Research Chat Office of Research Services Wilfrid Laurier University, Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Wilfrid Laurier University

In this episode, Hannah McGurk, (she/her) who completed her Masters degree in the Applied Politics program at Laurier, shares her research findings from a report that analyses municipal responses to homeless encampments. The report emerged from a community-engaged research project with the Region of Waterloo and provides a comparison of encampment protocols among six municipalities, through a human rights lens. As part of her graduate degree, McGurk specialized in Canadian housing policy and co-authored an article on the regulation of unsheltered homelessness in Canada. McGurk’s research has been sought after by the Region of Waterloo and non-profit organizations, including the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness.

In this episode, Emily Kraemer (she/her), who completed her Masters degree in the Applied Politics program at Laurier, shares her research findings from an Equity Diversity and Inclusion study completed in partnership with the Region of Waterloo. Emily’s research focused on diversity in municipal policy settings and how diversity enriches good decision-making at the municipal level.

Hari KC, (he/him) is a Post-doctoral Fellow working at the Balsillie School of International Affairs at Wilfrid Laurier University. In this episode, he explains his recently completed PhD research that explored international migration flows, centred on Nepal. His work examines and makes recommendations for changes in international labour migration, through the lens of Nepali women migrant domestic workers. His work details existing gender inequalities in Nepal that are perpetrated by Nepalese migration policies. He is affiliated with the International Migration Research Centre.

This episode features S. Ali Hosseini, (he/him), a PhD student in Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. The program is a joint program between Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Waterloo and the Centre for International Governance Innovation. He speaks about his experience working in the United Nations Human Rights Program in Afghanistan which has informed his research focusing on the failure of the international community to assist Afghanistan citizens in accepting democratic values.

In this episode, Carolyn Brown, (she/her) a PhD student in the Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences at Laurier. Her research focuses on making Environmental Impact Assessments as valuable and informative as possible to address developments' environmental, social, and economic impacts. Specifically, she focuses on fish health near the Mactaquac Electric Generation Station (MGS), upstream of Fredericton, New Brunswick on the Wolastoq | Saint John River.

In this episode, Carla Johnston, (she/her) a PhD student in Global Governance at the School of International Policy and Governance at Laurier and member of the Northern Food Systems Research Group, Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, describes her ongoing research. Her work examines the link between global and local food policy and ensures Indigenous knowledge and voices are included at all levels of food policy discussions.