Laura Manners is a student at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in the Master of Arts in Global Governance program. She recently graduated from the University of Waterloo with a Bachelor of Environmental Studies in Environment, Resources and Sustainability with minors in Geography and Environmental Management and Urban Studies. She also graduted with a diploma in Ecological Restoration and Rehabilitation. Throughout her undergraduate experience, Laura had the opportunity to study and work in a variety of disciplines including environmental policy, Indigenous relations, ecological restoration, sustainable energy, and global food policy.

In her final two years of undergraduate studies, Laura developed a keen interest in global food policy and Indigenous land sustainability. More specifically, for her final undergraduate research paper, she explored and analyzed various structural barriers to inclusive and sustainable food systems, including the complex intersections between food system inequities, climate change, and ongoing systems of oppression such as neocolonialism. Laura believes that achieving global food justice not only requires a triple focus on food safety, food accessibility and food sustainability, but also the prioriziation of traditional land-based sustainability knowledge and practices.

While at BSIA, Laura hopes to continue cultivating skills in the realm of global environmental governance and food policy in order to help address systemic environmental and social inequities around the world.