Post by Kevin Budning, PhD

Yesterday, the Conference of Defence Associations Institute hosted one of my favourite events of the year: the Graduate Student Conference. This year’s cohort was exceptional, and it was a pleasure to hear such thoughtful and well-researched presentations from emerging voices in defence and security studies. Congratulations to: 🥇 Soha S. (Western University) 🥈 Brian Wu (The Norman Paterson School of International Affairs) 🥉 Blair Maddock-Ferrie (The Norman Paterson School of International Affairs) 👏 Special shoutout to Sophia Garofalo (Georgetown University) for winning Best Presenter. Thank you to our esteemed judges for taking time out of their busy schedules, KPMG for hosting, and Jacqueline O'Neill for the insightful and thought-provoking keynote address. Events like this are always a reminder of the depth of talent and fresh thinking emerging in Canada’s defence and national security community. Looking forward to seeing where these students go next.