International Policy Ideas Challenge - 2022 Challenge winners

Adam P. MacDonald

Indo-Pacific Policy Considerations

Adam P. MacDonald, a former naval officer in the Canadian military, is a PhD candidate in the Political Science Department at Dalhousie University. He is a Killam Scholar, holds a MINDS Doctoral Scholarship and is a fellow at the Canadian International Council. He is currently part of 2 Department of National Defence-funded academic networks: the Defence and Security Foresight Group and the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network. His doctoral work seeks to explain the differences in American strategic approaches toward Russia and China in the early post–Cold War era as a function of larger efforts to ensure the United States’ networked centrality in security and economic realms globally and within Europe and East Asia. His other research interests include various aspects of Canadian defence and foreign policy (specifically the impact on these from the burgeoning strategic rivalry between the United States and China), naval policy and strategy, the Canadian military’s role in domestic emergency response and Arctic security.

Chloe Clifford Astbury

Evaluating policies and governance that reduce risk of zoonotic spillover

Chloe Clifford Astbury is a post-doctoral fellow with Global Food System and Policy Research in the School of Global Health at York University, an investigator with the Global Strategy Lab and a member of the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research. She is interested in the transition to a healthier, fairer and more sustainable food system through integrated food system policy across food production and agriculture, processing, trade and public health. She is also interested in how the food system intersects with food practices and lived experience. Her current work focuses on the application of systems modelling to food system policy for the prevention of both communicable and non-communicable diseases. She completed her PhD in Epidemiology at the University of Cambridge, focusing on home food preparation and its relevance and potential for improving diet quality at the population level. Her work was awarded the Milo Keynes Prize for Outstanding Dissertation in the School of Clinical Medicine. She also holds a BA in Anthropology and an MPH from the University of Cambridge. She has previously worked with Public Health England, WHO-Europe and in the United Kingdom’s Parliament.

David Benjamin Billedeau

Examining impact of Chinese FDI on critical mineral exports

David Benjamin Billedeau (BA, MA, GDIP) is a government affairs and policy expert with considerable experience in both the public and private sectors. His professional background is bolstered by international experience in South Africa, where he conducted sustainability research and assurance consulting for publicly traded companies. He has completed advanced academic programs with Carleton University’s Norman Paterson School of International Affairs, the University of Waterloo, and the London School of Economics and Political Science. Currently, he is completing a PhD in Sustainability Management at the University of Waterloo while serving as a research fellow with the Energy Council of Canada.

Collaborator: Juan Moreno-Cruz

Juan Moreno-Cruz is an associate professor at the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at the University of Waterloo. He is also a research affiliate at the Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute for Economic Research. Prior to his current position, he was an associate professor in the School of Economics at the Georgia Institute of Technology (2011 to 2017). He has also been a visiting researcher in the Department of Global Ecology of the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University (since 2015), an adviser for Carnegie Energy Innovation (since 2017), and a research associate of Harvard University’s Solar Geoengineering Research Program. His research focuses on the interaction of energy systems, technological change and climate policy. His most influential work examines how solar and carbon geoengineering technologies affect climate policy. His most recent work provides novel insights into the process of energy transitions by demonstrating how energy access shapes the organization of the economy in cities and how energy consumption in cities in turn pollutes the local and global environments.

Collaborator: Jeffrey Wilson

Jeffrey Wilson is a leading Canadian ecological economist working at the interface of economic, environmental and well-being research and policy. In addition to his position at the School of Environment, Enterprise and Development at the University of Waterloo, he is an affiliate with the Canadian Index of Wellbeing, member of the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy and member of the Interdisciplinary Centre on Climate Change (now called the Waterloo Climate Institute). As an academic, he takes pride in staying abreast of leading-edge thinking on sustainability innovation, well-being and the green economy. Prior to joining the University of Waterloo, he was a consultant specializing in sustainability measurement and strategy to advance low-carbon pathways.

John P. Hayes

Extractive Industries Transparency Intiative in Mexico- Trade and economic implications for Canada

John P. Hayes (MA, York University; BA Hons., University of British Columbia) is a PhD candidate in political science at McMaster University specializing in comparative public policy and international relations. He is also a research affiliate of the Development Studies Department at the Universidad Autónoma de Zacatecas in Mexico and a research coordinator in the Extractive Resource Governance Program at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy. He is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada graduate scholar (2018 to 2022) and recipient of the International Development Research Centre’s doctoral award (2020). His doctoral thesis examines the multi-stakeholder dynamics of Mexican federal policy implementation related to natural resource governance in the democratic era (2000 to present).

Collaborator: Alem Cherinet

Alem Cherinet (BAs and MA, University of Calgary) is the projects coordinator in the Extractive Resource Governance Program at the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy, She is responsible for domestic and international project management across the centre’s programming spectrum. As an organizational analyst and consultant, she has worked in public, private, NGO, and academic sectors with a portfolio of more than 15 years in project building, management, strategic advising, capacity building and policy development. Her expertise is in the field of complex governance, specializing in dynamics of conflict, violence, human rights and security.

Izza-Maria Salhi

Rationale and opportunities for a Canada-Africa Strategy

Izza-Maria Salhi is currently a graduate student at the University of Montréal, where she is pursuing a master’s degree in International Studies with a specialization in culture, conflict and peace. She previously obtained her Bachelor of Business Administration in International Management (with honours) at University of Quebec in Montréal. She is currently pursuing an internship at UNESCO in the PAX division, Priority Africa and External Relations Sector, at the Arab Desk, which is closely related to the topic of her project for the International Policy Ideas Challenge.