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Biography

Tehya Blake (she/her/elle) is a bilingual PhD student in the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University. She is supervised by Dr. Stéfanie von Hlatky and works on research related to women, peace and security (WPS) and conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). She is affiliated with the Network for Strategic Analysis (NSA/RAS), the Center for International and Defence Policy (CIDP) and Women in International Security – Canada (WIIS-C). Prior to beginning her doctoral degree, Tehya was a policy analyst with the Department of National Defence in Ottawa. She completed her M.A. at Queen’s University (2024), and her B.A. (Hons) at St. Francis Xavier University (2023).

Awards

• Dean’s Award for Global Sustainability (Queen’s 2025)
• G.G. Baron Van der Feltz Award (Queen's 2024)
• Dr. John B. Stewart (St.FX 2023)
• Kontac Prize in Political Science (St.FX 2023)

Biography

Gillian is a doctoral student specializing in Canadian politics, working under the supervision of Dr. Jonathan Rose. Her research interests focus on political communication, in particular the intersections between government, media, and democracy.

Research interests

Canadian politics; political communication; media and politics; government messaging; mass media; provincial politics

Teaching

POLS 285 Introduction to Statistics (Winter 2026)

POLS 391 Introduction to Electoral Systems (Fall 2025)

Publications

Peer-Reviewed Articles

• Brown, Gillian, Catherine St. John, Hope Ace and Kiera Ladner. “Combatting mis- and disinformation: Lessons from the Australian Voice.” At the Forks (forthcoming).

Op Eds

• Brown, Gillian and Alex Marland. 2025. “It’s time for Liberal MPs to speak up.” Policy Options, February 17.

Selected Awards

• Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2025-26)
• Queen’s University Stanley Drabek Graduate Award in Political Studies (2025)
• Queen’s University Graduate Entrance Award (2025)
• Acadia University Jarislowsky Studentship in Political Leadership and Media Studies in Canada (2024)

Feminist political economy; social reproduction; gender and violence.

Biography

Siavash's research focuses on Middle Eastern security and diplomacy, with a particular focus on Israeli national security, the Islamic Republic (of Iran) nuclear and missile program, Iranian restoration, and the evolving regional alignments shaped by the Abraham Accords.

Teaching

POLS 242 Comparative Politics: Contemporary Regimes (Teaching Assistant)

Selected Publications

 Providence, 18 April 2023.

 The National Interest, 9 November 2022 (co-authored with Farhad Rezaei).

 The Jerusalem Post, 27 March 2022. 

 The Jerusalem post, 28 November 2023.

Brief Biography

Dr. Zainab Monisola Olaitan is a Post-Doctoral Fellow at the Centre for International and Defence Policy. Her research focuses on Afrofeminist thought, gender and representation, and the women, peace and security agenda in Africa. She holds a PhD and MA from the University of Pretoria, a BSocSci (Hons) in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from the University of Cape Town, and a BSc (Hons) in Political Science from the University of Lagos. She is a Research Associate at the Institute for Pan-African Thought and Conversation (IPATC) at the University of Johannesburg. Dr. Olaitan is the author of Women’s Representation in African Politics: Beyond Numbers (2024) and the lead editor of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women in Africa and the Caribbean: Linking the Two Regions (2025), both published by Palgrave Macmillan. She is a 2022 Margaret McNamara Education Grants (MMEG) recipient in recognition of her impactful research on women, a 2021-2023 University of Pretoria Doctoral Research Scholarship recipient, a 2019 Mastercard Foundation Scholar and 2018 Mandela Rhodes Scholar. 

Teaching

POLS 261 International Politics (Fall 2025)

For detailed information about political studies courses and instructors, please refer to the Undergraduate and Graduate pages.