The #cdnfp Twitterati: Thinkers and Doers

By: /
11 January, 2013
By: OpenCanada Staff

Visiting Scholar, Massey College, University of Toronto | @avrilbenoit

Avril Benoît is a former CBC broadcaster and Médecins Sans Frontières communications director. A humanitarian at heart, Benoît mostly tweets on overseas crises and Canadian foreign aid.

https://twitter.com/avrilbenoit/status/271996201770037248

Chris Blattman

Assistant Professor, Columbia University | @cblatts

Chris Blattman is a professor of international development at Columbia whose research focuses on poverty and violence in Africa. The Canadian academic knows his stuff and frequently tweets beyond his niche.

https://twitter.com/cblatts/status/252866843558178816

Stephanie Carvin

Adjunct Professor, University of Ottawa | @StephanieCarvin

Having returned from an extended stint in U.K. academia, Stephanie Carvin specializes in international law, security, and, lately, drones (we’ve been pretty obsessed with them, too). On Twitter, the Ottawa-based researcher keeps her followers informed and entertained.

https://twitter.com/StephanieCarvin/status/280651217313619968

François-Philippe Champagne

Co-President, Banff Forum | @FPCChampagne

François-Philippe Champagne is a London-based Canadian business executive whom the World Economic Forum named a Young Global Leader in 2009. True to the title, Champagne’s feed is global in scope.

https://twitter.com/FPCChampagne/status/271543140794658816

Christine Cheng

Lecturer, King’s College London | @cheng_christine

Christine Cheng is a Canadian professor of international relations at King’s College London. Cheng’s tweets cover conflict, corruption, women in politics and lots more in between.

https://twitter.com/cheng_christine/status/273108856270376961

Ron Deibert

Professor, University of Toronto | @RonDeibert

Ron Deibert is a professor of political science and the director of the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab. The hacktivist’s feed keeps tabs on everything from cyberwar between states to the dangers of Skype.

https://twitter.com/RonDeibert/status/173171919183544320

Julian Dierkes

Associate Professor, University of British Columbia | @jdierkes

Julian Dierkes is a sociologist and UBC professor who specializes in contemporary Mongolia and Japan. On Twitter, Dierkes interacts with Mongolian MPs, tweets in Japanese and highlights where Canadian interests intersect with Asia.

https://twitter.com/jdierkes/status/255781887786749952

Renée Filiatrault

Commentator | @reneefilly

Renée Filiatrault has served under national defence ministers at home and on Task Force Kandahar in Afghanistan. The former public servant’s feed reflects her defence expertise and penchant for twiplomacy.

https://twitter.com/reneefilly/status/269160170079264768

Scott Gilmore

CEO and Founder, Building Markets | @Scott_Gilmore

Scott Gilmore is a Canadian ex-diplomat turned champion of local entrepreneurs. Gilmore tweets commentary and quips on poverty, aid and the private sector.

https://twitter.com/Scott_Gilmore/status/278888941850091520

Robert Greenhill

Managing Director, World Economic Forum | @RobertGreenhill

Former CIDA president Robert Greenhill joined the WEF in 2008. Like the forums he frequents, Greenhill’s feed brings together ideas from a spectrum of fields.

https://twitter.com/RobertGreenhill/status/161445000176074752

Philippe Lagassé

Assistant Professor, University of Ottawa | @pmlagasse

Philippe Lagassé is a professor of public and international affairs at the University of Ottawa. More conversation than curation, Lagassé’s Twitter feed is a forum for scholarly back and forth on Canadian defence policy and the Crown.

https://twitter.com/pmlagasse/status/259674152489869312

Emmett Macfarlane

Assistant Professor, University of Waterloo | @EmmMacfarlane

Emmett Macfarlane is a political scientist who specializes in the Supreme Court of Canada and the Charter. Macfarlane tweets prolifically on Canadian affairs, domestic and foreign.

https://twitter.com/EmmMacfarlane/status/278222621185826816

Kyle Matthews

Senior Deputy Director, Will to Intervene Project | @kylecmatthews

Kyle Matthews was an aid worker and UN diplomat before joining Concordia’s Montreal Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies. Matthews is your Twitter source for all things R2P. He is also president of our Montreal Branch.

https://twitter.com/kylecmatthews/status/278268968064659456

John McArthur

Senior Fellow, UN Foundation | @mcarthur

John McArthur is an international development economist with the UN Foundation and the Brookings Institution. McArthur calls himself an optimist and mostly tweets on the future of development.

https://twitter.com/mcarthur/status/96850017213612032

Catherine McKenna

Executive Director, Canadian Lawyers Abroad | @cathmckenna

Catherine McKenna co-founded CLA, co-heads the Banff Forum and teaches at the University of Toronto. McKenna consistently tweets on inequality, women and the law in Canada and beyond.

