Jana Walkowski

Brief Biography

Jana Walkowski is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Studies at Queen’s University, specializing in international relations and comparative politics. Her research interests lie at the intersection of migration studies, global political economy, and urban geography to understand issues of global displacement occurring at local and global scales. Her PhD dissertation critically interrogates and compares the multi-scalar governance of the so-called “refugee housing crisis” in Berlin, Germany and Toronto, Canada to highlight how corresponding tensions and power relations shapes access to adequate initial shelter accommodation for refugees upon arrival. Alongside her studies, Jana works as a teaching assistant and graduate research fellow, acts as the 2024-2025 Political Studies Graduate Student Association (PSGSA) co-chair, and volunteers with KEYS newcomer services. Jana holds a master’s degree in political science from McGill University and a bachelor’s degree in Global Development Studies from Queen’s University. Outside her studies you can find her training for triathlons and local running events, walking by the waterfront or reading her favourite books in local coffee shops.

Selected Awards

• W.C. Good Memorial Fellowship, 2024-2025
• Ontario Graduate Scholarship (OGS), 2021-2025
• Dean’s fieldwork Grant, 2023-2024
• Queen’s Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF), 2022-2024
• SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship- Master’s (CGS M), 2020-2021
• 2021 Jean Monnet Award for Excellence in European Studies (Jean Monnet Centre Montréal)

Teaching Assistantships

• POLS 242- Comparative Politics: Contemporary regimes (Winter 2024)
• POLS 384- Strategies of Political Research (Fall 2023, Fall 2022)
• POLS 262- International Political Economy (Winter 2023)
• DEVS 101-Introduction to International Development (Fall 2022)
• POLS 110- Introduction to Politics and Government (Fall 2021, Winter 2021)

Selected Conference Contributions

• Exploring the Performative Borderwork of the European Union’s Bordering Practices through the method of Critical Visual Discourse Analysis”, Canadian Political Science Association Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada (June 12-24. 2024)
• Speaker, “Understanding the Local Dimension of Global Displacements” presented at Queen’s Project in International Development (QPID) Youth Conference: Climate Justice is Social Justice: Exploring the Impacts of Climate Change on Displacement and Dispossession (March 27, 2024)
• Depoliticizing border externalization through development: An analysis of the EU’s Emergency Trust Fund for Africa Instrument”, International Studies Association, Montreal (held March 2023)
• ‘Depoliticizing border externalization through development: An analysis of the EU’s mainstreaming of migration-development activities through the EU Trust Fund for Africa Instrument’ The Welcoming of refugees and grassroots solidarity: state of research and best practices in Europe and Canada, held by the University if Genoa and the Institut national de la recherche scientifique within the scope of the Refinteg project, Genoa, Italy (presented at the University of Genoa on October 27, 2022)
• “Contested Borders and Contested States: The Political and Human Rights Consequences resulting from the Regulation of Migrant Flows between Africa and Europe: An exploration of these impacts in Libya,” Public Issues and Public Reason: A Conference of Applied Ethics and Critical Social Sciences, Carleton University, Canada (October 20, 2020)