Kyle Fritz graduated from Wilfrid Laurier University with an Honours Bachelor of Arts in English and Political Science with a Research Specialization. Throughout his undergraduate studies, Kyle developed an interest in international relations, with a primary focus on security studies. He remains interested in the balance between human security and national security while paying close attention to threat-aggravators (i.e. environmental insecurity), and understanding how critical security theories offer a lens through which this balance can be understood.

With respect to research experience, Kyle has been active both inside and outside of the classroom. At Wilfrid Laurier, under the supervision of Dr. Andrea Brown and Dr. Patricia Goff, Kyle completed a major research project on children’s rights in South Africa. Using a combination of theoretical analysis, and policy review, he found gaps in multi-level children’s rights conventions, especially when considered alongside the projected impacts of climate change in developing countries. In his professional life, Kyle has conducted research on affordable housing, transitional housing models, and planning policy during his time with Habitat for Humanity.

While working with Habitat for Humanity as a policy analyst and government relations advisor, Kyle enjoyed liaising with members from all levels of government and sitting on housing roundtables with cabinet ministers and other members of the civil service. He frequently reviewed, and provided reports/ feedback for internal and external dissemination on operational policy and environmental scans of the affordable housing sector. Moreover, Kyle contributed to briefs that have informed municipal housing policy, and remains dedicated to the provision of safe and affordable housing for Canadian citizens.

In line with his dedication to community service, Kyle proudly served the student body at Wilfrid Laurier University on multiple governance committees. As a member of the university’s Senate, Kyle enjoyed relaying student feedback to members of the senior leadership team for the institution while sitting on the Executive and Finance Committee, Committee on Teaching and Learning, and Sub-Committee on Syllabus Development. Within his own faculty, Kyle represented the Department of Political Science on the Faculty of Arts Divisional Council where he voted, and provided a student perspective, on the Faculty of Arts Strategic Plan and other administrative matters.

In other venues Kyle enjoyed speaking at conferences and workshops on topics in political studies. He spoke at the Words in the World: English Symposium on the politics of writing about politics, the Leaders of Lazaridis Student Leadership Certificate Workshop on politics and business leadership, and the Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts Conference on intersectionality and discourse in Indigenous and migrant communities. He has also been a reviewer on the Laurier Undergraduate Journal of the Arts’ editorial team for two issues.

While at the BSIA Kyle looks forward to continuing his research on human and national security at a global level. He hopes to draw on current trends in international security studies, the expertise of his colleagues and faculty, and existing theoretical paradigms to inform his work and contribute to the next generation of security scholarship in political science.