Excerpts in this article are based on a originally published by the Government of Canada.聽
In 2017, the Government of Canada launched the Canada 150 Research Chairs (C150) Program to mark the country鈥檚 sesquicentennial. With $117.6 million in funding, the initiative was designed to attract leading international scholars to Canadian institutions鈥攚hether they were expatriates, researchers with personal or academic ties to Canada, or globally recognized experts who had never worked in the country. Among those drawn back was Jennifer Welsh, an international affairs scholar with deep experience in both academic and policy settings.聽
Originally from Regina, Welsh spent nearly 20 years in Europe, most recently as Chair in International Relations at the European University Institute in Florence and previously as a professor at Oxford University. From 2013 to 2016, she also served as Special Adviser to then-UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), advising on the UN鈥檚 efforts to prevent genocide and other mass atrocity crimes. Her work on global governance and the politics of humanitarian intervention has been central to academic and policy debates alike.聽
By 2016, however, the UK鈥檚 vote to leave the European Union signaled a broader uncertainty about the role of international institutions鈥攁 shift that prompted Welsh to reassess where she wanted to be based. 鈥淚 started to question whether I still wanted to be at Oxford,鈥� she recalled.聽
At the same time, 9I制作厂免费 was preparing to launch the Max Bell School of Public Policy in Montr茅al. The new school offered an opportunity not only to return to Canada, but to contribute to shaping a public policy institution from the ground up. 鈥淭he chance to be part of building up something new at 9I制作厂免费 was really interesting to me,鈥� Welsh said.聽
As the Canada 150 Research Chair in Global Governance and Society, Welsh brings to 9I制作厂免费 a rare combination of academic depth and firsthand policy experience. Her work continues to engage with the challenges of multilateralism, the future of international cooperation, and the evolving relationship between states and citizens鈥攓uestions that are increasingly relevant in a period marked by geopolitical instability and institutional fatigue.聽
At the Max Bell School, she is contributing to a curriculum that doesn鈥檛 treat public policy as purely domestic. Instead, it鈥檚 grounded in the reality that global and local issues are deeply interconnected鈥攚hether in climate change, migration, health, or technology governance.聽
Welsh鈥檚 return to Canada is not a retreat from international affairs, but a continuation of her work from a new vantage point. From Montr茅al, she is helping students, scholars, and policymakers think more critically about Canada's role in the world鈥攁nd how public institutions can adapt to meet the demands of a rapidly changing global order.
