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.

Year Ahead guest, Ayesha Ray discusses her research including escalating tensions in Kashmir and the inclusion of women in the Indian armed forces.

Ayesha Ray is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at King’s College, Pennsylvania. She received her Ph.D in Political Science from the University of Texas at Austin, and her M.Phil and M.A. in International Relations from the School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. Her research interests focus on civil-military relations, conflict, and security issues in South Asia. She is the author of The Soldier and the State in India: Nuclear Weapons, Counterinsurgency, and the Transformation of Indian Civil-Military Relations, published by SAGE, in 2013; and a monograph, Culture, Context, and Capability: Comparing the American and Indian Counterinsurgency Experience, published by the Institute for Defense Studies and Analyses, New Delhi, in 2016. She also has several book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed international publications.

Emerging Scholar Ali Wyne, a researcher at RAND, who presented at KCIS last summer, on Great Power Competition.

Ali Wyne is a Washington, DC-based policy analyst in the RAND Corporation’s Defense and Political Sciences Department. He serves as a non-resident senior fellow with the Atlantic Council’s Scowcroft Center for Strategy and Security and a non-resident fellow with the Modern War Institute.

Year Ahead guest, Will Greaves discusses Canada-US Relations and circumpolar politics.

Wilfrid Greaves is Assistant Professor of International Relations at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. His research principally examines the intersections between security theory and environmental politics with focuses on climate change, energy extraction, Indigenous peoples, and the circumpolar Arctic. He has also published studies on Canadian foreign policy, complex peace operations, counterinsurgency, and Arctic governance. Dr. Greaves is author of more than a dozen peer-reviewed articles and book chapters, and his first book, Indigenizing Arctic Security: Polar Politics and Environmental Change in Canada and Norway, is forthcoming from University of Toronto Press.

He holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Toronto (2016), MA from the University of Calgary (2009), and BA from Bishop's University (2006). He was previously Lecturer at the Trudeau Centre for Peace, Conflict and Justice and Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Sami Studies at the University of Tromsø, Norway.

An interview with CDSN Military Personnel co-directors, Irina Goldenberg and our very own Stéfanie von Hlatky discussing the exciting plans they have coming up in this research theme.

Irina Goldenberg: Co-Director of CDSN-RCDS & Acting Director Research Operational and Organizational Dynamics (DROOD) in the Director General Military Personnel Research and Analysis (DGMPRA) in the Department of National Defence. Her research focuses on recruitment and retention in the armed forces and military-civilian personnel collaboration in defence organizations.

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.

An interview with Stephanie Hofmann from this past summer in Lisbon, where she discusses regional security organizations with Steve.

Stephanie C. Hofmann is Professor in the Department of International Relations and Political Science at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. She received her PhD from Cornell University and her M.A.s from Cornell University and Bath University. She held visiting research positions at the European University Institute, the Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Columbia University and the Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung. As a visiting professor, she has taught academic and policy-oriented audiences in places such as Jerusalem, Rome, Tbilisi and Yerevan. And she conducted consultancy work for national governments and international organizations in places such as Burundi and Geneva. Her research centers on international/regional organizations, European and international security, networks, and global order. Her first book European Security in NATO’s Shadow. Party Ideologies and Institution Building appeared with Cambridge University Press (2013). Other research has appeared or is forthcoming in European Journal of International Relations, Journal of Common Market Studies, Journal of Strategic Studies, Journal of Peace Research and Perspectives on Politics.

Chiara Ruffa & Steve Saideman discuss ‘forever wars’ at the ERGOMAS conference in Lisbon.

Chiara Ruffa is Academy fellow at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University and associate professor in War Studies at the Swedish Defense University. Chiara's research interests lie at the cross-road between political science and sociology with a specific focus on military organizations in nonconventional operations. Her work has been published in Security Studies, Acta Sociologica, Armed Forces and Society, Security and Defence Analysis, Small Wars and Insurgencies, Comparative European Politics, and several edited volumes.

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.

Tone Danielsen speaks about her work on embedding with the Norwegian Naval Special Operations Forces.

Tone Danielsen is a principal researcher at the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment with focus on special operations. Her recent book, Making Warriors in a Global Era describes and analyzes a unit of the Norwegian Special Forces.

Aden Dur-e-Aden talks about her fascinating research on Islamist and white supremacist extremism.

Aden Dur-e-Aden is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. Her Ph.D. research focuses on comparing the recruits and non-recruits within the radical (far- right and Islamist) groups in Canada through a gendered lens. She is a SSHRC CGS Doctoral Scholar, a Junior Affiliate at the Canadian Network for Research on Terrorism, Security and Society (TSAS), and a Graduate Associate at University of Toronto’s Centre for Critical Development Studies. She obtained her MA and BA in Political Science from UBC.

Tanya Irwin talks about her fascinating research on rebel group taxation.

Tanya Irwin is pursuing doctoral studies at the University of Toronto. She holds an MA in International Affairs from the Norman Patterson School, specializing in Conflict Analysis and Resolution in August 2017. She also holds a BA in Politics (International Relations) from Queen's University. She is interested in state-building and the relationship between revenues (natural resources, taxes, foreign aid, industry, agriculture, etc.) and accountability in governance, usually in the Horn of Africa or sub-Saharan Africa.

Alexander Salt explores how lessons learned from military operations in WWII affected US military organizational change.

Alexander Salt is a doctoral candidate at the University of Calgary Centre for Military, Security and Strategic Studies. His research interests include American Foreign Policy, Technological Innovation, International Relations, Organizational behaviour, Canadian security policy, and Strategic studies.

Meagan Shoemaker discusses her research on how women’s deployment decisions and motivations are gendered.

Meaghan Shoemaker is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Political Studies at Queens University. Her research interests include NATO, human security, veterans, gender.

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.