CIGI’s Digital Policy Hub Program Welcomes 2024-2025 Academic Year Cohort

Kristen Csenkey is a Digital Policy Hub doctoral fellow and Ph.D. candidate in global governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. Her research focuses on cybersecurity governance, emerging technologies and socio-technical approaches to technology management. Her recent publications have appeared in War on the Rocks, Le Rubicon, and the Journal of Cybersecurity. Kristen’s current research projects include international cooperation on quantum technology governance, policy and infrastructure. She is often called on to give expert advice to various departments of the federal government and parliamentary committees in Canada, and has appeared on national TV and radio, including on CBC News, CTV and CBC Radio.

Nathalie DiBerardino is a Digital Policy Hub master’s fellow and philosophy M.A. student at Western University, as well as an incoming Responsible AI Technology Consultant at EY Canada. Her research, supported by a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship, focuses on analyzing the nature and impacts of algorithmic harm, especially on members of socially marginalized groups. At the Digital Policy Hub, Nathalie aims to examine the role of data and artificial intelligence in Canada’s housing crisis. Nathalie’s work has been featured at the ACM Conference on Fairness, Accountability, and Transparency, as well as in The New York Times and other publications. She received the Western Gold Medal as the top honours philosophy B.A. graduate at Western University and was the global winner in philosophy at the 2023 Global Undergraduate Awards.

Jamie Duncan is a Digital Policy Hub doctoral fellow, Ph.D. candidate at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies, and an affiliate of the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society. Jamie is an interdisciplinary social scientist studying information policy, technology governance and security. His work has appeared in academic journals such as The British Journal of Criminology and Internet Policy Review, as well as popular outlets such as The Globe and Mail. Jamie’s doctoral research investigates the role of technology adoption in deepening international cooperation on border security among the Five Eyes partners (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States).

Ashley is a Digital Policy Hub undergraduate fellow. As a student in the physics and astronomy program at the University of Waterloo, Ashley has been interested in artificial intelligence (AI) for the past few years, particularly using it as a tool to advance both science and data-driven policy. On the scientific side, Ashley has been involved in various research efforts, including most recently being a key member of the team developing an AI model for ALPHA-g, an experiment at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, to measure the weight of antimatter. Ashley has also worked in a data science capacity for various groups within the Government of Canada, including the Canadian Space Agency, Global Affairs Canada and Defence and Research Development Canada.

Xiao Han is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Religious Studies at Université du Québec à Montréal. Her current research focuses on the interdisciplinary intersection of digital media, AI and religious studies, examining how these technologies impact immigrant communities, particularly Chinese immigrants in Canada. As a first-generation immigrant, Xiao is deeply interested in how these immigrants’ voices, stories and integration processes are shaped and reflected by digital technology, transnational digital governance and social media platforms. She holds a master’s degree in cultural anthropology from South Korea and serves as a board member in the communication section of Sakyadhita Canada. Xiao is enthusiastic about utilizing digital ethnography, offline anthropology and in-depth interviews to document and reflect the realities of socially stereotyped digital communities. In Beijing, she was formerly enrolled in a Ph.D. program in religious studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, where she was also the founder of a tech company for the LGBTQ community and served as the CIO of a big data company.

Wim Howson Creutzberg is a Digital Policy Hub undergraduate fellow who recently completed a B.A. at McMaster University. He is interested in governance mechanisms for mitigating collective action problems and artificial intelligence (AI) policy, and will be researching how international AI policy proposals enforce coordination. Wim has been a Pivotal Research fellow and has also volunteered with the Collective Intelligence Project and the Foresight Institute.

Amelia Hui is a second-year public policy and political science student at the University of Toronto. As an undergraduate fellow at the Digital Policy Hub, her research will focus on technological convergence in the development of Chinese and American lethal autonomous weapons and its regulatory implications. She is also part of the Laidlaw Scholars Program, where she is examining ties between visual culture and politics in Hong Kong. She is especially intrigued by the multi-faceted intersections of culture, technology, innovation and geopolitics.

