MCMASTER UNIVERSITY

Salar Asadolahi is currently a postdoctoral fellow at McMaster University working with Adrienne Davidson. As of the summer 2026, he will be taking up a SSHRC postdoctoral fellowship in the Political Science Department at Simon Fraser University, working with Professor Eline de Rooij. His research interests include comparative welfare state policy, public opinion, and parties and elections with a particular focus on the politics of right-wing populism.

UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA

Sophie Borwein is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia. Her research seeks to understand how economic inequality shapes political preferences and government policy responsiveness.

MCMASTER UNIVERSITY

Adrienne is an Assistant Professor of Political Science. Her research focuses on Canadian politics and public policy, with a focus on social policy (early years education and public schools), federal political dynamics, and Indigenous-state relations.

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Elizabeth (Beth) Dhuey is a distinguished scholar in the economics of education. She has a strong focus on collaborative, policy–relevant studies. She currently serves as the Academic Director of the Statistics Canada Research Data Centre at the University of Toronto. Dr. Dhuey is a professor of in the Department of Management at the University of Toronto, Scarborough, with appointments at OISE and at Rotman School of Management.

UNIVERSITY OF REGINA

Jim Farney is Professor in the Department of Political Science at the University of Regina and the Regina Director at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. His research interests are Canadian party politics, political institutions, and religion and politics.

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Busra is a PhD student in Political Science, specializing in comparative politics and public policy. Her research interests include migration, integration and gender.

MCMASTER UNIVERSITY

Shauna is a PhD student in Political Science at McMaster University. Her primary area of research is on Canadian politics, with a focus on comparative public policy and judicial studies.

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Marlene is a PhD student in Political Science, specializing in international relations and public policy. Her research interests include social and environmental policymaking, transnational governance, and school choice in Germany.

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Phil is a Professor of Political Science. His research focuses on how immigration and citizenship policies reflect and reconfigure boundaries of national belonging in liberal-democratic states.

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Linda is a Professor of Political Science. Her areas of research include comparative welfare states, comparative social and family policy, particularly education, early childhood education and care, and maternity and parental leave.

Gözde is a graduate of the doctoral program in Political Science at the University of Toronto. She is now a senior researcher based in Germany: https://www.gozdebocu.com/

Jacob Buchan is a JD student at the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto. He graduated Dean’s List Scholar at the University of Toronto, with his BA in History with a Focus in Law, Political Science, and English. Jacob is passionate about research. In 2021, he published on Ontario’s resource allocation during the polio epidemic in The Young Researcher and more recently contributed to studies on Smart Home Technology and data ethics in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, Innovation in Aging, and Surveillance & Society.

Diana is a graduate student in Public Administration at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy. Her research interests include big data governance, immigration, and homelessness, especially among the Indigenous People and First Nations communities.

Jasmine will be entering her fourth year at McGill University with a minor in Psychology, and is currently studying at the University of Amsterdam. She worked as a research assistant under Dr. White’s school choice focus group study as well as Dr. Asadolahi’s audit study at University of Toronto. She is interested in international legal institutions in shaping sociopolitical outcomes and have completed multiple legal internships in Tanzania and Canada. 

Abha Roy Simpson was an Undergraduate Research Assistant, studying Sociology at the University of Toronto. During her time at the lab, she worked with Professor Linda White to identify the differences between parent’s perceptions of public and private schools. She also supported Dr. Asadolahi on a study examining racial and socioeconomic-based discrimination against parents by school administrators. She is now attending the University of British Columbia, completing her MA in Educational Studies. She plans to write her thesis on the ways the diversity of a syllabus and the classroom environment can impact racialized students' learning experience. 

UNIVERSITY OF ALBERTA

Clark is the Director of the Alberta Centre for Sustainable Rural Communities at the University of Alberta and an Adjunct Professor of Political Studies. He has authored three academic books and several academic articles and book chapters on religion and politics, education policy, Alberta politics, rural issues, and populism in Canada.

OISE, UNIVERSITY of TORONTO

Claudia is an Assistant Professor in Leadership, Higher and Adult Education. Her research explores the interaction between global dynamics, domestic policies, and school change.

UNIVERSITY OF LONDON

Ursula is a Reader in Politics at the University of London. She works on American political development, federalism, public policymaking, education, and religion and politics.

UNIVERSITY OF AUGSBURG

Rita is a Professor of Comparative Education. She analyzez institutional changes in school politics, (new) forms of governance in education politics, educational inequalities and the links between welfare and education politics from an international comparative perspective.

UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY

Jack is an Associate Professor of Political Science. His research focuses on Canadian politics, with a particular focus on municipal politics and democracy, ideology and political representation, and Canadian political development.

SENIOR POLICY ANALYST, ISED

Beesan’s projects focus on equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace and beyond. She completed her PhD in Political Science at Queen’s University and a post-doc at the University of Toronto.

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

Rob is a Professor in Political Science. He is interested in political development, especially in Canada and the U.S.

LONDON SCHOOL OF ECONOMICS

Anne is a Professor of Education Policy. She researches education policy and early childhood education and care in England.