Two new faculty members joining USask Law

About Dr. Ponomarenko: Dr. Iryna Ponomarenko holds PhD, LLM., and JD degrees from the University of British Columbia. During her graduate studies, she authored multiple peer-reviewed articles in leading Canadian journals covering constitutional law, administrative law, class actions, and legal philosophy.

Concurrently, Ponomarenko taught law courses at Simon Fraser University's School of Criminology, volunteered with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, and served on the editorial board of the UBC Law Review. A member of the British Columbia bar, Iryna previously practiced commercial and tax litigation in Vancouver. Before moving to Canada, she worked as a civil and commercial litigator in Kyiv, Ukraine.

“From my first visit, the College of Law felt like an intellectual home – one I instantly knew I wanted to return to. It embodies a rare and inspiring blend of tradition and vision: a place where rigorous doctrinal teaching meets principled, future-facing scholarship.

“I was also deeply charmed by the City of Saskatoon, which in many ways reminded me of my native Kyiv. I am truly honoured to be joining the faculty at the University of Saskatchewan College of Law and am deeply optimistic about its role in preparing a new generation of thoughtful, engaged lawyers equipped to navigate and shape the evolving legal landscape.”

About Dr. Shaw: Dr. Shaw received his PhD from Osgoode Hall Law School, York University (2024), Master of Laws from Dalhousie University (2016), and Juris Doctor and Bachelor of Science (Honours) from the University of Manitoba (2015/2012).

As a legal scholar, Shaw studies the legal classification of the human body and bodily materials, and norms around their use and disposal. His critical and theoretical study of law and medicine, and law and the dead, have relevance to legal decision-making and public policy, including the application of private law to biomaterials, and the regulation of anatomy and dissection, organ and tissue donation and transplantation, and biotechnologies.

Shaw is joining the College of Law from the United Kingdom, where he is currently a Lecturer in Law (equivalent to Assistant Professor) at the University of Kent, in Canterbury, England (2023-2025). There he has taught medical law, property law and tort law. Previously, in Canada, he was appointed as a Schulich Fellow (Assistant Professor-Limited Term) at Dalhousie University (2022-2023), where he taught jurisprudence and tort law.

He is a lawyer who is qualified in Ontario, having articled at the Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario (IPC/O). After his call to the bar, he continued to work at the IPC/O within their health policy department on legislative and public policy matters.

“I am elated to join the University of Saskatchewan College of Law as a tenure-track Assistant Professor and warmly anticipate my homecoming to the Canadian Prairies.

“As the oldest law school in Western Canada, the College of Law has educated generations of lawyers, judges and politicians, among other leaders, who have made indelible contribution to society. It is so meaningful to me to join an institution with such history, and to form part of its future through my research and teaching.

“I look forward to making a difference in the education of students by adding to the College’s student-centred teaching and collegial environment, without fear of innovating to support students’ ambitions for the world.”