Our Capstone Preview features Emerging Scholar Victoria Tait, a PhD candidate in the Political Science Department at Carleton University, who presented her paper at the last inter-university Seminar on Armed Forces and Society-Canada.

Victoria Tait is currently a PhD candidate in the Political Science Department at Carleton University in Ottawa, ON. Her research focuses broadly on feminist security studies, and her dissertation examines how Women, Peace and Security policy has been framed and implemented within the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF). She enjoys working directly with Canadian soldiers to identify challenges in the military’s gender culture(s) while creating space for female-identifying soldiers to shape the academic and political narrative of their experience. Additional areas of research interest include gendered analysis of Canadian policy on veterans, feminist research methods and women in terrorist and insurgency organizations. Victoria’s work on gender and security has appeared in publications by the Canadian Defence Academy, Springer Publishing, Sage Research Methods Cases, and the Royal Canadian Military Institute.

Steve speaks with Rachel Schmidt about her PhD research on female rebel disengagement.

Rachel Schmidt is a PhD candidate in International Conflict Management and Resolution at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs. She is currently completing her fieldwork in Colombia, which involves interviewing ex-combatants from various non-state armed groups. Her research focuses on why combatants defect from insurgent groups, with comparative analysis of men and women’s pathways out of violence, as well as comparisons of defectors with ex-combatants who demobilize collectively through peace processes. Rachel also works as a senior editor for OpenGlobalRights, a leading online human rights forum. She holds an MA from NPSIA and a BA from the University of British Columbia.

Thomas Hughes talks about his PhD research on NATO military exercises.

Thomas Hughes: Having graduated with a BA(Hons) in History from Durham University, UK, in 2009, Thomas spent almost five years working in financial services before commencing an MA degree in International Studies (with a focus on International Security) in Denver, Colorado. Graduating from the two-year programme at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies in 2016, he is now working on a PhD in the Political Studies programme at Queen's University.

Rebecca Jensen discusses her research on operational adaption as a dissertation fellow at Marine Corps University.

Rebecca Jensen is a doctoral candidate at the University of Calgary’s Centre for Military and Strategic Studies, and a dissertation fellow at Marine Corps University.

Elikem Tsamenyi talks about about his research on security governance mechanisms within Africa.

Elikem Tsamenyi, originally from Ghana, he earned his BA and master’s degrees in political studies from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana, and the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, respectively. Currently a PhD candidate at Dalhousie University’s Department of Political Studies, Elikem Tsamenyi’s research interests focus largely on Sub-Sahara Africa. He is interested in issues of African development & security governance mechanisms. His research explores the scope and nature of current security threats and challenges to peace, as well as developmental troubles in Africa. He is concerned with how these issues challenge African states’ capacities to anticipate, prevent, and deal with threats to peace, security and development. His PhD dissertation explores the ‘African solutions to African problems’ rhetoric in security governance on the continent by using the English school’s international society approach to understand how Africans endeavour to own and deal with the continent’s governance and security issues as a sub-society within the larger global international society. Elikem is also interested in Canadian security and defence (foreign) policy towards sub-Sahara Africa. He explores how Canada can most effectively support and contribute to peace and security in Africa.

Timothy Choi discusses his fascinating research on Maritime Strategy.

Timothy Choi is a doctoral candidate at the University of Calgary's Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies, where he also received his Master of Strategic Studies in 2013. Before that he graduated from Simon Fraser University with a Bachelor of Arts in International Studies and History. He is interested in maritime and naval issues, both historical and contemporary, with writings appearing in the Canadian Naval Review, the Journal for Military and Strategic Studies, the CDA Institute's On Track and Forum, as well as with the Centre for International Maritime Security (CIMSEC). His doctoral dissertation examines the nature and character of sea power as part of the modern maritime strategies of countries with small navies during peacetime; his case studies involve the Nordic countries of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Iceland.

Sarah Greco speaks about her fascinating PhD dissertation on the salience of soft power mechanisms in power transitions amongst great power rivals.

Sara Greco is a doctoral candidate of political studies at Queen’s University, an R.S. McLaughlin Graduate Fellow, and a Student Fellow at the Centre for International and Defence Policy. Her most recent article, co-authored with Stéfanie von Hlatky, is entitled “Soft Contributions are Hard Commitments: NATO and Canada’s Global Security Agenda" and has been published in Canadian Foreign Policy Journal.