Meet our graduate students

Camielle "Cami" Adams (MA Student)

Field: International Relations

Cluster: Blades, Bombs, Bullets and 'Bots; Human Rights Violations and Protections; Public Opinion

Bio:  I study international relations and Canadian politics with a focus on far-right movements across Canadian and American borders, more specifically how social media is fueling the propagation of far-right political groups and policy. My research focuses on how social media introduces Westerners, particularly Americans and Canadians, to far-right ideologies and often reinforces those views through “echo chambers” or forums where those ideals often go unchallenged.

Gershon Adela (PhD Student)

Field: International Relations

Research Cluster: Blades, Bombs, Bullets, and ‘Bots

Bio: My research interests focus on insurgency/ terrorism, counterinsurgency/counterterrorism warfare, and geopolitics. My master's thesis analyzed how the institutional counterinsurgency policy frameworks of the African Union (AU), the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), and the Economic Community of Central African States (ECCAS) influence the counterinsurgency effort against the Boko Haram insurgency in Africa's Lake Chad Basin. My doctoral research will examine how great power competition, primarily between the United States, China, and Russia; is influencing responses to security concerns in existing and emerging geopolitical hotspots. I am particularly interested in the Arctic, the high seas, and Africa.

Diana Adongo (MA Student)

Field: Comparative Politics, Indigenous Politics, International Relations

Clusters: Human Rights Violations and Protections; Theorizing Beyond The Liberal Order, Blades, Bombs, Bullets and ‘Bots, Legal Regimes and Politics.

Bio: I am interested in the role of non-western countries in the international system, in the context of decolonization. My research specifically concerns the role of China, and their alternative form of development in Africa, and the risks and benefits associated with this alliance. My project will investigate the circumstances surrounding the involvement and partnerships of African nations in the Belt and Road initiative, to answer the question of why certain countries choose to ally themselves with Beijing through the Initiative. To accomplish this goal, I intend to draw from international relations scholarship of realism, and constructivism, coupled with post-colonial and decolonization scholarship.

I hope to benefit the field through understanding the survivability or sustainability of decolonized governance practices when faced with international agreements and treaties that focus on economic revitalization, while ignoring or potentially harming sociopolitical concerns.

Danielle Andersen (MA Student)

Fields: Comparative Politics, International Development, Indigenous Studies

Cluster: Human Rights Violations and Protections; Indigenous Politics

Bio: My masters' thesis is focused on applying the theoretical framework of Transitional Justice as seen and applied in Latin America to the Canadian context in regard to Post-Colonial Indigenous relations. I will be analyzing how Canadian institutions have transitioned from a Colonial state to a Post-Colonial state and attempt to give insight into how effective this transition has taken place and to what measure Justice has been upheld throughout.

I received my Bachelor of Arts from Vancouver Island University with a double major in International Development and Political Science and will continue to take a comparative and interdisciplinary approach to my future research.

Ashpal Atwal (MA Student)

Fields: Canadian Politics

Cluster(s): Elections and Representation; Canadian Political Institutions

Bio: My main area of interest focuses on how recent immigrant-citizens, specifically racialized minorities, participate and vote in municipal elections. I am interested in researching what barriers reduce the likelihood that immigrant populations will vote and participate in municipal elections, as well as solutions that could increase voter turnout, mobilization, and motivation. While my research will focus on immigrant populations in Calgary, my goal is that the findings will have broader implications that will be helpful for other municipalities across Canada

Elisha Banerjee (MA Student)

Fields: Canadian Politics, Indigenous Politics

Clusters: Gender and Politics, Legal Regimes and Politics, Canadian Political Institutions

Bio: (she/her) I graduated from Nipissing University with an Honours Specialization degree in Political Science. I am a first-year master’s student focusing on the relationship between legal institutions, and Indigenous peoples in Canada. I am interested in researching the fragmented  success of Indigenous-specific legal services across the country and understanding how gender intersects with this research.

John Gabriel (JG) Cabayao (MA Student)

Fields: Comparative Politics (Southeast Asia), Indigenous Politics

Research Clusters: Environmental Politics

Bio: Kamusta, Bonjour, Hello!

