Balsillie School of International Affairs

Book Launch: "Titans of Industrial Agriculture"
2025-03-11 12:00 - 13:20 (America/Toronto) | Room 1-42, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Sponsored by the Waterloo Political Economy Group and the Waterloo Food Issues Group.
Please join us for a lunchtime conversation about Jennifer Clapp’s new book Titans of Industrial Agriculture: How a Few Giant Corporations Came to Dominate the Farm Sector and Why it Matters. Professor Clapp will provide a brief overview of the book followed by a panel discussion with Prof. Sarah J. Martin (Memorial University of Newfoundland, and BSIA Global Governance PhD Graduate), Prof. Bruce Muirhead (University of Waterloo), and Anastasia Papadopoulos (PhD student, Global Governance, University of Waterloo).
The event will be held in-person, and a light lunch will be served for people who register. The event is open to the BSIA community, including all UW and Laurier faculty and students, and CIGI colleagues.
About Titans of Industrial Agriculture
Every year, hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of farm machinery, fertilizer, seeds, and pesticides are sold to farmers around the world. Although agricultural inputs are a huge sector of the global economy, the lion’s share of that market is controlled by a relatively small number of very large transnational corporations. The high degree of concentration among these agribusiness titans is striking, considering that just a few hundred years ago agricultural inputs were not even marketed goods. In her new book, Titans of Industrial Agriculture (MIT Press, 2025), Dr. Jennifer Clapp explains how we got from there to here, outlining the forces that enabled this extreme concentration of power and the entrenchment of industrial agriculture.
Dr. Clapp reveals that the firms that rose to the top of these sectors benefited from distinct market, technology, and policy advantages dating back a century or more that enabled them to expand their businesses through mergers and acquisitions that made them even bigger and more powerful. These dynamics matter because the firms at the top have long shaped industrial farming practices that, in turn, have generated enormous social, ecological, and health impacts on the planet and the future of food systems. Beyond analyzing how these problems have arisen and manifested, the book examines recent efforts to address corporate power and dominance in food systems and assesses the prospects for change.
About the Speaker
Jennifer Clapp is a Professor and Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and Sustainability in the School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability and the Balsillie School of International Affairs at the University of Waterloo. She has published widely on the global governance of problems that arise at the intersection of the global economy, food security and food systems, and the natural environment. Professor Clapp is a member of the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food). From 2019-2023, she served on the Steering Committee of the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) of the United Nations Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and was Vice-Chair of that body from 2021-2023.

Independent, but sanctioned: the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)
2025-03-17 12:00 - 13:30 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 142, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Join the webinar here: https://cigionline-org.zoom.us/j/87034674314?pwd=[REDACTED]
The establishment of the International Criminal Court was a singular achievement, even a revolutionary one. The Court has no territorial limits on the conflicts it chooses to address or how long it takes to do so. And uniquely within the realm of international criminal justice, the ICC Prosecutor can initiate investigations independently of any state’s wishes.
Why would sovereign states agree to such sweeping powers? To answer that question, The Independence of the Prosecutor dives deeply into the origins of the international body. Laszlo Sarkany draws on interviews with key participants to analyze the negotiations that produced the novel institutional design of the Court. Case studies of Canada and the United Kingdom, which supported prosecutorial independence, and the United States and Japan, which opposed it, demonstrate that state positions depended on the values and principles of those who wielded the most power in national capitals at the time. Appendices to the book build an empirical record of the arguments made by state delegations.
The ICC offers a bulwark against the high politicization of our era. This astute investigation demonstrates that now, over twenty years after its establishment, the ICC’s innovative arrangement of having an independent prosecutor continues to move law and international criminal jurisprudence forward and directly combats impunity for mass atrocities.
About the Speaker
Dr. Laszlo Sarkany obtained a Ph.D. degree in Political Science at Western University in London where he focused on question dealing with the institutional development, evolution and design of the ICC. His publications pertain to the ICC, diplomatic efforts to support the ICC and the engagement of states with the Court. In addition, he has written a number of book reviews, including the recently published review of Lt. Gen. Romeo Dallaire’s ‘The Peace’ in the Canadian Journal of Political Science. Dr. Sarkany is currently teaching at Huron University College and at King’s University College at Western. Previously he taught courses at the University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, and Renison University College. His research interests include questions dealing with the domestic impact of joining the ICC, the meaning of ‘politics’ in the work of the Court, as well as the nature and meaning of cyberwar, artificial intelligence, and, ‘skiddies.’

Careless Harm: Climate Change and the End of International Criminal Law
2025-03-18 12:00 - 13:30 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 142, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Join the webinar here: https://cigionline-org.zoom.us/j/89669470545?pwd=[REDACTED]
Since World War II, international law has identified crimes of hate (genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, aggression) as the greatest threats to global stability, security, human rights, and sovereignty. Accordingly an entire legal superstructure has been created to prosecute such crimes. This has meant: the development of individual criminal responsibility in which a few malevolent perpetrators are blamed for the collective violence of many; the proliferation of identity politics; and the spread of retributive legalism (courts, prosecutions, jails). This presentation looks ahead and argues that critical future stability, security, human rights, and sovereignty threats, however, are not motivated by individual hate, malevolence, or intent. Rather, they are motored by carelessness, poverty, desires to economically develop, have a quality of life for one’s children, self-improvement, and hasty decisions. These notably are the harms of climate change, environmental peril, public health pandemics, capitalism, and rampant speciesism. Addressing these harms cannot occur though criminal law frameworks without imprisoning everyone. How, then, should the architecture of international law and transitional justice change? What will ‘justice’ mean in fifty years? How do we define ‘violence’ and ‘harm’?
About the Speaker
Mark A. Drumbl is the Class of 1975 Alumni Professor and Director, Transnational Law Institute, at Washington and Lee University. He has held visiting appointments and has taught at law schools world-wide, including Queen’s University Belfast, Oxford University (University College), Université de Paris II (Panthéon-Assas), Free University of Amsterdam, University of Melbourne, Masaryk University (Czechia), and John Cabot University in Rome. His work has been relied upon by national and international courts; he has served as defense lawyer in genocide trials; co-authored an amicus brief to the International Criminal Court; and has been an expert in litigation including on international terrorism, with the UN in matters involving child soldiers, and with the UN Human Rights Council in the drafting of a global convention to criminalize racist hate speech. His books include Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law (Cambridge 2007), Reimagining Child Soldiers in International Law and Policy (Oxford 2012), and Informers Up Close: Stories from Communist Prague (Oxford 2024, with Barbora Holá); and co-edited volumes Research Handbook of Child Soldiers (Elgar 2019, with Jastine Barrett), Sights, Sounds, and Sensibilities of Atrocity Prosecutions (Brill 2024, with Caroline Fournet), and Children and Violence (Routledge 2024, with Christelle Molima and Mohamed Kamara et al). He is currently working on a fictional stage-play imagining a trial for the US drop of the atomic bomb on Nagasaki; a project on fascist cultural property in Italy; on child soldiers during the Korean War; a Festschrift for a dear departed friend; and on the relationship between international law and climate change.

