Call for Abstracts: Canada Defence 2035 Symposium

August 27, 2026 / 1 minute of reading

The Balsillie School of International Affairs and the University of Waterloo’s School of Social, Political and Historical Research invite submissions for its Canada Defence 2035 Symposium, which will take place January 19–20, 2027. As Canada enters a period of significant defence transformation, the symposium will bring together scholars, policymakers, industry leaders, defence practitioners, and allied […]

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PhD Candidate Lana Gonzalez Balyk Successfully Defends Her Dissertation

August 17, 2026 / 1 minute of reading

The Balsillie School community extends warm congratulations to Lana Gonzalez Balyk, who successfully defended her dissertation, “Everyday Infrastructures of Negotiation: Borders, Xenophobia, and Belonging among Latin American Migrant Women in Portugal” on August 14, 2026. We extend thanks to Lana’s supervisor Dr. Suzan Ilcan, committee members Dr. Secil Dagtas and Dr. Kim Rygiel, internal/external examiner

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Dispatch from the UN Development Programme in Lao PDR: Prishaa Rajalathan’s Third Blog From the Field

August 17, 2026 / 4 minutes of reading

Photo credit: Prishaa Rajalathan By Prishaa Rajalathan, MDP In my last blog, I wrote that mobilizing finance is a capability problem before it is a money problem, and that capability gets built one concept note at a time. This final dispatch picks up from there. Once the money arrives, or once a country decides to raise

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PhD Candidate Sarah Murray Successfully Defends Her Dissertation

August 10, 2026 / 1 minute of reading

The Balsillie School community extends warm congratulations to Sarah Murray, who successfully defended her dissertation, “Constructing Access: Canada and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” on August 7, 2026. We extend thanks to Sarah’s advisor Dr. Alistair Edgar, committee members Dr. Bree Akesson and Dr. Andrew Thompson, internal/external examiner Dr. Stacey Wilson

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Dispatch from the UN Development Programme in Lao PDR: Prishaa Rajalathan’s Second Blog From the Field

July 17, 2026 / 4 minutes of reading

Photo credit: Prishaa Rajalathan By Prishaa Rajalathan, MDP I ended my first blog with the idea that a climate plan is only as strong as the communities it is built with. This blog explores what happens upstream of that, the point where an idea becomes a proposal, and a proposal becomes the investment needed to turn

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MIPP Student Named 2026 International Policy Ideas Challenge Winner

July 8, 2026 / 1 minute of reading

The Balsillie School is proud to congratulate Master of International Public Policy student Matthew Sunil, who has been named one of the winners of the International Policy Ideas Challenge 2026. Managed by Global Affairs Canada in collaboration with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, this annual initiative celebrates Canada’s emerging policy leaders by inviting

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PhD Dissertation Defence: “Everyday Infrastructures of Negotiation: Borders, Xenophobia, and Belonging among Latin American Migrant Women in Portugal”

July 8, 2026 / 2 minutes of reading

Notice of Dissertation Defence: Lana Gonzalez Balyk August 14, 2026 Abstract Portugal has become an important destination for Latin American migrants. Yet its self-image as a “migrant-friendly” country sits uneasily alongside bureaucratic dysfunction, rising housing precarity, and persistent gendered and racialized exclusions shaped by colonial histories. While scholarship on intersectional migration in Western Europe has

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PhD Dissertation Defence: “Between Policy and Practice: Gendered Precarity and the Experiences of Syrian Refugees in Türkiye”

July 2, 2026 / 2 minutes of reading

Notice of Dissertation Defence: Yazgulu Sezgin August 20, 2026 Abstract This dissertation examines the gendered experiences of Syrian refugees living under temporary protection in Türkiye, highlighting how legal frameworks, institutional policies, and humanitarian systems produce forms of precarity and inequality. Drawing on feminist, critical migration, and humanitarian scholarship, it emphasizes the importance of centering refugee

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The BSIA Remembers BSIA Fellow Malcolm McCulloch

June 18, 2026 / 1 minute of reading

The School community was saddened to hear of the recent passing of Malcolm McCulloch, one of its valued BSIA Fellows associated with the STEM for Global Resilience Research Cluster. Professor McCulloch was a pioneering engineer, entrepreneur, teacher and advocate for sustainable energy. He believed that climate change and social inequity were the big challenges facing

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Dispatch from the UN Development Programme in Lao PDR: Prishaa Rajalathan’s first blog from the field

June 10, 2026 / 4 minutes of reading

Photo credit: Prishaa Rajalathan By Prishaa Rajalathan, MDP I had the opportunity to attend the Conference on Human Rights and Climate Change Adaptation in Vientiane, jointly organized by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lao PDR. It brought together government, UN agencies,

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PhD Candidate Jacob Benjamin Successfully Defends His Dissertation

June 3, 2026 / 1 minute of reading

The Balsillie School community extends warm congratulations to Jacob Benjamin, who successfully defended his dissertation, “Internal Conflicts within Asian Security Arrangements” on June 3, 2026. We extend thanks to his supervisor, Dr. David Welch, for his guidance and support throughout Jacob’s doctoral research.

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Dispatch from UNDP Lao PDR: Sierra Van Tent’s Third Blog from the Field

May 27, 2026 / 3 minutes of reading

Photo credit: Sierra Van Tent By Sierra Van Tent, MIPP While researching before my move to Vientiane, something that kept coming up was that it is a very small city. At the time, I assumed they meant physically small, a quieter city compared to what I was exposed to in Toronto, or even Waterloo. But

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