CIGI’s Digital Policy Hub Enters Third Year, Launches New Cohort for 2025–2026

Fabrice Blais-Savoie is a Digital Policy Hub master’s fellow studying international public policy at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. During his Digital Policy Hub fellowship, he will be examining trade in data and transnational regulatory mechanisms.

Daniel Dela Cruz is a Digital Policy Hub master’s fellow and a second-year master’s student in public and international affairs at Glendon College, York University. He holds a B.A. in language and intercultural relations and a postgraduate certificate in public administration and leadership from Toronto Metropolitan University. His research at the Digital Policy Hub will examine various government-led digital literacy strategies implemented alongside broadband deployment, with the aim of identifying policy approaches that bridge the digital divide and support equitable participation for rural and Indigenous communities in the digital economy.

Mehrsa Ehsani is a Digital Policy Hub post-doctoral fellow specializing in entrepreneurship and innovation, with a Ph.D. from the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. Her research investigates how generative artificial intelligence (AI) can serve as both a tool of empowerment and a source of new bias for minority entrepreneurs. During her Digital Policy Hub fellowship, she will examine how AI adoption reshapes entrepreneurial strategy, access and equity. Mehrsa’s work blends deep engagement with marginalized founders and policy-driven scholarship to advance inclusive, responsible innovation.

Based in Montreal, Canada, Kyle Hiebert is a Digital Policy Hub visiting fellow and a researcher and independent political risk analyst focused on globalization, conflict and emerging technologies. He is a consultant for the African Futures initiative at the Institute for Security Studies and was formerly based in South Africa as deputy editor of the Africa Conflict Monitor, a monthly digital report dissecting the causes and effects of war, terrorism and unrest across the continent.

Kyle’s work has also been published in or by Newsweek, The Walrus, CBC News, The Hill, Computer Weekly, Toronto Star, Middle East Eye, the Canadian Global Affairs Institute, Política Exterior and elsewhere.

Amal Hussein is a Digital Policy Hub master’s fellow and an M.Sc. candidate in systems science and engineering with a concentration in interdisciplinary artificial intelligence (AI) at the University of Ottawa. She contributes research on AI ethics and governance with the Canadian Robotics and Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design Laboratory. A multidisciplinary designer with a background in systems design and applied AI, Amal explores how global AI ethics principles align with African political, economic and governance contexts. Her work spans public interest technology, civic tech innovation and responsible systems design, and is informed by her prior experience in federal digital service delivery.

Jeffrey Klinck is an undergraduate fellow at the Digital Policy Hub and a third-year engineering physics student at the University of Toronto. His research is centred on blockchain technology, with a focus on smart contract design and decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure. His work on DeFi has been published in the ACM International Journal of Network Management, and he has contributed to collaborative projects between academia and emerging blockchain companies. During his fellowship, Jeffrey will investigate the technical implementation of stablecoin technologies, with an emphasis on enforcing anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism policies.

Julianna Kowlessar is a Digital Policy Hub doctoral fellow and a Ph.D. candidate in the joint graduate program in communication and culture at York and Toronto Metropolitan Universities. Her research centres on advancing Canadian critical media literacy education through innovative pedagogical methods, including, but not limited to, games for K–12 students. During her Digital Policy Hub fellowship, she will be examining the history of media literacy education initiatives across Canadian curricula, identifying relevant gaps, and exploring potential policies that can serve as a starting point in thinking about how critical media literacy efforts can be expanded nationally.

Clarence Lakpini is a Digital Policy Hub doctoral fellow pursuing a Ph.D. in intellectual property law at the University of Ottawa. During his Digital Policy Hub fellowship, he will examine how Nigeria can foster an equitable energy transition by leveraging digital technologies and reforming its patent system to accelerate the adoption of solar energy. His research focuses on the intersection of digital technologies, patent law and energy justice in the Nigerian context, with the goal of providing policy recommendations for a just transition that supports underserved populations.

Julian Lam is a Digital Policy Hub master’s fellow and is currently studying law at the University of British Columbia. As a Digital Policy Hub fellow, he is exploring how civic-technology platforms can be used to enhance the inclusivity, legitimacy and effectiveness of artificial intelligence (AI) governance at both the national and international levels. His research builds on previous work leading AI policy initiatives at the Centre for Media, Technology and Democracy at McGill University, as well as developing the global strategy for Canada’s digital supercluster. He holds a B.A. in international relations from UBC and an M.P.P. from McGill, where he was a McCall MacBain scholar.