2025 Balsillie Lecture: ‘Planetary Maintenance Engineers’: Exploring Earth Interventions
2025-03-20 19:00 - 20:30 | CIGI Auditorium, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
The Balsillie School is pleased to host Gwynne Dyer, historian, journalist and author, for the fifth annual Balsillie Lecture as he discusses the topic of his latest book, Intervention Earth: Life-Saving Ideas from the World’s Climate Engineers.
Jim Lovelock, the founder of ‘Gaia’ (now called Earth System Science) predicted humanity would inherit the perpetual, thankless, possibly doomed job of ‘Planetary Maintenance Engineers’, if we so destabilise the planet’s natural cycles that we are compelled to intervene directly to keep them within the limits that would allow a human civilisation to survive. That was in 1979, and current indications are that Earth interventions will be necessary. This job is now called climate geoengineering.
Gwynne Dyer explores the technological possibilities and geopolitical risks associated with implementing interventions that may be necessary to keep the planet hospitable for humanity.
Gwynne Dyer has worked as a freelance journalist, columnist, broadcaster and lecturer on international affairs for most of his adult life, but he was originally trained as an historian. He was born in Newfoundland and received degrees from Canadian, American and British universities, finishing with a Ph.D. in Military and Middle Eastern History from the University of London.
He served in three navies and held academic appointments at the Canadian Forces College, the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and Oxford University before giving up the day jobs in favour of a twice-weekly column on international affairs that is published in more than 20 countries.
His first television series, the seven-part documentary ‘War’, was aired in 45 countries. One episode, ‘The Profession of Arms’, was nominated for an Academy Award. His more recent television works include the Gemini Award-winning series ‘The Human Race’. He has written eleven books (most of them Canadian best-sellers) on war, international politics and climate. The most recent ones are ‘The Shortest History of War’ (2022) and ‘Intervention Earth’ (March 2024).
Dr Dyer lives in London. In 2010 he was made an officer of the Order of Canada.
The Balsillie Lecture provides an annual platform to distinguished and leading international thinkers whose work has influenced, and continues to influence, contemporary ideas on international public policy and global governance.
A reception and book signing will follow the lecture.
This event is co-sponsored by the Environment and Resources Research Cluster.

2025 Prospective Student Open House
2025-03-21 12:00 - 14:00 | ON
By Invitation Only
The Balsillie School welcomes prospective students to meet virtually with the School’s Director, Program Directors and Officers, current students and graduates to learn about all the unique opportunities on offer at the School.
AGENDA
12:00 pm – Welcome and introductions, Ann Fitz-Gerald, Director, Balsillie School of International Affairs
12:10 pm – Research Clusters and experiential learning opportunities, Ann Fitz-Gerald, Director, Balsillie School of International Affairs
12:20 pm – Graduates Fellows Program, Andrew Thompson, Global Governance Programs and Partnership Manager
12:40 pm – MAGG and MIPP alumni panel
1:15 pm – Program breakout sessions
1:55 pm – Closing remarks
The link to attend the virtual open house will be sent to all registrants on March 20th.

Hotels, Refuge, and the Rise of Carceral Hospitality
2025-03-25 12:00 - 13:30 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 142, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Join the webinar here: https://cigionline-org.zoom.us/j/82739202275?pwd=[REDACTED]
Geographical work on hotels has foregrounded their role as spaces of commercial hospitality, leisure, and increasingly as sites of emergency accommodation for a range of displaced groups. Developing such work, this presentation critically examines the central role of hotels in accommodating and containing asylum seekers and refugees. By considering the use of hotels in the UK and Australia, we argue that the hotel is a durable and vitally important site of bordering, one that manifests many of the tensions and contradictions of state responses to asylum seekers and refugees. Far from being a marginal or temporary space, we centre the hotel as a critical site for the reproduction and maintenance of contemporary bordering. In doing so, we advance understanding of the hotel as a specific type of social, political, and cultural space, associated with three dynamics that we explore in turn: forms of flexibility and emergency response, patterns of hospitality, and the violent displacements of the hotel as a site detached from ‘everyday life’. In surveying these understandings of the hotel, we argue that the cultural and political significance of the hotel as a site for understanding contemporary bordering emerges from its unique position at the confluence of the carceral and the hospitable. We thus propose a concept of carceral hospitality, to designate the fraught positioning of the hotel between carceral conditions of institutional detention and spectacle, and the hospitable expectations more readily associated with sites of leisure, escapism, and relaxation. It is positioning that has allowed hotels in the UK and Australia to act as lightning rods for critical discussion and public concern over state responsibilities, welfare entitlements, and the narrowing scope of refugee protection.
This lecture is based on a paper co-authored by Jonathan Darling (Durham University, UK).
About the Speaker
Andrew Burridge is a political geographer, based in the Discipline of Geography and Planning, School of Communications, Society and Culture, at Macquarie University, in Sydney, Australia. Andrew’s work has focused primarily upon undocumented migration, the effects of border securitization and immigration detention, as well as asylum and refugee reception and settlement. He has worked with several immigrant and refugee rights organizations including No More Deaths/No Más Muertes (US), Bristol Refugee Rights and Right to Remain (UK), and the International Detention Coalition. He is co-editor of the collection Beyond Walls and Cages: Prisons, Borders and Global Crisis (UGA Press, 2012).

