The Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) is pleased to announce the release of Pandemic: 2021 Global Trends Report, an anthology of policy briefs prepared by masters students at the BSIA for Global Affairs Canada.
“The year 2020 will, of course, be remembered for COVID-19, the novel coronavirus that has caused the worst global health crisis of the twenty-first century. But it will also be remembered for the profound economic, political and social upheaval that shook the globe,” said Ann Fitz-Gerald, Director of the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo. “The purpose of the anthology is to help policy makers navigate through the upheaval with ideas for a better, fairer, and more just world.”
Pandemic is the final output of the 2019-2020 Graduate Fellows program, a professional development program run by the BSIA. The program is designed to provide students an opportunity to gain mentorship and guidance from senior scholars as they advance their own policy research and writing skills. The School has partnered with Global Affairs Canada since the 2015-2016 academic year. Pandemic is the fifth anthology in the series.
“The Graduate Fellows program is one of the signature initiatives at the School,” said BSIA Board Chair Jeff Casello. “It provides our students with an unparalleled opportunity to engage with the policy world. We’re tremendously grateful to colleagues at Global Affairs Canada for all of their ongoing partnership with the program.”
The anthology includes briefs on a wide range of topics, including the future of the liberal international order, energy transitions, climate justice and geopolitics, relations with China, trade and development, and disruptive technologies and the governance of Outer Space.
“Hats off to our students and the faculty who supported them,” said Fitz-Gerald. “All are to be commended not only for their innovative policy recommendations, but also for their perseverance and dedication, despite the pandemic. We could not be more proud of them.”