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Brief Biography

Michael Murphy is a Buchanan Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Political Studies.  He completed his PhD at the University of Ottawa and received an MA in the Collaborative Political and Legal Thought Program at ���˴�Ƭ.

Research Interests

Michael's Banting Postdoctoral Fellow project, the Active Teaching, Assessment, and Evaluation in Political Science (ATAEPS) study, is the first large-scale research study examining assessment and evaluation practices in political science education. This research complements ongoing pedagogical debates related to curricular development as well as innovative teaching techniques. Michael’s disciplinary research explores the intersection of international relations and political theory. He has published one book and over thirty peer-reviewed articles, garnering 1200 citations. He currently serves as section president of the Active Learning in International Affairs Section of the International Studies Association. His work can be found .

Teaching

POLS 463 International Relations Theory (Winter 2024)

ASCX400: Edward Burtynsky, Standing Whale Artist Group (co-instructor)

Honours Seminar in International Relations, University of Ottawa (x3)

Modern Political Thought, Part II, University of Ottawa

Brief Biography

Jana Walkowski is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University, specializing in international relations and comparative politics. Her research interests lie at the intersection of migration studies, global political economy, and urban geography to understand issues of global displacement occurring at local and global scales. Her PhD dissertation critically interrogates and compares the multi-scalar governance of the so-called “refugee housing crisis” in Berlin, Germany and Toronto, Canada to highlight how corresponding tensions and power relations shapes access to adequate initial shelter accommodation for refugees upon arrival. Alongside her studies, Jana works as a teaching assistant and graduate research fellow, acts as the 2024-2025 Political Studies Graduate Student Association (PSGSA) co-chair, and volunteers with KEYS newcomer services. Jana holds a master’s degree in political science from McGill University and a bachelor’s degree in Global Development Studies from Queen’s University. Outside her studies you can find her training for triathlons and local running events, walking by the waterfront or reading her favourite books in local coffee shops.

Selected Awards

• W.C. Good Memorial Fellowship, 2024-2025
• Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), 2021-2025
• Dean’s fieldwork Grant, 2023-2024
• Queen’s Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF), 2022-2024
• SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship- Master’s (CGS M), 2020-2021
• 2021 Jean Monnet Award for Excellence in European Studies (Jean Monnet Centre Montréal)

Teaching Assistantships

• POLS 242- Comparative Politics: Contemporary regimes (Winter 2024)
• POLS 384- Strategies of Political Research (Fall 2023, Fall 2022)
• POLS 262- International Political Economy (Winter 2023)
• DEVS 101-Introduction to International Development (Fall 2022)
• POLS 110- Introduction to Politics and Government (Fall 2021, Winter 2021)

Selected Conference Contributions

• Exploring the Performative Borderwork of the European Union’s Bordering Practices through the method of Critical Visual Discourse Analysis”, Canadian Political Science Association Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada (June 12-24. 2024)
• Speaker, “Understanding the Local Dimension of Global Displacements” presented at Queen’s Project in International Development (QPID) Youth Conference: Climate Justice is Social Justice: Exploring the Impacts of Climate Change on Displacement and Dispossession (March 27, 2024)
• Depoliticizing border externalization through development: An analysis of the EU’s Emergency Trust Fund for Africa Instrument”, International Studies Association, Montreal (held March 2023)
• ‘Depoliticizing border externalization through development: An analysis of the EU’s mainstreaming of migration-development activities through the EU Trust Fund for Africa Instrument’ The Welcoming of refugees and grassroots solidarity: state of research and best practices in Europe and Canada, held by the University if Genoa and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique within the scope of the Refinteg project, Genoa, Italy (presented at the University of Genoa on October 27, 2022)
• “Contested Borders and Contested States: The Political and Human Rights Consequences resulting from the Regulation of Migrant Flows between Africa and Europe: An exploration of these impacts in Libya,” Public Issues and Public Reason: A Conference of Applied Ethics and Critical Social Sciences, Carleton University, Canada (October 20, 2020)

Brief Biography

Sean Tracy is a PhD candidate specializing in Political Theory and Comparative Politics. His primary research interests are in global justice, especially issues involving territorial rights (e.g., collective self-determination, secession, territorial autonomy...), resolving ethnic and sectarian conflict, and international law. His other research interests are wide-ranging and include Just War Theory, issues of liberal toleration and state justification and legitimacy, and the debate between cosmopolitanism and liberal nationalism.

Teaching

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• POLS 241: Comparative Politics - Transformations

• POLS 359: Issues in Political Theory

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• POLS 250: History of Political Thought 

Boğaziçi University (2014-2016)

• PHIL 101: Introduction to philosophy

• PHIL 105: Informal logic/Critical thinking

• PHIL 106: Philosophical texts (writing composition)

• PHIL 112: Intro to modern philosophy

Brief Biography

Mr. C. Alexander Olteanu is a PhD student at Queen’s University, Canada, where he also obtained his BA (with Distinction) in Political Studies and Spanish. He is currently working on the ‘New NATO Project’ investigating how NATO and the EU adapted to the post-Cold War environment during the critical 1989-1993 period and is completing the Public Leadership Credential at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is also a Teaching Assistant in the Department of Political Studies and a Researcher with the Centre for International and Defence Policy at Queen’s University.

 Previously, Alex completed a Masters (Research) with Distinction in Global Security Studies at the University of Glasgow, Scotland, UK. Alex has been active for over three decades in the legal profession and has taught business management, law, and social science courses at post-secondary institutions in Canada and Iraq. He appears regularly on British Columbia’s Rompost TV show as a political commentator for the local Romanian community is a former 2. Lieutenant in the CAF Reserves and is fluent in five languages.

Research Interests

Alex is particularly interested in social entrepreneurship projects focusing on the theory and practice of public and private organizational design, adaptation and change, and the emergence of post-sovereign structures of governance and citizenship, beyond the boundaries of nation-states. He focuses in particular on the history of and current developments in Europe, North America, and the Middle East. 

Teaching Assistant at Queen’s (2020-2022):

• POLS 332: Politics of Post-Communism
• POLS 261: Introduction to International Relations
• POLS 244: Comparative Politics: Democracy and Democratization
• POLS 243: Comparative Politics: Governing Difference
• POLS 242: Comparative Politics: Political Regimes