The Impact of AI on Higher Education: Challenges, Opportunities, and the Road Ahead
2025-03-27 10:00 - 11:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Join us for a thought-provoking talk exploring how generative AI reshapes higher education, from the classroom to research, assessment, and academic integrity. We will examine how institutions, educators, and students can navigate this rapidly evolving landscape. Whether you’re excited about AI’s potential or concerned about its implications, join us for an open, engaging conversation on how we can shape the future of higher education together.
About the Speaker
Dmytro Chumachenko is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mathematical Modelling and Artificial Intelligence of National Aerospace University “Kharkiv Aviation Institute” (Ukraine). Currently, he is a scholar at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. Dmytro obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in “Applied Mathematics” and Master’s degrees in “Social Informatics” and “Project and Program Management” at the National Aerospace University “Kharkiv Aviation Institute”. Dmytro obtained PhD degree in Systems and Means of Artificial Intelligence at the Kharkiv National University of Radioelectronics and continued his research as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Ubiquitous Health Technologies Lab of the University of Waterloo. Currently, he has appointments as a Research Associate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA), a Research Affiliate at the University of Waterloo (Canada), a Visiting Researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (Germany) and an Invited Lecturer at the Wildau Technical University of Applied Sciences (Germany). Dmytro is Chair of the Education and Science subcommittee of the Expert Committee on Artificial Intelligence Development under the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine and Chair of the Board of the Ukrainian Scientific and Educational IT Society. He also contributes to increasing the quality of IT higher education as a member of the Education Committee of the Kharkiv IT Cluster, an expert of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine, and an expert of the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance (Ukraine).

PhD Dissertation Defence: “Fallow Fields or Fertile Ground: Analysing Food Governance in a Changing World”
2025-03-28 09:30 - 13:30 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 123, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Johanna Wilkes‘ dissertation defence.
Abstract
Our food systems are failing us. In particular, industrial food systems fail to deliver healthy, adequate food to billions of people (FAO et al. 2019; FAO et al. 2024) and have led to increased instances of mental health crises for farmers (Jones-Bitton 2019; Younker & Radunovich 2021). In addition, industrial food systems contribute to the devastating impacts of a warming
climate (IPCC 2021), biodiversity loss (WWF 2021), and soil erosion (Wise 2019; Badreldin and Lobb 2023) worldwide. Yet, little structural change has occurred in the way agriculture is governed and the problems created by industrial agriculture are becoming increasingly entrenched. Given this context, the research in this dissertation asks:
Why, in an era of converging crises, has agricultural policy remained largely unchanged and supportive of industrial agriculture practices? The research included in this dissertation is underpinned by current academic literature that constructs my understanding of food systems challenges and changes in global governance over the past decades (Chapter 2). Presented as three research papers (Chapters 4, 5, and 6), each chapter focuses on a unique aspect of governance and is enabled by the different methods laid out in Chapter 3. Chapter 4 lays out the methods and Wilkes- 2 methodology used for the three research papers (Ch. 5, 6, and 7) included in this dissertation. Chapter 5 focuses on actor arrangements and power in Canadian federal agricultural policy while Chapter 6 focuses on how different food systems actors experience multistakeholder governance arrangements. Different examples of how place-based, rights-centred governance arrangements can offer a more equitable outlook for food systems are assessed in chapter 7. The concluding chapter (8) provides a set of tools and strategies to help bridge the gap between the findings of Chapters 5 and 6 with the examples of transition in Chapter 7.
Supervisor: Dr. Alison Blay-Palmer
Committee: Dr. Rianne Mahon and Dr. Alistair Edgar
Internal/External: Dr. Alex Latta
External: Dr. Mustafa Koc, Toronto Metropolitan University
Chairperson Dr. Floria Niu
If you are interested in attending, please email events@balsillieschool.ca and indicate if you would like to attend in person or virtually.

Fabricating Homeland Security: police entanglements across India and Palestine/Israel
2025-04-01 12:00 - 13:30 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 142, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
When we hear ‘homeland security,’ we often think about the aftermath of September 11th and the dramatic consolidation of domestic mass surveillance in the United States. Less well-known are the term’s origins and the subsequent efforts to reproduce it as new state form and “model” of policing around the world. Drawing on his recently published Fabricating Homeland Security: police entanglements across India and Palestine/Israel, author Rhys Machold’s seminar traces homeland security’s origins in the Zionist colonization of Palestine and subsequent efforts by Israel’s homeland security industry to ‘penetrate’ India in the course of the ‘war on terror’. The book locates homeland security as a universalizing transnational project of contemporary capitalism and empire, staged through ongoing practices and encounters across time and space. Machold tells this story by weaving together fragments gathered through more than a decade of ethnographic research across Palestine/Israel, India and the UK. By charting homeland security’s less known histories and geographies, the book raises urgent political questions about the actually existing extent of security’s self-implied universality and inevitability, even in places and societies deeply imbricated in empire and capitalist social relations.
About the Speaker
Rhys Machold is Senior Lecturer in International Relations in the School of Social and Political Sciences at the University of Glasgow. Through engagements with International Relations, political geography and urban studies, his research has focused on exploring regimes of power, violence and empire from a transnational perspective. He is author of Fabricating Homeland Security: police entanglements across India and Palestine/Israel (Stanford University Press, 2024). His work has also appeared across a range of leading international scholarly journals including International Political Sociology, Political Geography, Security Dialogue and Environment and Planning A as well as popular outlets like Jacobin.

Securing the World with AI - Some Adventures
2025-04-03 12:00 - 13:30 | Room 1-42, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Can we predict the types of attacks that a terror group might carry out? Or if a drone flight over Chicago is threatening or not? Can we assign a score that measures the risk of Boko Haram targeting a school in Nigeria? What might the script used by a scammer look like in coming years and how can we provide an early warning to potential victims? Can we automatically generate new forms of malware and proactively protect against them? How will nation state adversaries run covert social influence operations in coming years and can this knowledge help proactively mitigate this threat? And what about deepfakes – can we identify them successfully or not, especially as they evolve? Understanding threats – before they occur – is key to effective defense. In this talk, I will discuss how the Northwestern Security & AI Lab has addressed the questions listed above in order to dramatically reshape the global threat landscape, both in terms of cybersecurity and in terms of physical security.
About the Speaker
V.S. Subrahmanian is the Walter P. Murphy Professor of Computer Science at the McCormick School of Engineering, Northwestern University and Buffett Faculty Fellow at the Northwestern Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Affairs. He is also the head of the Northwestern Security and AI Laboratory (NSAIL). Prior to this, Subrahmanian was The Dartmouth College Distinguished Professor in Cybersecurity, Technology, and Society at Dartmouth College with tenure in the Computer Science Department and Director of the Institute for Security, Technology and Society (ISTS). Prior to joining Dartmouth, he was a tenured Professor in the University of Maryland’s Computer Science Department. He served a 6.5 year stint as Director of the University of Maryland’s Institute for Advanced Computer Studies where he co-founded the Lab for Computational Cultural Dynamics and founded the Center for Digital International Government. His work stands squarely at the intersection of data-driven AI for increased security, policy, and business needs. Prof. Subrahmanian has been an invited speaker at the United Nations, Capitol Hill, the Mumbai Stock Exchange, and numerous other prestigious forums.
Co-hosted with the Waterloo Data and Artificial Intelligence Institute at the University of Waterloo.