Clare Kim is a visiting fellow at the Digital Policy Hub and currently serves as a Policy Advisor at Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, focusing on multilateral relations, notably the G20 Digital Economy track. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s in public policy and global affairs from the University of British Columbia. In her role as a visiting fellow, Clare will concentrate on the global governance of digital technologies.

Melissa MacKay (she/her), MPH, Ph.D., is a Digital Policy Hub post-doctoral fellow who specializes in health, risk and crisis communication, as well as health promotion. Previously a postdoctoral scholar at the University of Guelph’s Health by Design Lab, she focused on developing a modernized health communication framework and using artificial intelligence for tailored health communication. Her research employs qualitative and mixed methods and evidence synthesis, and emphasizes knowledge mobilization for impact. Her dissertation examined trust in public health communication during the COVID-19 pandemic and she is the lead author of the Social Media Crisis Communication Guidebook for Public Health. Melissa teaches in the MPH program at the University of Guelph and has extensive experience in public health and knowledge mobilization.

Laine McCrory is a Digital Policy Hub master’s fellow and second-year master’s student in the joint program in communication and culture at Toronto Metropolitan University and York University. She works at the intersections of feminist technology, artificial intelligence (AI) policy, smart cities, data capture and community governance in order to create socio-political critiques of AI. As part of her master’s thesis, she is examining the limits of a harm-based approach to AI policy through a critical feminist lens. While part of the Digital Policy Hub, she will be focusing on how emerging AI policies worldwide can be developed to support transparency, accountability and participation in urban centres.

Ola Mirzoeva is a Digital Policy Hub master’s fellow dedicated to addressing global issues that impact humanity, particularly promoting responsible human activities in space. She co-founded the Space Law Society at the University of Ottawa and completed the NASA-partnered Space Studies program. Currently pursuing a J.D./M.A. in common law and international affairs, she spent two years with the High Commission of Canada in Tanzania, one year with MDA and four years crafting inclusive policies at the City of Toronto. Ola speaks French, Russian and Kiswahili, and enjoys dance, making music and time outdoors.

Rafael Morales-Guzman is a Digital Policy Hub doctoral fellow and Ph.D. candidate in public policy at the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan. He holds an M.A. in public administration from Cornell University, where he focused on regulatory policy in microfinance, and a B.A. in economics and political science from Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México. His research interests include regulatory policy, financial technology and digital innovation. Rafael has published extensively on financial regulation and has presented at international conferences. He has significant professional experience in financial stability with the Central Bank of Mexico.

Halyna Padalko is a Digital Policy Hub doctoral fellow and a multidisciplinary researcher focused on strategic communication, propaganda and disinformation, the use of AI tools in those domains, and their intersection in policy. She holds a master’s degree in global governance from the Balsillie School of International Affairs and is currently completing her Ph.D. in computer science at the National Aerospace University Kharkiv Aviation Institute. Halyna is also a visiting Ph.D. student in the Department of Political Science at the University of Waterloo.

Maya is a Digital Policy Hub undergraduate fellow and a management, international business and economics student at the University of Toronto. Throughout her degree, she has completed internships in finance and policy roles, and currently serves as a student governor on the university’s governing council. She is a co-chair of Rotary International’s Youth Advisory Council and has volunteered on Rotary projects around the world. Her multidisciplinary research interests stem from her work with the Reach Alliance and the Canadian Economics Association and as a research assistant; she aims to continue exploring the intersections of public, private and non-profit digital solutions to labour inequalities as a Digital Policy Hub fellow

Joseph Scarfone is a Digital Policy Hub master’s fellow and MES Sustainability Management student at the University of Waterloo, as well as an adjunct professor at Conestoga College. Joseph’s research primarily focuses on non-financial corporate reporting and sustainable finance, where he employs machine learning models for large-scale data mining and textual analytics. At the Digital Policy Hub, Joseph is researching corporate digital responsibility reporting and governance practices from a normative and positive perspective. His research strives to help improve transparency regarding how disruptive technologies and big data are used within companies for regulators and the wider public.

