Kate is a PhD student in Global Governance. Her research is focused on issues of forced migration, with a particular interest in the intersections of migration and criminalization and in policies of immigration externalization.

Kate completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto in Peace, Conflict, and Justice Studies. Here, Kate focused her coursework on Indigenous rights issues in Canada and on Irish conflict history. She completed a semester abroad during which she worked as a crew member of a tall ship, collecting oceanographic and anthropological data while sailing from Pago Pago, American Samoa to Auckland, New Zealand.

Prior to attending graduate school, Kate worked as the Toronto Chapter Lead for the Refugee Sponsorship Support Program, a pro-bono legal clinic, and as a Project Coordinator for the Toronto based non-profit Lifeline Syria. While serving with these organizations, Kate assisted with the file management and submission of over 400 private sponsorship refugee applications to the Canadian government. As a result, Kate is an expert on Canada’s private sponsorship of refugees program and she continues to volunteer in this sector.

Kate pursued her MA in Geography at Wilfrid Laurier University. Her thesis, Containment & COVID-19 in the Settler State, examined responses to the COVID-19 pandemic in carceral spaces across Canada and Australia.