The Trump Administration and the UN: An Initial Damage Assessment
2025-04-07 12:00 - 13:30 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 142, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
The second Trump administration has taken a deliberately disruptive approach to the United Nations system, denouncing and defunding numerous UN agencies and agreements. The U.S. has also upended its established diplomatic relationships in New York, working with Russia on Ukraine and Syria in the UN Security Council, while demonstrating contempt for the concerns of its NATO allies. Some of Trump’s high-profile gambits, such as his repeated proposals to annex Canada and Greenland, clearly contradict the core principles of the UN Charter.
The President’s barrage of announcements and budget cuts has left UN officials and foreign diplomats disconcerted and uncertain about what strategy to adopt towards Washington. Some UN members think there is still a chance to persuade Trump to work with the UN, if they can show that it offers him value for money. Others fear that it is too late to do so.
Richard Gowan, who has watched the UN at close quarters for 20 years, will do his best to predict what comes next.
About the speaker
Richard Gowan was previously a Consulting Analyst with ICG in 2016 and 2017. He has worked with the European Council on Foreign Relations, New York University Center on International Cooperation and the Foreign Policy Centre (London). He has taught at the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University and Stanford in New York. He has also worked as a consultant for the organisations including UN Department of Political Affairs, the UN Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on International Migration, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Rasmussen Global, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the Finnish Ministry for Foreign Affairs and Global Affairs Canada. From 2013 to 2019, he wrote a weekly column (“Diplomatic Fallout”) for World Politics Review.

Battle for the Truth: How to Protect Canada from Dis- and Misinformation
2025-04-08 19:00 - 20:45 | CIGI Auditorium, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
The Balsillie School of International Affairs and the Centre for International Governance Innovation is hosting a keynote address and an in-depth discussion on the latest strategies to combat disinformation.
The keynote will be presented by Siim Kumpas, Head of the Policy, Strategy, and Global Priority Issues Team within the Strategic Communication Division of the European External Action Service (EEAS). Kumpas will present “Beyond Disinformation: From Problematic Content to Manipulative Behavior,” offering a European perspective on tackling foreign information manipulation and interference.
Following the keynote, a panel of leading Canadian experts will discuss the implications of disinformation on national security, democracy, and public trust. The panel includes Jennifer Irish (Information Integrity Lab, University of Ottawa), Marcus Kolga (DisinfoWatch), and Aengus Bridgman (Media Ecosystem Observatory, McGill University), moderated by BSIA director Ann Fitz-Gerald. The discussion will highlight the role of technology, policy, and education in mitigating the effects of disinformation and foreign interference in Canada.
Thank you for your interest in this event. The event is SOLD OUT. Please watch our Events page for more events or sign up for our weekly bulletin.

Academic Roundtable: Protecting Canadians from Dis- and Misinformation
2025-04-09 09:00 - 11:00 | Room 1-23, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Join us for an exclusive breakfast roundtable discussion featuring a presentation by panelists Jennifer Irish (Information Integrity Lab, University of Ottawa), Marcus Kolga (DisinfoWatch), and Aengus Bridgman (Media Ecosystem Observatory, McGill University). The discussion will explore the state-of-the-art research and policy solutions in the realm of disinformation, fostering deeper collaboration among policymakers, academics, and practitioners – especially in the midst of the Canadian elections.
Brett Boudreau will be the discussant. Brett served in the Canadian Armed Forces for nearly 30 years, including 22 years as a public affairs officer, with four assignments as a colonel at National Defence Headquarters, NATO HQ Brussels, the Privy Council Office (Afghanistan Task Force), and in the army reserve (2020-21) with the chief of the defence staff’s office. He has worked at NATO HQs in Mons, Brussels and Kabul, and is a graduate of the NATO Defence College senior course. Since 2009, he has served as principal consultant for Veritas Strategic Communications, providing C-suite advice to help integrate policy, operations and organizational narrative to inform institutional operations and activities. In 2016, NATO published his book, We Have Met the Enemy And He Is Us, an examination of the strategic communications campaign during the NATO-led ISAF mission from 2003-2014.
Breakfast will be served from 8:30 am – 9:00 am.
Thank you for your interest in this event. Registration is now closed.

