The Balsillie School community extends warm congratulations to Saara Leppanen, who successfully defended her dissertation, “Contested Development: China’s Influence, Authoritarian Agency, and NGO Resistance in Uganda” on August 29, 2025.
We extend thanks to Saara’s supervisor, Dr. Andrea Brown, committee members Dr. Hongying Wang and Dr. Robert Ame, internal/external examiner Dr. Alicia Sliwinski, and external examiner Dr. Jesse Ovadia, University of Windsor.