Experts

Scientific Board
Christopher Sands

Christopher Sands

Scientific Board
Christopher Sands is Director of the Wilson Center’s Canada Institute and an internationally renowned specialist on Canada and US-Canadian relations. He is also a Senior Research Professor of Canadian Studies at Johns Hopkins University’s Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS). He regularly gives testimony to the U.S. Congress and the Canadian Parliament, is a widely quoted source on Canadian and has published extensively over a career of more than 25 years in Washington think tanks. His work has been commissioned by Washington think tanks including the American Enterprise Institute, the Brookings Institution, the Center for the Study…
Bénédicte Santoire

Bénédicte Santoire

Emerging Scholar
Bénédicte Santoire holds a Master’s degree in Political Science from the University of Montreal and is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Political Science (International relations) at the University of Ottawa, under the supervision of Claire Turenne-Sjolander. Her doctoral thesis focuses on the implementation of the United Nations Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace, and Security (WPS) in the post-Soviet space, more specifically in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, and Armenia. Her research is financed by the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC) and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS).

Rachel Sarfati

Emerging Scholar
Rachel M. Sarfati is a master's student in international studies at the École supérieure d'études internationales of Université Laval. She is currently writing her essay under the supervision of Fannie Lafontaine. She previously obtained a law degree from the Faculty of Law and Political Science in Montpellier, France. Her academic interests are currently focused on international justice, in particular on the criminal repression of the most serious international crimes (genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes). She has worked for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and for the Lexsitus website, at the request of the International Academy of…
Jean-François Savard

Jean-François Savard

Scholar
Jean-François Savard is an associate professor with École nationale d’administration publique (ENAP, Université du Québec). Prior to joining ENAP in 2006, Jean-François Savard worked as a senior policy analyst at the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch at Health Canada. His research interests include public policy, Indigenous politics, and federalism. He has published in several academic journals, including Politiques & management public, Canadian Journal of Political Science, and Recherches amérindiennes au Québec. He is the co-author of Analyse et pilotage des politiques publiques : France, Suisse, Canada (Presses de l'Université du Québec, 2015) and co-edited several books, including L'État et…

Mariana Savka

Emerging Scholars
Mariana is a Master’s student at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa. Her master’s project seeks to clarify the concept of strategic communication and identify the principal ways in which technological developments (social media and artificial intelligence) may be shaping its evolution in practice, focusing on its uses in conflict. Mariana’s research interests are rooted in the evolving landscape of international security. These include security studies, including critical theories; the role of international organizations, such as NATO, in shaping global security dynamics; and emerging frontiers of competition. Beyond traditional security paradigms, she is…
Olivier Schmitt

Olivier Schmitt

Collaborator
Olivier Schmitt is professor of political science at the Center for War Studies, University of Southern Denmark, and currently director of studies and research at the Institut des Hautes Études de Défense Nationale (IHEDN, Paris).He is a founding member of the French Association for War and Strategic Studies (AEGES), of which he was vice-president and scientific director, and a board member of the European Initiative for Security Studies (EISS). A reserve officer in the French navy, he has policy experience at the French MoD and NATO. He also worked for two think-tanks: the Geneva Centre for the Democratic Control of…
Lily Schricker

Lily Schricker

Emerging Scholars
Lily Schricker is a graduate student at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University, pursuing an MA in International Affairs with a specialization in foreign policy and diplomacy. She graduated with a BA at Bishop's University in International Relations and a double-minor in Political and Classical studies. Lily is a research assistant at Carleton University, pursuing research in both Indigenous-settler relations and international law. Currently, she is working on a co-authored paper focusing on the best methodological practices for conducting voting behaviour studies with Indigenous Peoples. Previously, she has assisted in the EPON mandate renewal study for UNITAMS…
Simon Schunz

Simon Schunz

Collaborator
Simon Schunz is professor at the College of Europe. Prior to working at the College, he was a Scientific Officer at the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Research and Innovation (2011-2015), and a senior and junior researcher at the Leuven Centre for Global Governance Studies and the Leuven Institute for International and European Studies, University of Leuven (KU Leuven) (2006-2011). He was also a Visiting Scholar at the Elliott School of International Affairs (The George Washington University, 2009) and at the Brussels Office of the German Institute for International and Security Studies (SWP, 2010), as well as a Carlo Schmid Fellow…

Lee Seymour

Scholar
Lee Seymour is an associate professor at the Université de Montréal and member of the CÉRIUM — Centre d'études et de recherches internationales and of the CEPSI — Centre d'études sur la paix et la sécurité internationale. His research interests include civil wars, international security and violence in politics. He has published in several academic journals, including Journal of Peace Research, International Security, European Journal of International Relations, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Critical African Studies, Perspectives on Politics and International Peacekeeping. He is currently leading a research project on the politics of foreign military training in fragile states, funded by…

Sarah E. Sharma

Co-director | Climate Change and the Environment
Sarah E. Sharma is an Assistant Professor of International Political Economy in the Department of Political Science at the University of Victoria. She received her Ph.D. in Political Science from Queen’s University. Before joining the University of Victoria, she was a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto, Scarborough; prior to her Ph.D., she worked at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in New York City. In 2022, she was the Chair of the Women & Inclusivity in Sustainable Energy Research (WISER) Network. Her research examines the global political economy of…