NATO’s Future in a Challenging New World
2025-05-01 11:00 - 12:00 | Virtual, Balsillie School of International Affairs, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, Canada
Join the webinar here: https://cigionline-org.zoom.us/j/82930913432?pwd=[REDACTED]
At a time of unprecedented geopolitical uncertainty, the Balsillie School of International Affairs – in partnership with the American University’s School of International Service, Department of of Foreign Policy and Global Security, and the Transatlantic Policy Center in Washington, D.C. and the Royal United Services Institute in London, invites you to join a timely and thought-provoking online discussion with three leading NATO experts—Edward Arnold (U.K.), Garret Martin (U.S.), and Alexander Lanoszka (Canada). This moderated webinar will explore the future of the NATO alliance as it faces a confluence of challenges: a shifting transatlantic relationship under a new U.S. administration, escalating global trade tensions, and the ongoing war in Ukraine. These developments are forcing difficult questions about NATO’s strategic direction, its role in global stability, and how collective defence may be reshaping in an era marked by hybrid threats, disinformation, and technological disruption.
As economic pressures mount and security risks evolve, the need for a renewed dialogue on transatlantic cooperation has never been greater. This event offers a unique opportunity to hear from experts across three NATO member states on the Alliance’s evolving role, the urgency of investing in new defence capabilities, and the path forward for shared security commitments. Join us for this vital conversation that seeks to unpack the shifting definitions of “defence” in a fractured world order—and assess what’s next for NATO in navigating the balance between deterrence, diplomacy, and resilience.
About the Speakers
Alexander Lanoszka is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Balsillie School of International Affairs at the University of Waterloo. He is also Associate Fellow at the UK-based Council on Geostrategy, Senior Fellow at the Ottawa-based Macdonald-Laurier Institute, and a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Natolin, Poland. His research addresses alliance politics and military strategy, with a focus on East Central Europe. He has published in leading peer-reviewed journals such as International Security, International Affairs, and Security Studies. He has also co-written policy monographs on Baltic security and Taiwanese defence strategy. His books include Atomic Assurance: The Alliance Politics of Nuclear Proliferation (Cornell, 2018) and Military Alliances in the Twenty-First Century (Polity, 2022). He received his PhD from Princeton University.
Ed Arnold is a Senior Research Fellow for European Security within the International Security department at RUSI. His experience covers defence, intelligence, counter-terrorism and counter-insurgency, within the public and private sector. His primary research focus is on the transformation of European security following Russia’s war on Ukraine. Specifically, he covers the evolving Euro-Atlantic security architecture, the security of northern Europe, and the UK contribution to European security through NATO, the Joint Expeditionary Force, and other fora. Ed has a particular interest in UK National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Reviews. Ed joined RUSI from the private sector where he was a strategy Director within the defence and security sector. His clients included multiple government departments and multi-national and SME private companies. Prior to consultancy, Ed was an infantry Officer within the British Army. His military career was primarily spent overseas, including deployments to Afghanistan and East Africa and a posting at the Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe during the 2014 Ukraine crisis. Ed holds a MA War Studies from King’s College London and a BA (Hons) in International Politics from the University of Stirling, Scotland.
Garret J. Martin is a Hurst Senior Professorial Lecturer, and the Co-Director of the Transatlantic Policy Center, in the School of International Service. He has written widely on transatlantic relations and Europe, both in the field of history and contemporary affairs, and focuses in particular on security, US foreign policy, NATO, European politics, European foreign policy and defense, Europe, the European Union, France and the UK. He is a frequent media commentator, providing analysis and interviews, among others, to NPR, the BBC, CNN, Voice of America, USA Today, WUSA, ABC News Australia and France 24.

Abortion, Authoritarianism, and Reproductive Justice
2025-05-01 13:00 - 14:30 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 142, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
This talk will explore how a reproductive justice framework can inform our thinking about abortion, and bodily autonomy more generally, in the current authoritarian context of the United States.

About the Speaker
Naomi Braine is a Professor of Sociology at Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center, City University of NY. Prior to joining the faculty at CUNY, she worked in the non-profit research sector on issues of drug use and HIV and consulted for community-based organizations. Her political and intellectual work addresses gender, sexuality, reproductive justice, wars on drugs and terror, and health and collective action. Her current work focuses on self-managed abortion as a transnational feminist movement.

This event is hosted by the Politics of Reproduction Research Group and by the Migration, Mobilities, and Social Politics Research Cluster.

Honouring Migrant Women’s Stories through Film and Community-Engaged Scholarship
2025-05-09 15:00 - 16:30 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 142, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Join the webinar: https://cigionline-org.zoom.us/j/82434479876?pwd=[REDACTED]
The Annual Dr. Kerry Preibisch Global Social Justice and Migration Lecture Series is organized by the International Migration Research Centre, with a first edition in 2016. Dr. Kerry Preibisch was a prolific scholar in the area of social justice and migration, who died of cancer in January, 2016, at the height of her career. The objective of this annual memorial lecture is to add to the myriad ways that scholars and students can keep her research and vision of promoting migrants’ human rights alive into the future.
About the Speakers
Aaraón Díaz Mendiburo research health, education, employment, social representation, and intercultural relations issues of agricultural migrants in Canada, their families, and both their communities of origin and destination. As an independent documentary film maker, he has directed and produced Migrant Mother (2020), Matices “Temporary” Migration in Canada (2011) and Migrants: Those who come from within (2007). He is currently working on his fourth documentary about the activism against the cannabis stigma in North America.
Evelyn Encalada Grez is a transnational labour scholar and community-labour organizer committed to critical sociology and decolonial theories of knowledge production that centers diverse ways of knowing and precarious workers’ experiences within the margins of the global economy. She is the co-founder of the award winning collective, Justice for Migrant Workers, J4MW that has advocated for the rights of migrant farmworkers in Canada for two decades. Her research bridges grass-roots activism with academic scholarship and through this approach Dr. Encalada Grez has extensively documented the lives of Mexican migrant farmworker women who work and forge transnational livelihoods between rural Canada and rural Mexico.

Balsillie Graduates Reunion 2025
2025-05-22 19:00 - 21:00 | ON
Calling all BSIA grads! Join us for our third annual Balsillie Graduates Reunion! This year’s reunion will take place near the ByWard Market in Ottawa.
BSIA graduates are invited to an evening of conversation and networking. This is an opportunity to catch up with old friends, and network with fellow alumni, staff, faculty and friends of the School.
We will provide the venue address, parking information and other event details, once registered.
Ann Fitz-Gerald, BSIA Director, will provide welcome remarks at 7:30 pm. Cocktails and hors d’oeuvres will be served.
We hope you will join us!
Register now to get your ticket(s).

Bridging Science, Policy, and Society: The Role of Science Diplomacy in an Era of Technological Change
2025-06-04 18:30 - 20:00 | Room 1-42, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Hosted by the German Center for Research and Innovation (DWIH) New York in conjunction with the 2025 ACUNS-UN Workshop on Emerging Technologies.
This event, co-organized by DWIH New York under the auspices of ACUNS, the Balsillie School of International Affairs, and Wilfrid Laurier University, brings together ACUNS-UN Workshop participants, scholars, policymakers, and professionals to discuss Science Diplomacy (SD) as a key driver for international collaboration in an era of rapid technological disruption. It will also serve as an opportunity to highlight the upcoming edited volume, Science Diplomacy in an Era of Technological Disruption which explores how emerging technologies—Artificial Intelligence (AI), Quantum Computing (QC), and biotechnology—are transforming diplomacy and international cooperation.
It underscores the transformative potential of science diplomacy in bridging global divides in a polarized world, the central role of multilateral and higher education institutions as key actors in science diplomacy, how public-private partnerships and corporate influence are reshaping international scientific governance, and the growing tension between national security concerns and open science collaboration in areas such as AI, space exploration, and climate policy.
Agenda
6:30 PM | Arrival & Networking
6:45 – 7:15 PM | Interactive Dialogue with Dr. Jan Lüdert, DWIH NY
7:15 PM – 7:30 PM | Q&A Session
7:30 PM – 8:00 PM | Reception & Networking