https://twitter.com/cathmckenna/status/166649558502342656

Errol Mendes

Professor, University of Ottawa | @3mendous

Errol Mendes is a law professor and frequent critic of Canada’s Conservative government. Mendes tweets a mix of politics, corporate governance and human rights.

https://twitter.com/3mendous/status/256387057323233281

David Miller

Counsel, International Business and Sustainability, Aird & Berlis LLP | @iamdavidmiller

Formerly Toronto’s mayor and urban diplomat, David Miller now advises the likes of the World Bank and OECD. Miller’s interactive feed takes on environmental issues and then some.

https://twitter.com/iamdavidmiller/status/277178457610403841

Samer Muscati

Researcher, Human Rights Watch | @SamerHRW

Samer Muscati is a Canadian lawyer, documentary photographer and human rights researcher. On Twitter, Muscati aggregates (mostly Human Rights Watch) reporting on women’s rights violations from BC to the UAE.

https://twitter.com/SamerHRW/status/278132547668557824

Samantha Nutt

Founder and Executive Director, War Child North America | @SamanthaNutt

Samantha Nutt is a physician, humanitarian and professor at the University of Toronto. Nutt’s feed finds the right balance of interaction, commentary and War Child plugs.

https://twitter.com/SamanthaNutt/status/281031461879042049

Taylor Owen

Research Director, Tow Center for Digital Journalism, Columbia University | @taylor_owen

Taylor Owen is the Senior Editor of OpenCanada.org, Canada’s hub for international affairs. Now based in New York, where he works @TowCenter, Taylor tweets at the intersection of international relations, technology, and journalism.

https://twitter.com/taylor_owen/status/287021035243597824

Roland Paris

Associate Professor, University of Ottawa | @rolandparis

Roland Paris is the Director of the Centre for International Policy Studies at the University of Ottawa (on loan to Sciences Po in Paris, the city, for 2012-2013). Paris tweets sharp and timely commentary on #cdnfp and foreign affairs at large.

Canadian govt suspension of diplomatic relations w/ Iran characteristic of its black/white approach to intl affairs. Don’t talk to bad guys.


— Roland Paris (@rolandparis) September 7, 2012


George Roter

CEO and Co-Founder, Engineers Without Borders Canada | @geroter

George Roter is Canada’s advocate for engineering with a human face. Between all the #EWB mentions, Roter wades into wider debates on development, aid, and innovation.

https://twitter.com/geroter/status/113254165756657664

Stephen Saideman

Professor, Carleton University | @smsaideman

Stephen Saideman is Carleton’s Paterson Chair in International Affairs and a specialist in international relations of ethnic conflict. An American who has spent the last decade in Canadian academia, Saideman often wanders into #cdnfp territory on Twitter and our Round Table blog.

https://twitter.com/smsaideman/status/263382984713990144

Rana Sarkar

Co-Chair, Munk School of Global Affairs | @RanaSarkar_

In addition to co-chairing the Munk School, Rana Sarkar is the CEO of the Canada-India Business Council. While he isn’t as frequent as we’d like, he tweets on everything from Chinese censorship to Canadian energy exports.

https://twitter.com/RanaSarkar_/status/277159451046330368

Mark Sedra

President, Security Governance Group | @msedra

Former CIGI fellow Mark Sedra is an international security expert and lecturer at the University of Waterloo. Sedra’s feed is your annotated reading list on security in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

https://twitter.com/msedra/status/203477558669479936

Peter Singer

CEO, Grand Challenges Canada | @PeterASinger

Peter Singer is a professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and a “lab to village” champion. Singer frequently updates his feed with the latest on global health.

https://twitter.com/PeterASinger/status/281511828062887936

Gordon Smith

Distinguished Fellow, Centre for International Governance Innovation | @GordonSmithG20

With stints as Canada’s deputy foreign affairs minister, NATO ambassador, and G7/G8 sherpa, Gordon Smith’s career is as distinguished as his CIGI fellowship. Smith takes to Twitter for conversation and collaboration, largely on Syria and internet governance.

https://twitter.com/gordonsmithG20/status/279298684871663617

Shauna Sylvester

Fellow, Simon Fraser University | @ShaunaSylvester

Shauna Sylvester is a Fellow at SFU’s Centre for Dialogue, the director of Canada’s World and executive director of Carbon Talks. On and offline, Sylvester gets people talking about sustainability.

https://twitter.com/ShaunaSylvester/status/141340445371400193

Yuen Pau Woo

President and CEO, Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada | @yuenpauwoo

Yuen Pau Woo is Canada’s go-to guy for insights on Asia. Woo’s feed is quieter than APF Canada’s account, but he periodically tweets must-reads on Canada-Asia relations.

https://twitter.com/yuenpauwoo/status/249017458478948352

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