Madeleine Pinard is a doctoral candidate at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and the University of Waterloo. Her research focuses on creating environmental migration governance to mitigate human conflict.

Madeleine Pinard completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto where she studied peace, conflict and justice studies. She then pursued a postgraduate certificate in International Development from Humber College. Following her time at Humber, she worked in several development work positions. She worked with indigenous communities in northern Ontario and communities across East Africa. In East Africa, she worked in financial empowerment projects in the cooperative sector, as well as drought relief programing in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Madagascar. In East Africa, she realized that drought humanitarian crises were a result of worsening climate change. She wanted to learn more about the environmental background causing these conditions.

She went back to school to pursue a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University to gain the foundations of environment theory. She then pursued a Master of Arts in Globalization Studies from McMaster University.

Madeleine has a long-term involvement with the Royal Lifesaving Society of Canada as a volunteer, employee, and mentor. She is passionate about drowning prevention and increasing the accessibility first-aid courses. She has held the position of instructor trainer since 2017. She has native proficiency in French and English, and is learning Swahili.