Navigating Science, Policy, and Innovation: Career Insights from DWIH New York
2025-06-05 08:30 - 11:00 | Room 1-43, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
As part of the ACUNS-UN Workshop, Dr. Jan Lüdert will lead a career-focused session, offering participants insights into alternative career pathways in science diplomacy and the work of DWIH New York in fostering international science collaboration.
Key Discussion Topics:
• DWIH New York’s Role in Science Diplomacy & Transatlantic Collaboration
• Exploring Careers at the Intersection of Science, Policy, and Innovation
• Public vs. Private Sector Roles in Science Diplomacy
• Academic Entrepreneurship & Startups: How Scientists Can Shape Policy & Industry
• Engaging in Science Diplomacy Through International Organizations

How to Deceive Diasporas on WeChat: An Australian Case Study
2025-06-16 11:00 - 12:30 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 123, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Alternative social media like WeChat mediate English news for diaspora communities in Australia, but domestic actors take advantage of this underregulated space to create misinformation campaigns. These campaigns are contextually unique to targets and technologies. We use a critical disinformation studies lens (Kuo and Marwick 2021) to report on how the Australian WeChat economy works for misinformation producers. Findings show how misinformation adapts to Australian contexts—where tax burdens, constitutional ambiguity, and colonial threats—are translated into culturally proximate frames for Chinese speakers. Regulatory responses to these tactics are currently wanting.
About the Speaker
Luke Heemsbergen looks at where emerging technologies meet society and intervenes to unsettle assumptions and rewire potentials for our shared digital futures. He co-leads Critical Digital Infrastructures and Interfaces group at Deakin University, is a member of the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, and is a founder of CAVRN.org. Previously, he served at the Department of Foreign Affairs, Canada. His work on emerging tech appears in international and national media, including The New York Times, Wired, ABC Australia, and Australian Financial Review, as well as diverse academic presses. His recent book Radical Transparency and Digital Democracy is published by Emerald.

Leading with Radical Inclusion: Transforming Government Institutions Through Fair and Just Participation
2025-06-23 11:30 - 12:30 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 131, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
A speaker event highlighting current governance work by the Chief Minister and Chief Innovation Officer of the Government of Sierra Leone. His discussion will be centred around his book titled Radical Inclusion, where he shares Seven Steps to Help You Create a More Just Workplace, home and World.
About the Speaker
Dr. David Moinina Sengeh serves as the Chief Minister and the Chief Innovation Officer of the Government of the Republic of Sierra Leone. As Chief Minister, his role is to serve as adviser to the President and Vice President, and to work with the other Ministries, Departments and Agencies to deliver on the Government’s agenda. Prior to his current appointment, Dr. Sengeh served as Sierra Leone’s Minister of Basic and Senior Secondary Education from 2019 to 2023.
Internationally, Dr. Sengeh has served as the Chair of the Advisory Board for UNESCO’s Global Education Monitoring Report and is a member of the executive committee of the Board of the Global Partnership for Education. He also served as co-chair of the technical committee for UNESCO’s High-Level Steering Committee for Sustainable Development Goal 4: Quality Education, and served as chair of the advisory board for the 2022 Transforming Education Summit.
Dr. Sengeh has been recognized as a senior TED Fellow, a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, an Obama Foundation Africa Leader, a National Geographic Explorer and in Forbes 30 Under 30 in Technology. Before joining the Sierra Leone Government in 2018, Dr. Sengeh was a Research Manager at IBM Research Africa, leading a healthcare team that designed and implemented AI-enabled systems for the prevention, diagnosis, treatment and management of disease.
Dr. Sengeh obtained his Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Biomechatronics where he developed award-winning technology for human augmentation in designing comfortable prosthetic interfaces. He attained his bachelor’s degree in Engineering Sciences from Harvard College.
Dr. Sengeh holds several patents and has published academic and popular articles across the fields of education, healthcare and augmentation, and artificial intelligence. He has spoken to audiences globally on topics related to digital governance, education, youth innovation and inclusion, prosthetics design, the fourth industrial revolution and more.
His first book “Radical Inclusion,” was published by MacMillan as part of Melinda French Gates and Flatiron Books’ Moment of Lift Books in May 2023.
Outside of his work duties, Dr. Sengeh is a husband, father of three, afrobeat rapper, clothing designer and sports enthusiast.

Transformative Technologies and the Governance of Undersea Cables: Securing Critical Infrastructure in a Fragmented World Using a Regional Seas Approach
2025-07-07 12:00 - 13:00 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 123, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Dr. Brendon Cannon’s research examines the growing security threats to undersea communication cables, which carry over 99% of global digital traffic and underpin transformative technologies like AI and quantum computing. Using expert surveys and interviews, Brendon has analyzed how vulnerability varies across regions, geopolitical tensions, and cable types. His current research project at BSIA expands this by adopting a “regional seas” approach, focusing on the Gulf of Guinea, Western Indian Ocean, and the Sea of Japan, to develop regionally tailored governance frameworks. This contributes to broader debates on technology governance by addressing how critical infrastructure can be secured amid geopolitical fragmentation.
About the Speaker
Brendon J. Cannon is Assistant Professor of International Security at Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE. He earned a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Utah, USA (2009). His research is at the nexus of international relations, security studies, and geopolitics. He has published on topics related to regional security and geopolitics, the arms industry, and shifting distributions of power across the Indo-Pacific. Cannon’s articles appear in Defence Studies, Small Wars and Insurgencies, Asian Security and Third World Quarterly. His new book, edited with Kei Hakata, is Indo-Pacific Strategies: Navigating Geopolitics at the Dawn of a New Age (Routledge, 2021). He joined Khalifa University in 2016.

Human-Centred Digital State: The Case of Ukraine
2025-07-15 12:00 - 13:00 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 123, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
What happens when a country applies human-centred design to reimagine the relationship between citizens and the state? This talk will explore Ukraine’s groundbreaking approach to building a human-centred digital state, with a focus on the use of design thinking in developing digital public services. Through the digital government ecosystem Diia, Ukraine placed citizen needs, behaviours, and experiences at the core of its digital transformation. The session offers insights into how empathetic, inclusive, and iterative design can drive trust, resilience, and civic engagement, even in the most challenging contexts.
About the Speaker
Dr Bozhena (Bo) Kelestyn is a design thinking academic and practitioner with a diverse teaching and consulting portfolio. She works as an Associate Professor and Course Director for the MSc in Management of Information Systems and Digital Innovation at the Warwick Business School, University of Warwick, UK. Outside of academia, Bo is an Innovation Consultant and has worked with The Guardian Masterclasses as their lead design thinking masterclass tutor. Bo is the Founder of the pioneering Master’s level programme Leadership for Educational Transformation, aimed at supporting the rebuilding and transformation of education in Ukraine. Bo is working with the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine on researching the case of the digital government ecosystem Diia.

