Burgess Langshaw Power is a PhD student in the Global Governance program at the Balsillie School for International Affairs, in the environmental stream.

His doctoral research will focus on the governance of transformational or ‘black swan’ technologies. Specifically, he examines how some technologies are incompatible with traditional governance and regulation, and thus must be managed using special protocols. This includes historical case studies such as nuclear technologies and genetic modification. Based on these historical precedents, his work extrapolates to theoretical future examples including the governance of solar geoengineering (solar radiation modification) within Canadian and global contexts.

He is also the Environment Cluster Coordinator, a member of the Balsillie School’s Global Climate Action Committee, and founder of the Balsillie School Community Garden.

Prior to his PhD, Burgess was a Policy Analyst with Natural Resources Canada. There, he worked on the regulatory approval of energy infrastructure across Canada and next generation energy technologies. Burgess also held a United Nations Association of Canada Internship, studying climate change and the mining sector in Mongolia.