My name is JG (he/him). I am a second-year master’s student, specialising in the comparative politics of Southeast Asia. I am interested in environmental politics, social movements, and Indigenous politics in the “postcolonial” state. My current research is a within-case study of Indigenous movements as well as peasant and rural movements in the Philippines. More specifically, how these groups responded to state policies concerning Indigenous land claims and agricultural land redistribution respectively. This research explores how developing states address the issue of land reform in the era of postcolonialism and neoliberalism. In future studies, I want to expand this comparative study by including similar cases from across Southeast Asia (e.g. Indonesia, Malaysia) as well as from Latin America (e.g. Bolivia, Peru).

Rob Clifton (MA Student)

Fields: International Relations

Research Clusters: Blades, Bombs, Bullets and ‘Bots; Public Opinion; Canadian Political Institutions

Bio: The focus of my studies engage with recent Franklin Expedition discoveries, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, and how these relate to Canada's quest and narrative regarding Arctic sovereignty and how much can be understood through Securitization Theory. I received my Bachelor of Arts and Science at the University of Lethbridge, with Political Science and Psychology being my majors.

Meagan Cloutier (PhD Student)

2020 Killam Pre-Doctoral Laureate Scholarship Winner

Fields: Canadian Politics, Gender and Politics

Research Clusters: Canadian Political Institutions, Gender and Politics, Elections and Representation

Bio: My doctoral research asks: How is working for a Member of Parliament (MP) in Canada gendered and racialized? And what are the consequences for the representation process? My goal is to explain the equity dynamics of working for an MP in both the constituency and parliamentary offices, and to address how that structure affects political representation at the federal level in Canada. My research investigates how political staff act as representational mediators —or gatekeepers—of MPs for the public, and how political staffers communicate constituent concerns to the MPs. My dissertation develops the argument that political staffers play an important role in the process of political representation and the functions of political institutions.

My doctoral research aims to present novel insights about working for an MP, which includes explaining the unique working context of political staffers employed by individual MPs operating within parliamentary and political party contexts. In addition to developing a novel conceptualization of the representational work performed by political staffers, I add considerably to and reflect critically on conventional understandings of political representation in Canada. Overall, I hope to improve our understanding of how parliament could be a more equitable workplace for staffers.

Ryan Crosschild (PhD Student)

Fields: Indigenous Politics; Canadian Politics

Clusters: Theorizing Beyond the Liberal Order

Bio: Oki nikso'kowaiksi. Nitaniko Sikapiohkiitopi. Greetings, my name is Ryan and I am Nitsitapii from Kainaiwa (Blood Tribe), which is part of Siksikaitsitapi (Blackfoot Confederacy). I belong to the Fish Eaters Clan and serve as a member of the Grey Horse Society. I was born and raised in Lethbridge, and educated on the unceded territories of the Musqueam people at UBC where I completed my undergraduate degree in Political Science and Indigenous Studies. My research interests include Prairie Indigenous Political Philosophy and Indigiqueer resurgence and governance formations. My doctoral research builds off of my MA, in which I examined how Indigenous territorialities and the relational networks they carry, are central to the political resurgence of queer people within Blackfoot governance and resurgence formations. It flows from the concluding questions I raised in my MA about what it means to engage in highly divisive questions of memory in the context and aftermaths of targeted gender oppression and violence that my current PhD work unfolds. In my doctoral research I ask, how do we create pathways to decolonial futures in the presence of traditionalized heteropatriarchy and anthropocentrism in Indigenous governance and resurgence paradigms? Specifically, I turn to the Buffalo Treaty (2016) as way to understand how the removal of salient kin, in this case Buffalo, impacted Indigenous life and politics, and what political strategies are being adopted contemporarily to address it. This will afford me an opportunity to critically reflect on the way relational ethics and politics are negotiated, governed, and managed in contemporary expressions of inter-Indigenous/inter-being resurgence.

Tara Cranna (PhD Student)

Fields: Canadian Politics and International Relations

Clusters: Blades, Bombs, Bullets and ‘Bots; Gender and Politics

Bio: My research interests focus on terrorism studies and counterterrorism policy. While my master’s thesis focused on the use of sexual violence by terrorist groups, my PhD dissertation will be switching gears to look at the way governments, particularly Canada, securitize an act as one of terrorism. Why are some crimes automatically deemed to be terrorism, while others are labelled as hate crimes? What implications does this have for prevention and justice? I am particularly interested in looking at the way that gender may impact this process of securitization. 

