I have been fortunate to have a varied and dynamic career with opportunities to work in five countries on four continents.
Academic background
I am an established academic scholar who also has an extensive background in the world of policy analysis. In 2005 I earned a PhD in Politics and International Studies from the University of Warwick with an emphasis on foreign policy analysis and development. My research has won a series of awards, most recently the Latin American Studies Association’s Luciano Tomassini Award for Best International Relations Book for Brazil in the World: The International Relations of a South American Giant (Manchester University Press, 2017). Major research grants received include the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Early Research Award (insert amount) as well as a doctoral and postdoctoral fellowship from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. I have published over three dozen peer-reviewed papers and articles as well as two single-authored monographs.
Life in the policy world
My interest in and exposure to policy analysis began as a resident research fellow with the Washington, DC-based Council on Hemispheric Affairs from 1997-1998. The focus of my activities in Washington was preparing research memorandum to drive inter-American policy through the media. After completing my PhD and postdoctoral fellowship I served as the 2006-2007 Cadieux-Leger Fellow with the Government of Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. From there I took a position as a senior planning analyst with the Canada Border Services Agency where I worked on Canada-US relations as well as a global risk scan. This was followed by two years with the Canadian International Development Agency, which brought two key tasks. The first was being secretary to the steering committee implementing the Official Development Assistance Accountability Act, which involved drafting recommendations for senior management and liaising with colleagues in other government departments to ensure a harmonized approach. My second task was a lead researcher drafting options for engaging emerging donor countries such as Brazil, China, India and South Africa.
Back to the academy
In 2010 I left government service and returned to the academic life with a Group of Eight research university in Australia. In addition to teaching and research, I championed on a public policy engagement role working to expand awareness of Latin America in Australia through scholarly outreach activities and an active agenda of media engagement and public speaking. I organized and led a series of political risk consultancy projects as well as training modules for government officials and public policy clients.
A return to Canada
Since returning to Canada in 2016 as a visiting scholar at Carleton University, in addition to my academic responsibilities my expertise has been sought to participate in an expanded range of consulting activities. Major recent projects have included a comprehensive program evaluation of New Zealand development assistance programming in Latin America and the Caribbean, designing and implementing an international experience internship course for a Canadian university, and writing a development assistance grant application to implement medical data management project in Kenya.