Securityscape

Listen to Executive Producers Davina Shanti, Jordan Arnold, and Sarah Meyers explain what the podcast is all about. Dr. Erin Gibbs Van Brunschot is interviewed about the Centre for Military, Security, and Strategic Studies and the kinds of research the centre does. 

Bio: Erin Gibbs Van Brunschot is Professor of Sociology and Director of the Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary. Her primary research interests are in the realms of crime, risk, security and social control, with specific interests in how individuals’, organizations’/agencies’ and states’ orientations to risk diverge and converge. Gibbs Van Brunschot is the co-author of two books – Risk Balance and Security (Sage, 2008) and Risk in Crime (Rowman & Littlefield, 2009) – along with having written a number of journal articles, book chapters and research reports. Her most recent book, Pathways to Ruin (with Tamara Humphrey) is forthcoming in 2021. Her recent work has included a focus on information and security, offender management, policing, crime and terrorism, including the determinants of “home-grown” terrorists and state responses to terrorism. 

Episode 2 is out now! Listen to CMSS Graduate student Jacqueline Peressini interview CMSS fellow Dr. Terry Terriff about the changing dynamics in US Security Policy.

Bio: Dr. Terriff is the Arthur J. Child Chair of American Security Policy and a Senior Research Fellow of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies. Dr. Terriff is a co-editor of the University of Calgary-based Journal of Military and Strategic Studies and was formerly the co-editor of the journal Contemporary Security Policy from 1991 to 2005. Dr. Terriff was also a Visiting Lecturer at the NATO School (Allied Command Transformation) in Germany from 1999 to 2009. Dr. Terriff joined the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies and the Department of Political Science in 2008, after having been a member of the Department of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Birmingham, UK, for twelve and half years. While in the UK, Dr. Terriff was the recipient of three UK Economic and Social Research Council grants to conduct international studies on change in military organizations and transatlantic security issues.

Check out Episode 3 of Securityscape now! Listen to Executive Producers Davina Shanti, Jordan Arnold, and Sarah Meyers interview extremism experts Brad Galloway and Mubin Shaikh!

Bio: Brad Galloway: Brad was a fixture in the North American right-wing extremist movement for 13 years and was the president of a racist skinhead gang for five of those years. It is these lived experiences that play a role in his work in combating violent extremism. Brad currently works as the Coordinator of the Centre on Hate, Bias & Extremism at Ontario Tech University. Brad also works as a Case Manager with Life After Hate, where he assists others to find their path away from violent extremism. He also conducts research and intervention work at the Organization for the Prevention of Violence. He has been a Research Assistant on a number of projects that are funded by Public Safety Canada and the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society.

Bio: Professor Mubin Shaikh: Mubin Shaikh is a deradicalized ex-extremist, and ex undercover operative for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, RCMP, and the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team. He worked multiple CLASSIFIED infiltration operations and his final assignment became public in the “Toronto 18″ terrorism case of 2006. He is recognized for his work in a permanent exhibit at the new International Spy Museum in Washington D.C. under, “Preventing Terror.” Mubin has a Masters of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism (Macquarie), is an external Subject Matter Expert to the United Nations Security Council, U.S. Special Operations Command and trains police, intelligence and special operations forces. He was extensively involved with the ISIS social media boom, countering their views using Islamic sources, and has since dealt with the Foreign Terrorist Fighter file, including returnees and rehabilitation.

Episode 4 is out now! Listen to CMSS Graduate student Granite Adams Unger interview Dr. Duane Bratt about current Sino-Canadian Relations.

Bio: Dr. Duane Bratt is a political science professor in the Department of Economics, Justice, and Policy Studies at Mount Royal University (Calgary, Alberta). He was educated at the Universities of Windsor (BA 1991, MA 1992) and Alberta (Ph.D 1996). He teaches in the area of international relations and Canadian public policy. His primary research interest is in the area of Canadian nuclear policy. Recent publications include co-editor, Orange Chinook: Politics in the New Alberta (University of Calgary Press, 2018), co-editor, Readings in Canadian Foreign Policy: Classic Debates and New Ideas 3rd edition (Oxford University Press, 2015) and author of Canada, the Provinces, and the Global Nuclear Revival (McGill-Queen'sUniversity Press, 2012). Current projects include the risk assessment of Canada's nuclear waste site selection process. Duane is also a regular commentator on political events.