Noor Ahmad Darwish (PhD Student)

Field: International Relations

Cluster: Conflict, Security and Development

Bio:I have more than a decade of working experience in operations, management and leadership of different donor-funded development projects, mainly managing The World Bank Funded Development Projects. My recent tenure before the fall of the former Government in Afghanistan in August 2021 was a Political Position, serving as the Deputy Minister for The  Ministry of Higher Education. I have two master degrees: Master in Public Policy and Administration from Kabul University (MPPA) and a Master of International Education Management (MA) from University of Education Ludwigsburg, Germany and a Postgraduate Diploma in Strategic Leadership and Management from Pearson Education-UK. My research work will focus on the regional conflict, peace building and development in connection to the international relations and involvement of the United States, ISAF and the NATO Forces.

Debanjali Ghosh (PhD Student)

Field: International Relations

Cluster: Blades, Bombs, Bullets, and ‘Bots; Human Rights Violations and Protections

Bio: I am an international student from India studying International Relations and Comparative Politics. My areas of interest include but are not limited to counter-terrorism, human rights, religion, identity politics and community relations. My doctoral research will focus on counter-terrorism measures and their impact on community relations, especially in the UK and the US.

Rachel Grigg (MA Student)

Fields: Canadian Politics

Research Clusters: Gender and Politics; Elections and Representations

Bio: My research focuses on elections and voter behaviour and representation of women in Canadian politics at the federal and provincial level of government. I am interested in political ambition and the factors that encourage or discourage women from running for elected office. Additionally, I’m interested in the effect of the media on elections and voter behaviour, particularly the impact of gendered news and how the media influences vote choice.

Samuel Ho (MA Student)

Field: Comparative Politics

Clusters: Theorizing Beyond The Liberal Order; Blades, Bombs, Bullets and ‘Bots

Bio: My research interests are in civil-military relations, institutions, and social organization in general. Such as how do different social groups (like the military) function and act both within their organizations and with others in society. I am especially interested in civil-military relations in the People’s Republic of China and how that relationship has shaped the role and place of military in that society.

Andrew Kemle (MA Student)

Fields: Political Theory

Research Cluster: Theorizing Beyond the Liberal Order

Bio: My research uses Public Sphere Theory—and Nancy Fraser's contributions to it in particular--as a lens to analyse the challenges neoliberalism has created for liberal-democratic institutions and norms. I am particularly interested in the public sphere's ability to form legitimate public opinion and translate that into political action in light of the social, economic, and institutional changes undergone in the “neoliberal era”. A normative aspect of my work will consider alternative forms of democracy: specifically, that of cosmopolitanism and anarchism. A secondary interest is the political economy of development and how alternative solutions to governance issues in the developed world could be applied to similar issues in the periphery.

Comfort Kwarteng (PhD Candidate)

Fields: Comparative Politics

Research Clusters: Gender and Politics; Human Rights Violations and Protections

Bio: Comfort Tiwaa Kwarteng is a PhD candidate and Graduate Teaching Assistant at the University of Calgary, specializing in Comparative Politics and International Relations with interests in health, policy, security, migration, gender, domestic violence, and African Politics. She had her MA (Political Science) at Brock University and her bachelor education in Political Science and Archaeology at the University of Ghana.

Tamara Manolache (MA Student)

Field: International Relations

Cluster: Legal Regimes and Politics, Public Opinion, Theorizing Beyond the Liberal Order.

Bio: I am passionate about international relations, history, comparative politics and foreign languages. My research focuses on trade negotiations between Turkey with its partners. Turkey is one of the countries that signed the most Free Trade Agreements. I want to see how a non-democracy reaches such an accomplishment, and why it is so successful at negotiating trade deals. Is there a bargaining pattern? I plan to answer these questions by looking at Turkey’s bilateral trade talks between 1996 and 2022 and the public reaction to its political decisions.

Dawn Moffat McMaster (PhD Student)

Fields: Canadian Politics, Gender and Politics, Comparative Politics

Research Clusters: Canadian Political Institutions, Gender and Politics, Elections and Representation, Public Opinion 

Bio: My doctoral work will focus on the non-profit sector as a potential pipeline to electoral success in Canadian Politics. I’m interested in whether women’s overrepresentation in the not-for-profit sector may contribute to greater interest in and potential success as political candidates across various levels of government in Canada. I theorize that the backgrounds of candidates in the private and /or not-for-profit sectors may have an influence on identification of potential candidates and the success of those candidates. More broadly, I’m interested in the growing influence of the not-for-profit sector on electoral politics and political institutions. 