Anna Legault is a Digital Policy Hub master’s fellow pursuing an M.A. in digital humanities at McGill University. With a background in linguistics and translation for the United Nations and Canadian government, she is a practitioner-academic of interdisciplinary language work. As part of the Digital Policy Hub fellowship, she will be examining the role of emerging language translation technologies in geopolitics.

Gabrielle Lim is a Digital Policy Hub doctoral fellow and a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto and is affiliated with the Citizen Lab at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.

Gabrielle’s research stands at the intersection of technology, security and global governance. Her work examines how emerging technologies in outer space and cyberspace shape international relations, conceptions of sovereignty and the global commons. She was previously an Open Technology Fund Information Controls Fellow and studied at the Shorenstein Center at the Harvard Kennedy School, Data and Society. You can read more about her at gabriellelim.com.

Alexander F. Martin is a Digital Policy Hub doctoral fellow and a Ph.D. student in science and technology studies at York University. His research focuses on digital policy, platform governance and the social impacts of emerging technologies. He studies decentralized platforms such as Mastodon and Bluesky as models for alternative governance. His work also addresses artificial intelligence, content moderation and mis/disinformation, advocating for adaptive, layered policy approaches. His dissertation explores Canadian digital sovereignty and leadership in global digital governance. He previously worked with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Science and Technology Organization as a strategic communications officer. Alexander is a junior fellow at the Canadian International Council and teaches communication at Conestoga College part-time.

Karmvir K. Padda is a Digital Policy Hub doctoral fellow and a Ph.D. candidate in sociology at the University of Waterloo. During her fellowship, she will examine how platform affordances shape the spread of gendered misinformation and extremist discourse across moderated and unmoderated online spaces.

Mark Robbins is an entrepreneurial public servant in the Government of Canada working at the Department of National Defence. He has spent his career working in the innovation and emerging technology space, not only as a public servant, but also as a think-tank advisor to governments and a professional researcher. Some of his greatest hits to date involve creating well-respected and influential research on innovation policy, and contributing to government’s perspective on the rapid growth of emerging technologies such as drones and artificial intelligence. Perhaps most importantly, he has been able to roll his sleeves up and get in the trenches with amazing start-ups, scale-ups, scientists and incubators around the world to make things happen.

Anna Romandash is an award-winning journalist and author of Women of Ukraine: Reportages from the War and Beyond (2023). A visiting fellow at the Digital Policy Hub, Anna was named Media Freedom Ambassador of Ukraine for her human rights and media work and was one of the winners of the European Institute of the Mediterranean literary contest for her reporting. In addition, she is the recipient of awards from Internews, the Council of Europe and the Samovydets Literary Reportage Contest for her work in Ukraine. Anna works at the intersection of media, technology and human rights, and is passionate about digitalizing democracy and making technology more inclusive.

Alonso Muñoz Sanchez is a Digital Policy Hub undergraduate fellow studying public policy and international relations at the University of Toronto. His research explores how governments can reduce the carbon footprint of artificial intelligence (AI) while leveraging its potential to accelerate the net-zero energy transition. Alonso has conducted research on social innovation, climate migration and international development, and presented at conferences in Toronto, Guadalajara, Amsterdam and New York City. Alonso hopes to pursue a career at the intersection of business and policy. He has completed internships at a government-relations consulting firm and at an advocacy group representing Ontario’s 444 local governments.

Nathaniel Sukhdeo is a Digital Policy Hub doctoral fellow and a law student at the University of Victoria. During his Digital Policy Hub fellowship, he will be examining an integration of Indigenous legal orders into Canadian digital governance policies to enhance democratic resilience and digital security. He holds a juris doctor and juris indigenarum doctor (Indigenous legal orders) from the University of Victoria Faculty of Law, a Master of Public Administration from the Royal Military College of Canada and a B.A. in political science from Western University. Nathaniel’s professional experience is as a naval warfare officer in the Royal Canadian Navy and as counsel with the Department of Justice Canada.

Dylan J. White is a visiting fellow at the Digital Policy Hub and a Ph.D. candidate studying the ethics of artificial intelligence (AI) at the University of Guelph. He also works as a data analytics consultant for the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador. During his Digital Policy Hub fellowship, he will examine how AI is reshaping digital attention economies and the governance challenges this transformation presents.