Digital Epidemiology in Action: Harnessing Simulation Models for Evidence-Based Infectious Disease Control
2025-07-22 12:00 - 13:00 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 123, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Digital epidemiology leverages computational simulations, ranging from compartmental SIR/SEIR systems to AI-based and agent-based frameworks, to transform real-time data into defensible public health decisions. This talk distils the mathematical intuition and data pipelines that power epidemic models. It contrasts their utility for critical tasks, such as incidence forecasting, hotspot clustering, assessing shocks such as conflict or natural disasters, quantifying socio-environmental drivers of spread, and estimating vaccination thresholds for elimination. Case studies across infectious diseases demonstrate how calibrated, uncertainty-aware scenarios have informed surge-capacity planning, targeted immunisation, and risk communication. By outlining best practices for model selection, validation, and transparent communication, the talk argues that reproducible simulation is more than prediction; it is a dynamic decision aid that sharpens the timeliness, precision, and accountability of infectious disease control.
About the speaker:
Dmytro Chumachenko is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mathematical Modelling and Artificial Intelligence of National Aerospace University “Kharkiv Aviation Institute” (Ukraine). Currently, he is a scholar at the Balsillie School of International Affairs.
Dmytro obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in “Applied Mathematics” and Master’s degrees in “Social Informatics” and “Project and Program Management” at the National Aerospace University “Kharkiv Aviation Institute”. Dmytro obtained PhD degree in Systems and Means of Artificial Intelligence at the Kharkiv National University of Radioelectronics and continued his research as a Post-doctoral Research Fellow at the Ubiquitous Health Technologies Lab of the University of Waterloo.
His research focuses on simulating the spread of infectious diseases and applying AI tools and methods for public health and strategic communications.

Data Governance is not Meeting its Potential to Govern AI
2025-07-29 12:00 - 13:00 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 123, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Dr. Susan Aaronson directs a small think tank, the Digital Trade and Data Governance Hub, which works to educate policymakers and the public about data and data driven change. Since 2019, the Hub has published a metric and dataset that allows researchers to compare data governance in 68 countries and the EU. The Hub developed 26 indicators (yes/no questions) about data governance at the national and international level and used this for 4 years of reports. However, data governance is changing for several reasons, including rapid change in AI, a growing recognition that data governance enforcement is inadequate, and a new understanding that there are types of data that are useful for AI, yet such data is not governed under existing rules (for example creative content on Reddit or Instagram). The Hub staff is trying to update the metric to accommodate these and potential other changes such as data sharing rules or policies to promote data sovereignty. The metric only includes indicators that at least one government is adopting, such as China’s regulations allowing firms to claim data as an asset or liability. In this talk, Dr. Aaronson will explain why we need to update the metric, why we seek public comment on our indicators, and the costs and benefits of such a metric as well as its utility. The Hub believes that the metric can provide new insights into how the quest for data is changing governance and how policymakers are responding to this challenge. It also may provide new insights into who influences data and AI policy.
About the Speaker
Susan Ariel Aaronson is Research Professor of International Affairs at George Washington University (GWU). Aaronson is also co-principal investigator with the NSF -NIST (National Science Foundation and (National Institute of Standards and Technology Institute for Trustworthy AI in Law & Society, TRAILS, where she leads research on data and AI governance. Aaronson was recently named one of GWU’s Public Interest Technology Scholars, where she works to encourage interdisciplinary research on technology.

MiFOOD Project Workshop: Migrant Food Security and Livelihood Resilience amid Global Disruptions
2025-07-31 09:30 - 12:30 | Room 1-23, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
The workshop presents key findings from the MiFOOD project, which investigates how international and internal migrants navigate food insecurity and build resilience in the context of global disruptions. Drawing from case studies in Canada, South Africa, and China, this session explores the intersection of migration, livelihood strategies, and access to food during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. The presentations offer grounded insights into migrants’ adaptive responses and the structural barriers they encounter in diverse urban and rural contexts. The workshop aims to facilitate knowledge exchange among researchers working across geographic and disciplinary boundaries. It provides a platform to reflect on shared themes and divergent contexts, explore methodological insights, and discuss future directions for collaborative research within the MiFOOD network and beyond.
AGENDA
The workshop is cohosted by the MiFOOD network, the Hungry Cities Partnership (HCP), the International Migration Research Centre (IMRC) and the Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA).

Green Hydrogen: Navigating the Hype, Realities, and Governance for Its Pragmatic Role in the Clean Energy Transition
2025-08-05 12:00 - 13:00 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 123, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Hydrogen was first discovered in 1766, and discussions about its use as an energy carrier for various applications have spanned over 150 years. However, interest in hydrogen has grown significantly in recent years after the Paris Climate Agreement and the Russian-Ukrainian war. Today, many major economies have released national hydrogen strategies, with a strong emphasis on green hydrogen and its role in decarbonizing various sectors.
Despite this interest, many green hydrogen projects have been delayed or cancelled. Thus, important questions are raised about the gap between ambition and reality. This presentation examines the fundamentals of hydrogen, explores the global hydrogen policy landscape, and investigates the technological, economic, and governance challenges of scaling up green hydrogen. A special focus will be placed on green ammonia as a promising early application.
The talk will conclude by outlining the need for a comprehensive governance framework and offering key policy takeaways.
About the Speaker
Dr. Munur S. Herdem is a Fellow at the Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA), Adjunct Faculty Member in Management Science and Engineering at the University of Waterloo, and is leading the development of the forthcoming Energy Technologies Governance Laboratory.
Dr. Herdem earned his Master’s degree and Ph.D. from the University of Waterloo, where he focused his research on diverse energy conversion technologies, including coal gasification, fuel cells, and fuel reforming. He further developed his expertise during his postdoctoral studies at the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy (WISE), concentrating on sustainable energy systems. Currently, his research integrates technology, physical sciences, policy, and governance to address critical issues in the clean energy transition, energy security, and access to affordable energy.