Episode 5 is out now! Listen to Jenna Kardal, Master of Arts Candidate in Communication, Media and Film interview Sabina Kukurudiak about the INCEL threat.

Bio: Sabina Kukurudiak (Koo-Koo-Rood-Zee-Yak)is a Master of Arts Candidate in Communication and Media studies at the University of Calgary. Her research focuses on online terrorist threats, specifically, INCEL communities and how they perpetuate misogynistic extremism and violence against women in online forums. She graduated in 2020 with a Bachelor's Degree in Global and International Studies and specialized in global communication from Carleton University where she was introduced to her interest in working in terror prevention efforts. Currently, she works as an Information Analyst for the Department of National Defence, and volunteers with Calgary Communities Against Sexual Assault (CCASA), remaining focused on a career tailored towards protecting women from all forms of misogynistic violence on both local and national levels.

Episode 6 is out now! Listen to CMSS Graduate Student Sarah Meyers interview fellow CMSS Graduate Student Christopher Verklan on engaging emerging scholars in security studies. 

Bio: Christopher Verklan is a second-year master’s candidate at the Centre for Military, Strategic, and Security Studies at the University of Calgary. He is currently working to complete his thesis, which aims to analyze how climate change will impact the formulation and execution of grand strategy in the 21st century. In addition to his studies, Christopher is a Graduate Fellow at the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network (NAADSN). Previously, he interned at the NATO Defence College where he helped a senior military official create and refine a realistic, hypothetical hybrid scenario for use in the Strategy Challenge(STC) exercise undertaken by Senior Course 138 and Senior Course 139.

Christopher’s research interests include air power, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and grand strategy. His research on small unmanned aircraft systems and loitering munitions have been published by the NAADSN and the Canadian Naval Review, respectively. More recently, his essay “Winning the Narrative Battle on the High Seas: A Warning for the RCN” won the 2021 Canadian Naval Memorial Trust Essay Competition and was subsequently published by the Canadian Naval Review.

Episode 7 is out now! Listen to Dr. Erin Gibbs Van Brunschot and Dr. Jean-Christophe Boucher talk about mis/disinformation and the role that the Canadian Network on Information and Security plays in addressing these issues.

Bio: Erin Gibbs Van Brunschot is a Professor of Sociology and Director of the Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies at the University of Calgary. Her primary research interests are in the realms of crime, risk, security, and social control, with specific interests in how individuals, organizations, agencies, and states orient to threats and how responses diverge and converge. She is co-author of two books with Leslie Kennedy, Risk Balance and Security (Sage, 2008) and Risk in Crime (Rowman & Littlefield, 2009). One of Erin’s more recent projects focuses on high-risk offending from a life-course perspective and the management of these individuals from a public safety and policy perspective. Her new book, Pathways to Ruin? High-Risk Offending Over the Life Course (with Tamara Humphrey) is forthcoming in 2022 (University of Toronto Press). Her current projects focus on information and security, crime risk management, policing, victimization, and terrorism.

Bio: Jean-Christophe Boucher is an Assistant Professor at the School of Public Policy and at the Department of Political Science at the University of Calgary. His current work focuses on applied machine learning to understand how the digital world shapes our society. He is currently responsible for more than 2.4M $ of funding from the Department of National Defence (DND) to study information operations; the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) to understand civil-military relations in Canada; and holds grants from Alberta Innovates and the Vaccine Confidence Fund to study vaccine hesitancy on social media to develop better communications strategies and tools to increase vaccine uptake. He holds a BA in History from the University of Ottawa, a MA in Philosophy from the Université de Montréal, and a PhD in Political Science from Université Laval. He specializes in international relations, with an emphasis on foreign policy, international security, and data analytics.

Episode 8 of Securityscape is out now! Listen to CMSS graduate student Marianne Grenier interview Jean-Philippe Décarie-Mathieu about Cyber Security and Conflicts.

