The #cdnfp Twitterati: Thinkers and Doers
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
