Katelyn Shantz is a recent graduate of the University of Waterloo, holding a Bachelor of Arts in the Honours Arts and Business program with a Social Development major and Legal Studies minor. The interdisciplinary nature of her undergraduate degree allowed her to explore various social issues from a multitude of perspectives and nurtured her interest in policy creation and application.

With a particular interest in social justice and human rights, Katelyn’s research interests center around the way in which equity and human rights policies are developed versus how they are applied and whether they effectively address their intended issues. Through her experiences of international travel and in particular, time spent in Israel-Palestine, Katelyn has witnessed the frustration, hopelessness, and danger that ineffective policy creates. This disconnect between well-intended international policy and how these policies translate to real-life action is her area of interest during her time at BSIA and beyond.

Katelyn hopes to take all that she learns in the MAGG program and enter the field of foreign or international policy, working to advise, adapt, or create policies that not only recognize and address human rights concerns, but also mandate achievable action.