Lauren MacDonald is a recent graduate of St. Thomas University, located in Fredericton, New Brunswick where she completed a Bachelor of Arts with Honours in International Relations and a major in Political Science. Her undergraduate thesis focused on the use of female gender quotas for national parliamentarians in Rwanda and Scandinavian countries.

Throughout her undergraduate degree, Lauren was involved in the student community as a volunteer for Get Out the Vote, Global Brigades, Model United Nations, and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals Conference, and as a member of the St. Thomas Varsity Women’s Volleyball Team.

During the past year, Lauren has had the opportunity to work as an intern for the Government of New Brunswick in the Policy and Legislative Affairs branches of two different departments. This has given her a good introduction to policy development, but Lauren is looking forward to focusing her research at BSIA on a more global scale. Specifically, her research interests are focused on the effects of climate change on global governance and the use of international public policy to promote sustainability.