Technology Governance Summer School 2025
2025-08-11 09:00 - 2025-08-21 16:00 | ON
Course Directors:
Professors Jatin Nathwani and Ann Fitz-Gerald
This course provides graduate students with an in-depth understanding of the technology-policy nexus – an interface which has become a critical requirement for effective policy analysis and implementation.
Registered students will learn about the relevant domains and discourse supporting technology innovation, as well as the issues, datasets, and trends underpinning this emerging and increasingly relevant area.
The course will feature presentations from leading technology science and policy experts, and practitioners. Upon completion, participants will be awarded with a certificate.
Learning outcomes:
Students will gain knowledge of the key concepts underlying data science, data sets, data analytics, modelling and the use and application of these approaches in key policy areas.
Agenda
Who should attend:
BSIA, UW and Laurier students seeking to deepen their understanding of the technology-policy nexus. This will be an interdisciplinary course, developed for UW and Laurier graduate students with policy, social science, and STEM backgrounds.
Delivery:
The course will be delivered in person at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, with sessions held August 11 to 21, Monday to Thursday, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM. Lunch and refreshments are included in the course fee.
Registration
Register for the course using the form below. Students will be notified via email when their registration has been approved.
Program fee: $250
Payment is due by Monday, July 28, 2025, after registration approval. BSIA students may submit their payment by August 4, 2025. The fee is payable by e-transfer to info@balsillieschool.ca or cheque.
If you register and are unable to attend the course, please let us know as soon as possible so we can offer your spot to another student on the waitlist.
We offer a full refund for cancellations made no later than five days prior to the start of the program.
We do understand unexpected situations may occur that prevent you from joining the course, in which case please contact us via info@balsillieschool.ca as soon as possible and we can discuss if there may be any other option, including a credit for future use, or a partial refund. A decision on refunds requested after the 5-day timeframe will be taken on a case-by-case basis.

Technology Governance Summer School 2025 Registration

Full Name(Required)

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E-mail address(Required)Please use your institutional email address (Laurier, University of Waterloo, or Balsillie School of International Affairs)Program(Required)

PhD Global Governance

Master of Arts in Global Governance (MAGG)

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Balsillie School of International Affairs

University of Waterloo

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Please provide a short statement of interest in this program, indicating your research interests and what you hope to learn or achieve from it:(Required)Please let us know if you have any dietary restrictions:(Required)(e.g. vegan, vegetarian, gluten-free, nut allergy, other allergies or N/A)

Fintech Innovations: Digital Remittances and Financial Inclusion in Southern Africa
2025-08-12 12:30 - 13:30 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 123, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Financial Technology (FinTech) is rapidly reshaping the remittance landscape in Southern Africa by enabling digital transfers and mobile money services that are speedy, efficient, secure, accessible and importantly, more affordable than conventional banking systems. This presentation critically examines the benefits and drawbacks associated with fintech and digital remittances within the broader framework of financial inclusion. Drawing on a case study from one of the Southern African vibrant routes, particularly the South Africa–Zimbabwe migration and remittance corridor. This presentation highlights how digital and mobile-based fintech solutions are extending financial technology services, such as cross-border remittances (cash and in-kind, including food), digital transactions, mobile money transfers and artificial intelligence (AI), to unbanked and marginalised populations. The case study highlights the potential of fintech to enhance economic resilience and support adaptation strategies, particularly among migrant communities and beneficiaries of remittances. The talk argues that when fintech innovations and digital technologies are based on inclusive and effectively regulated financial ecosystems, they can promote policies that are equitable and sustainable, thereby enhancing financial inclusion strategies throughout the region.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Sean Sithole is a Scholar at the Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) and a Postdoctoral research fellow at the University of the Western Cape, researching under the MiFOOD network projects, supported by the CIHR, SSHRC, and NFRF, on the COVID-19 pandemic, migration, remittances, food security, and climate adaptation. He has coordinated research on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate change, and migration, and is also involved in journal reviewing, postgraduate lecturing, and supervision. Sean’s research and collaborative work have been supported by or conducted with organisations such as SIHMA, Stats SA, United Nations agencies, and the European Commission. His research interests include digital remittances, financial technology (Fintech), mobile transfers, the synergies between international migration and urban food security, the nexus between social media and migrant networks, and the role of information and communication technology (ICT) in development. Sean holds a Doctoral (PhD) and a master’s degree in development studies from the University of the Western Cape (UWC), Digital Marketing and Social Media Marketing certificate courses from the University of Cape Town (UCT), and Special Honours and BA degrees from the University of Zimbabwe (UZ).

Governance Through Prediction: An AI Model of Conflict Factions
2025-08-19 12:15 - 13:15 | Hybrid – Zoom and room 123, 67 Erb Street West, Waterloo, ON, N2L 6C2, Canada
Machine learning offers new opportunities to anticipate and manage violent conflict, especially in cases involving hybrid actors that defy conventional classifications. Conflict factions present in the Horn of Africa, whose trajectories have spanned political leadership, armed insurgency, and terrorist designation, present a compelling case for this approach. Drawing on a curated dataset of historical incidents and broader contextual indicators, such as political shifts, economic instability, and social unrest, this project uses machine learning to model the behavior of these actors and forecast their future actions.
The research investigates how behavioral patterns can be uncovered, which historical features most improve forecast accuracy and timeliness, and which internal and external factors influence the likelihood of violent events. It also explores how to make model outputs interpretable and operationally relevant, providing analysts and policymakers with actionable insights. While the immediate focus is on the Horn of Africa, the resulting framework is designed to generalize across other conflict-prone settings, offering a scalable, data-driven tool for supporting adaptive counter-terrorism strategies and informed governance.
About the Speaker:
Lirika Sola is a Scholar at the Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA), and a third-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Computer Science at Northwestern University, advised through the Northwestern Security & AI Lab. Her research lies at the intersection of machine learning, geospatial analysis, and counterterrorism studies, with a focus on modeling, forecasting, and mitigating malicious behavior in both digital and physical domains. She develops data-driven systems that integrate spatial information, behavioral patterns, and environmental context to support risk assessment and decision-making in security-critical settings. With an emphasis on bridging technical innovation and real-world applicability, her work is designed to inform decision-making across governmental, humanitarian, and security sectors.
She previously earned her Master of Science from Northwestern University and her Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from the American College of Thessaloniki, Greece.