I have been engaged in community social innovation research at Grande Prairie Regional College, and my most recent work has been on a SSHRC-funded project on Youth Civic Engagement in Northern Resource Economies. I see community engagement as fundamental to the role of academics in the public sphere, and this informs both my academic and civic practices.  

Connor O’Reilly (MA Student)

Field: Political Theory and International Relations

Rory Phillips (MA Student)

Fields: Comparative Politics; Canadian Politics

Clusters: Elections and Representation; Public Opinion; Canadian Political Institutions

Bio: My research focuses on political representation, primarily that of young people. Compared to other demographic factors, we know far less about how age affects the quality of political representation. Younger voters are, on average, more likely to be concerned about climate change, and supportive of immigration, welfare spending, same-sex marriage, and animal welfare. My research will examine whether younger members of parliament are more likely to pursue these issues compared to older members of parliament. Essentially, I'll be examining whether younger people in parliament best represent younger people's interests, on average. I'm hoping to contribute to the literature on political representation by filling this gap on youth representation.

Leyde Rodriguez Guervos (MA Student)

Field: International Relations

Cluster: Political psychology, political behaviour, public opinion, far-right extremism, terrorism

Bio: I study international relations and Canadian politics with a focus far-right extremism. Specifically, my research focuses on the development of far-right extremism within Canada, possible US influences over Canadian far-right groups, and right-wing inspired terrorism. I received my Bachelor of Arts at the University of Calgary, with International Relations and Psychology being both of my majors. I seek to merge these two passions towards a better understanding of Canadian political behaviour.

Saaka Sulemana Saaka (PhD Candidate)

Thesis title: “Gendering Cabinets in Africa: The Impact of Democratization and Post-conflict Politics” Supervisor: Dr. Susan Franceschet 

Field: Comparative Politics

Cluster: Politics & Gender, Gender & African Politics, and Gender & Public Policy

Bio: I am a Ph.D. Candidate researching the overt-time and cross-national gendered patterns of cabinet appointments in Africa. My dissertation further explores the sorts of impact that are associated with an increase in women's presence in the executives across the region. A bit about my academic background is that I earned a Bachelor's in Political Science & Philosophy from the University of Ghana in 2015. The following year, I migrated to Canada to pursue a Master of Arts in Political Science at Brock University. With a specialization in Public Policy, I researched federalism and climate change in Canada, explaining the innovation and diffusion of the policy instruments adopted by provincial governments in response to climate change. My background in public policy also drives my research interest in the theory and practice of public policymaking, especially environmental policy and social policy. In my spare time, I like to watch or play soccer.

Dakoda Trithara (PhD Candidate)

2020–21 Eyes High International Doctoral Recruitment Scholarship Winner

Fields: International Relations

Research Cluster: Legal Regimes and Politics

Bio: I study international relations and comparative politics with a focus on technology, platform governance, and cyber norms. Cyberspace, an environment where information is created, stored, and exchanged, is a domain where various actors such as states, multinational corporations, and other non-state actors interact and compete with one another. Meanwhile, cyber activities are becoming part of everyday functions for individuals across societies. My research interests include examining how humans interact in cyberspace for political purposes, how states assert their digital sovereignty, and how various global actors contest digital rights and the content moderation regime.

Ginamaria Vetro (MA Student)

Field: Comparative Politics

Research Clusters: Latin American Politics; Gender and Politics

Bio: In recent years, there has been an increase in reports of harassment and violence directed at
women in politics around the globe. While these incidences were once considered inherent to
the political game, they are now perceived to be gender-based, aimed specifically at excluding
women from political participation because they are women. This phenomenon has been
termed “violence against women in politics” (VAWIP). While most of the research on VAWIP
has been directed at women in the electoral sphere, I am interested in examining women who
engage in politics through extra institutional channels, such as social movements. Existing
research has shown that it is most often marginalized women that participate in politics
through these extra institutional channels. As such, my research takes an intersectional
approach and examines women in Latin America and their experiences with political violence
that are linked not only to their gender, but also their race, class, sexual orientation, and other
potential sources of oppression.

Sara Winger (PhD Candidate)

Fields: Comparative Politics

Bio: I am interested in the logic that underpins violence and how that violence is taken into consideration when intervention missions are considered. Specifically, I ask: What are the logics of violence within political violence and would crafting response and recovery operations based on these logics produce better outcomes?