Sanjida Amin is the CDSN Postdoctoral Fellow (2026–2027) at the Centre for International and Defence Policy (CIDP) at Queen’s University. She is currently completing her PhD in Political Science at the University of Toronto, where her research focuses on foreign sponsorship of insurgent groups, insurgent-state relations, and the international dimensions of civil war.

Her book project examines how external support from foreign states shapes internal conflict dynamics, particularly by driving insurgent fragmentation during peace negotiations. Her broader research interests include international peacebuilding, alliance politics, and Canadian foreign and defense policy. Her current postdoctoral project investigates how U.S.-Canada security relations influence Canada’s evolving engagement with UN peacekeeping, situating this within the broader context of multilateralism and shifting global security priorities.

Sanjida’s research has been supported by Fulbright Canada, the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (SSHRC), and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship. She aims to contribute to more effective peacebuilding and mediation strategies in protracted conflicts, as well as to informed debates on Canadian international security policy.

Delaney Beck is a fifth-year PhD candidate in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of New Brunswick. Her research focuses on the experiences of war trauma and its treatment in First World War Canadian Nursing Sisters. Her SSHRC-funded dissertation is a continuation of the work done for her Master’s thesis, “Bluebirds, Bombings, and Battle: Shell Shock in Maritime Nursing Sisters of the First World War,” completed at Saint Mary’s University in 2021. She served as a researcher and contributor on the Nursing Sisters portion of the Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society’s Minorities at War research and education project, which considers the roles of Indigenous and Black soldiers and Nursing Sisters in the Great War.

Dr. Justin Chamberland has a PhD in experimental psychology from the University of Ottawa. He is a Defence Scientist at the Department of National Defence—working in Director Research Operational and Organizational Dynamic’s Organizational Behaviour and Performance section at Director General Military Personnel Research and Analysis (DGMPRA)—and a recipient of a 2023 Director General Commendation Award and a 2024 Team Achievement Award. His current research interests assess military and civilian personnel attitudes, perceptions, and experiences across a wide range of work and organizational factors, including organizational culture, workplace well-being, and retention. He co-leads DGMPRA’s Your Say Matters: Defence Team Well-Being Survey.

Gurinder is a recent graduate of the MA in Human Rights and Social Justice program at Thompson Rivers University, and he holds a BA in Political Science from the University of Victoria. His graduate thesis analyzes the reemergence of the Khalistan movement in Canada-India relations, and he reveals how competing political narratives shape diaspora identity, state interests, and bilateral tensions through a discourse analysis. His research interests range from the politics and security dynamics of Canada and the Indo-Pacific region, Canada-India relations, diaspora and identity studies, human security as a mitigation tool for political violence and genocide scholarship.

Gurinder’s graduate research has been presented at internationally recognized conferences such as the Southeast Asia Conference on Human Security at UVic and the Annual PSA Conference in Birmingham, UK. His co-authored paper with Dr. Robert Hanlon, presented at the International Political Science Association in Seoul, Korea, which explores the practice of human security as a tool for the de-radicalization of perceived violent elements of the Khalistan movement in Canada. Recently, Gurinder presented his research findings at TRU’s conference on Non-Traditional Security Threats in October 2025.

Gurinder held the role of Graduate Research Fellow and worked as a Project Investigator with Canada and the Asia-Pacific Policy Project. Gurinder has received several academic accolades, including the Graduate Student Leader Award and the Students as Research Partners Fellowship from TRU. He has a diverse range of experience, including publishing a co-authored Open Educational Textbook in partnership with TRU Open Press. He was a cultural exchange ambassador for TRU’s China Field School: a groundbreaking opportunity for fostering people-to-people ties and researching China’s economic development as one of the first Canadian groups to visit the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Gurinder is actively pursuing publication opportunities and hopes to pursue a PhD in the near future, as well as work experience in policy, security and defence.

Emilia Kuczynski is a graduate student at the University of Calgary Centre for Military, Security, and Strategic Studies (CMSS). She recently completed her master’s thesis which explores how the Information Revolution and the proliferation of digital media have altered the nature of contemporary strategic competition. Her research investigates how and why state actors, specifically Russia and China, conduct Information Operations (IOs). Her work at CMSS was supervised by Dr. Jean-Christophe Boucher. Emilia is also currently a Research Assistant at the University of Calgary School of Public Policy where she conducts research for a range of projects related to topics such as foreign interference, national security, and international affairs.

My English name is Shauna Mulligan. My spirit name is Blue Shadow Thunderbird Woman. I am of the Turtle Clan, living in Winnipeg, Manitoba. This is in Treaty One territory, Home to the Anishinaabe, Nēhiyaw, Dakota, Dene and Inuit, along with the Homeland of the Métis Nation.

Shauna is a Métis Graduate student in the Indigenous Studies PhD program at the University of Manitoba. Her master’s thesis is entitled “War Stories: Voices of Indigenous Veterans Post-Korean Conflict” which focuses on the stories Indigenous Veterans tell about their time in service as well as their experiences as veterans.

She served in the Reserves from 1995-2002 as a Medical Assistant with 17 Med Company but then attach posted to the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders. She left the military in 2002 to pursue post-secondary education, but also to follow a 20-year career in health care.

Working with Indigenous Veterans, she attends Ceremonies such as sweat lodges and sun dances, as well as numerous powwows’ where veterans are represented. She’s an advocate for the need for cultural supports for Indigenous veterans. She’s been the Veterans Affairs Ombuds’ office Indigenous Women’s Advisor, specifically to represent Indigenous women’s concerns.

She’s connected with many currently serving Indigenous members within the military, but also with the Defense Indigenous Advisory Group in Winnipeg and current Registrar for Aboriginal Veterans Autochtones, a nationally recognized group representing Indigenous Veterans.

She’s also a research committee member for the Atlas Institute for Veterans and Families, and has been an Instructor for Indigenous Studies, Inner City Social Work and Access programs at the University of Manitoba.

Lindsay Speirs is a Master of Arts candidate in Political Science at the University of Manitoba. She is currently a student research fellow at the University’s Centre for Defence and Security Studies and a research fellow at the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network. 

Her research interests include contemporary great power competition, strategic studies, and Arctic security. Her thesis analyzes the hard and soft power dynamics observed during the Cold War and applies them to contemporary great power competition among the United States, China, and Russia. The research aims to validate the use of the term “Cold War II” to describe contemporary competition and identify lessons for success in the varying realms of competition.  

Zachary Zimmermann is a Master’s student at Trent University in the Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies program. Zach completed his Bachelor’s of International Relations at IE University in Madrid, Spain where he co-founded and was the Editor-in-Chief of the university’s official academic journal, the IE International Policy Review. 

Zach has four years of experience working as a policy analyst and negotiator for Crown-Indigenous Relations, as well as being the first coordinator for the Canadian Institute for Arctic Security, the only northern-based think tank in Canada dedicated to Arctic security. Zach is also an alumni of the Students on Ice Youth Arctic Policy Cohort and a Research Fellow at the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network. 

Born in Inuvik, NWT and raised in Whitehorse, Yukon, Zach is passionate about researching the Canadian North and Arctic. Zach’s research interests centre around military security/strategy and geopolitics in the Arctic, and he is currently conducting his thesis research regarding models of total defence in Canada's North and Arctic.