as valedictorian. Studin speaks English, French, Russian and German.
His father Yuri Studin founded the Spartacus Soccer Club, and his mother Sima is a former Soviet Master of Sport in rhythmic gymnastics.