Claire: brown hair, olive skin, brown eyes. Wearing a green sweater sitting at a table in a restaurant, smiling at the camera.

Claire Dickson

Pronouns: she/her

Positions

Graduate Student

Faculty of Arts, Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies

Contact information

Email

claire.dickson1@ucalgary.ca

Web presence

LinkedIn

Background

Educational Background

BA International Relations/History, University of Calgary, 2022

Biography

Claire received her undergraduate degree in 2022, majoring in international relations and minoring in history with a focus on strategic studies. She decided to continue her academic journey in a master's program at the University of Calgary's Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies. After finishing her first semester of coursework with a 4.00, she began to work on her thesis. Under her supervisor, Dr. Maureen Hiebert, Claire's thesis explores the intersection between genocide and technology, specifically surveillance studies. Her thesis looks at the alleged Uyghur Genocide in Xinjiang, China. Her research seeks to understand how perpetrators of genocide are using advanced technology to perpetrate acts of genocide and how in doing so, change the way genocide is perpetrated and prevented. 

Currently, Claire is developing a case study for the Canadian Forces College’s National Security Programme with Dr. Jean-Christophe Boucher. She is also a policy analyst for the Government of Canada and hopes to work in defence and security in the future. 

Projects

Historical Case Studies for Strategy-making in Canada

The Réseau d’analyse stratégique (RAS) has been mandated to develop six historical case studies for the Canadian Forces College’s National Security Programme. These case studies are expected to provide students a granular understanding of decision-making on key issues of foreign policy. While secondary literature is available for these case studies, this literature tends to focus mostly on the Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs in the making of strategy in Canada. As a remedy, this project will give justice to organizations and key individuals who supported strategy-making within and outside government.

The project is on-going. 

Awards

  • Best Graduate Paper, University of Calgary. 2023
  • Annual Student Award of Excellence, Journal of Military and Strategic Studies. 2024