Caleigh Wong is a Digital Policy Hub master’s fellow and currently pursuing her master’s in political science at McGill University on a 2023 McCall MacBain scholarship. She is a graduate of an international development studies and civil engineering concurrent degrees program from Dalhousie University. As a former member of the Canadian Armed Forces, Caleigh has focused her research on organizational culture change and military sexual violence; she has testified as a witness on parliamentary studies, addressed the Prime Minister and published work on the subject of Canadian military culture. Currently, she is investigating how organizational culture impacts data management in sexual violence tracking, monitoring and reporting.

Sophie Liu is a Digital Policy Hub doctoral fellow and Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of British Columbia, specializing in law and society, race and migration. Her dissertation focuses on Canadian society’s response to hate, including online hate expression. Her particular areas of interest include digital platform regulation, pathways to justice for individuals impacted by hate and the role of hate-crime and hate-incident data in policy making. She employs diverse methodologies to explore these issues, including survey experiments, in-depth interviews and content analysis.

Dana Cramer is a Digital Policy Hub doctoral fellow researching policy and governance approaches for emerging technologies. She was a top 10 finalist for the 2023 International Institute of Communications Future Leaders’ Competition and is a previous winner of the 2020 Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission’s Prize for Excellence in Policy Research. She leads the Youth Internet Governance Forum (IGF) Canada and sits on the Canadian IGF All-Hands Committee. In 2023, she held a fellowship with the American Registry for Internet Numbers. She is pursuing her Ph.D. at Toronto Metropolitan University and York University’s Joint Graduate Program in Communication and Culture.

Madison Lee is a doctoral fellow at the Digital Policy Hub and a Ph.D. student at the Balsillie School of International Affairs in Waterloo, Ontario, specializing in the field of international political economy. Madison’s research lies at the intersection of technology and international affairs. Her work offers valuable insights into the shifting paradigms of digital governance, addressing critical questions in the realm of international political economy. Madison’s journey into the world of decentralized web mechanisms began with her master’s degree at the University of Waterloo. During that time, she delved deep into the inner workings and historical evolution of digital currency, laying a solid foundation for her current doctoral research.

Michael P. A. Murphy is a post-doctoral fellow both at the Digital Policy Hub and at Queen’s University’s Department of Political Studies and Centre for International and Defence Policy. He is the author of Quantum Social Theory for Critical International Relations Theorists (Palgrave, 2021), more than 30 peer-reviewed articles, and numerous book reviews and chapters, receiving over 1,600 citations. He serves as the editorial assistant at Security Dialogue and is past president of the Education and Learning in International Affairs Section of the International Studies Association.

Elia Rasky holds a Ph.D. in political science from York University. He is a Digital Policy Hub post-doctoral fellow with research interests including Canadian politics, global political economy, and science and innovation policy. His Hub research will explore the role of academics, business associations and civil society actors in the development of AI policies and regulations in Canada.

Shirley Anne Scharf is a visiting researcher with the CN-Paul M. Tellier Chair on Business and Public Policy at the University of Ottawa, where she also obtained her Ph.D. in public administration. Her dissertation examined “Canadian Innovation Policy: The Continuing Challenge” (2022). Shirley Anne is a Digital Policy Hub post-doctoral fellow, and her current research focuses on innovation policy from two innovation leaders — the Republic of Korea and Sweden — and the comparative lessons Canada may learn from this.

Badriyya Yusuf is a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council doctoral candidate in international relations in the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University, Canada. She holds a master’s degree in development practice from the University of Winnipeg. Badriyya adopts an interdisciplinary approach to global digital governance, political economy and international development. Her recent work on regional security governance has been published by Routledge and International Journal. Her research as a doctoral fellow with the Digital Policy Hub will examine data governance frameworks, with a focus on Sub-Saharan Africa.