Bio: Jean-Philippe Décarie-Mathieu possesses 18 years of experience as an information technology and cybersecurity professional having worked in several spheres of the domains : operating system and applications developer, information security analyst, systems and network administrator, digital profiler and investigator, cyber incident responder and manager of a Security Operations Center. He currently works as Head of Cybersecurity for the Commissionnaires du Québec. Co-founder of the non-profit organization Crypto.Québec, Jean-Philippe Décarie-Mathieu served as its general director for several years, working to promote popular pedagogy related to abstract technical issues in the Québec public sphere. In addition, he is co-author of the best-selling book “On vous voit” (2018), a popular science book which was nominated for the Huber-Reeves Prize and the Roberval Prize. A proven communicator and cybersecurity popularizer, Mr. Jean-Philippe Décarie-Mathieu is a regular on Québec’s television and radio shows, invited to discuss issues related to information security, privacy and mass surveillance. Notably, he is a frequent contributor to Isabelle Richer’s broadcasts on Radio-Canada and “Puisqu’il faut se lever with Paul Arcand on 98,5FM.

Episode 9 of Securityscape is out now! Listen to CMSS graduate student Jordan Arnold interview Dr. Maureen Hiebert about Genocide and Genocide Studies.

Bio: Dr. Maureen Hiebert is an Associate Professor of Political Science and Graduate Program Director at the University of Calgary. She teaches courses in comparative law and politics, international law, the law of armed conflict, and genocide studies. Her publications include the book Constructing Genocide and Mass Violence: Society, Crises, Identity and several articles and book chapters on topics including identity construction and elite decision-making, impediments to genocide prevention, Mass Atrocity Response military operations, the limitations of international criminal trials, and the nature of violence in modernity. Her work has appeared in Genocide Studies International, Genocide Studies and Prevention, Politics and Governance, and European Legacy and several edited volumes. Her current research explores the challenges posed to the law of armed conflict and democratic civil-military relations by military AI and lethal autonomous weapon systems, the role of law in the perpetration of genocide, and the nexus between modernity and political violence. Dr. Hiebert is the co-chair of the academic board of the Zoryan Institute, which includes the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, and is a member of the International Council of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem.

Episode 10 of Securityscape is out now! Listen to CMSS graduate student and producer Sarah Meyers interview Dr. Rob Huebert about the current situation in Ukraine from a strategic studies perspective.

Bio: Rob Huebert is an associate professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Calgary. He also served as the associate director of the Centre for Military and Strategic Studies. He was appointed as a member to the Canadian Polar Commission (now renamed Canada Polar Knowledge) for a term lasting from 2010 to 2015. He is senior fellow with the Laurier MacDonald Institute; a fellow with the Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies; and is a research fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute. Dr. Huebert has taught at Memorial University, Dalhousie University, and the University of Manitoba. He publishes on the issue of Canadian Arctic Security, Maritime Security, and Canadian Defence. His work has appeared in International Journal; Canadian Foreign Policy; Isuma- Canadian Journal of Policy Research and Canadian Military Journal. He was co-editor of Canada and the Changing Arctic: Sovereignty, Security and Stewardship; Commercial Satellite Imagery and United Nations Peacekeeping and Breaking Ice: Canadian Integrated Ocean Management in the Canadian North. He also comments on Canadian security and Arctic issues in both the Canadian and international media.

Listen to CMSS graduate student and producer Sarah Meyers interview Dr. Michael Nesbitt about Canadian terrorism law. Stay tuned for part 2 next week!

Bio: Michael Nesbitt is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Law, and a Fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute as well as a Senior Research Affiliate with the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society. Michael teaches and researches in the areas of national security law, anti-terrorism law, criminal law, and economic sanctions. He has advised all levels of governments domestic and foreign, on national security law, sanctions law, and terrorism. Michael recently published a book on the Toronto 18 terrorism trials. Before joining the University of Calgary, Michael was a lawyer for Canada’s Department of Justice, a diplomat and lawyer for Global Affairs Canada, and worked for the United Nations in the Office of the Chief Judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague, the Netherlands.

The second part of episode 11 is out now! Listen to CMSS graduate student and producer Sarah Meyers further discuss Canadian Terrorism Law with Dr. Michael Nesbitt.

Bio: Michael Nesbitt is an Associate Professor of Law at the University of Calgary, Faculty of Law, and a Fellow with the Canadian Global Affairs Institute as well as a Senior Research Affiliate with the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society. Michael teaches and researches in the areas of national security law, anti-terrorism law, criminal law, and economic sanctions. He has advised all levels of governments domestic and foreign, on national security law, sanctions law, and terrorism. Michael recently published a book on the Toronto 18 terrorism trials. Before joining the University of Calgary, Michael was a lawyer for Canada’s Department of Justice, a diplomat and lawyer for Global Affairs Canada, and worked for the United Nations in the Office of the Chief Judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague, the Netherlands.