Dr. Finlayson's research program focuses on developing, implementing and evaluating self-management programs and rehabilitation services to enhance the health and well-being of people affected by multiple sclerosis (MS). These people include both individuals with the disease and their family caregivers. The ultimate goal of Dr. Finlayson's scholarship is to enable people affected by MS to lead healthy, meaningful lives, and exert choice and control over their participation in daily activities at home and in the community particularly as they age. Her specific topical interests include falls prevention, fatigue management, caregiver support, and utilization of health-related services. She is the co-founder of the International MS Falls Prevention Research Network, which includes 9 other MS rehabilitation researchers from the US, Ireland, Italy, and the UK.

Robert (Bob) Watts is a much sought after expert in Indigenous policy, negotiations, training and conflict resolution.

He is the former Interim Executive Director of the Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which examined and made recommendations regarding the Indian Residential School era and its legacy. Bob led the process, supported by an excellent team and many organizations from across Canada and internationally, to create the policies and processes in order to firmly establish the Commission.

Bob also served as the Chief of Staff to the National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Phil Fontaine, where he was a member of the team that negotiated the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the largest class action settlement in Canada’s history.

His public service includes Assistant Deputy Minister for the Government of Canada and Senior Executive in Ontario. Bob is a graduate of the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and Fellow at the Harvard Law School where he researched and lectured on the role culture plays in conflict. Bob has had the benefit of excellent Indigenous mentorship and western learning which allows him to work well in both worlds. Some of his Indigenous learning has focused on medicine plants, traditional songs, traditional environmental knowledge and leadership. Bob has led the negotiations of co-management agreements, helped build strong corporate partnerships and has lead processes focused on strategic plans and community development.

In 2019 Bob served as Chief of Staff to National Chief Perry Bellegarde and played a key role in historic budget allocations and the passage of Bills C-91 and 92.  Currently, Bob is the Vice President of Indigenous Relations at the NWMO and an Adjunct Professor and Distinguished Fellow at Queen’s University, Kingston Ontario where he developed one the first graduate level courses on Reconciliation in the country.

Bob is a Board Member with the Consensus Building Institute, Cambridge MA and with the Indigenous Advanced Education and Skills Council.  He is also the Chair of the Downie-Wenjack Fund and Chair of Reconciliation Canada.   Bob is a recipient of the Indspire Award for Public Service and recently received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from McMaster University. He has taught, debated and lectured at a number of universities in Canada and the United States.

He is from the Mohawk and Ojibway Nations and resides at Six Nations Reserve, Ontario. Bob carries and honours his Ojibwe Spirit Name, Kinoozishingwak (Tall Pine) and is a member of the Bear Clan.

David M.C. Walker is Professor in the Department of Emergency Medicine at the School of Medicine at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., where he is cross-appointed to the School of Policy Studies. He is a member of the consultant staff at Kingston Health Sciences Centre (KHSC).

Born in England, Dr. Walker attended Harrow School then immigrated to Canada. He graduated with an MD from Queen’s and was certified in internal medicine. He was awarded Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada in 1975.

A career in academic emergency medicine at Queen’s and KHSC led to roles as department head, associate and vice-dean. From 1999 to 2010, he was Dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, director of the university’s School of Medicine and CEO of the Southeastern Ontario Academic Medical Organization (SEAMO).

Dr. Walker has been President of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians, President of the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario and Chair of the Council of Ontario Faculties of Medicine. He has served government (by Order in Council) as Chair of the Expert Panel on SARS and Infectious Disease Control. He served as inaugural Board Chair of the Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion (Public Health Ontario), and as an advisor to ministers of health on policy areas concerning public health and ageing, and more recently to the Auditor General of Ontario and Ontario’s Long-Term Care COVID-19 Commission.

At Queen’s, Dr. Walker chaired the Principal’s Commission on Mental Health as well as the coordination and planning for the university’s 175th anniversary, served for three years as interim executive director of the School of Policy Studies and, most recently, was Special Advisor to Principal Patrick Deane on COVID-19.

He chairs the Frontenac, Lennox & Addington Ontario Health Team’s Transitional Leadership Collaborative and teaches in the schools of medicine and policy studies at Queen’s.

Lori Turnbull is the Director of the School of Public Administration and an Associate Professor of Political Science at Dalhousie University.

From July 2015 until July 2017, she was on secondment to the Privy Council Office (PCO), first as a Policy Advisor in the Machinery of Government Secretariat, then as Departmental Liaison to the Office of the Minister of Democratic Institutions, and finally as a Policy Advisor at the Priorities and Planning Secretariat.

Lori's research and teaching focus on parliamentary democracy and governance, public sector ethics, and democratic reform. She has taught political science and public administration at Dalhousie, Queen’s, Carleton, and Acadia universities. She has published a number of articles and book chapters and freelances with The Globe and Mail.  She is a featured columnist with the Canadian Government Executive magazine.

Her book Democratizing the Constitution: Reforming Responsible Government, co-authored with Mark Jarvis and the late Peter Aucoin, won the Donner Prize in 2011 and the Donald Smiley Prize in 2012.

Dr. Martha Munezhi is an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the School of Policy Studies in Kingston, Canada. She is also the Executive Director, Bridging Divides at the Office of the Vice President-Research and Innovation at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU), Toronto, Canada. 

Martha holds PhD, MSc and BSc degrees in Sociology, Demography and Economics. Her current work focuses on administrative management of the  Migrant Integration in the Mid-21st Century: Bridging Divides research program. Bridging Divides is a Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) research program that uses analytics, artificial intelligence and data-driven research to build a modern understanding of migrant integration in urban centres, locally and around the world. 

Martha has conducted research at numerous academic, government and not-for-profit organizations in Canada, the United States and Zimbabwe and believes in the importance of data-driven decisions and research that improves lives. Her research has been funded by grants from Queen’s University Faculty Association (QUFA) and Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). 

She is a Fulbright Fellow (2011-2013), Population Reference Bureau Fellow (2014-2015) and Philanthropic Education Organisation Fellow (2013-2014). She served on Queen’s University’s Senate as a Staff Senator; was a member of Queen’s University’s General Research Ethics Board; served on the Board of Kingston Community Health Centres and Kingston Health Sciences Centre; and led the Black Community Representation and Inclusion Working Group that is implementing the Scarborough Charter at Queen’s University.

Jamshed Merchant started his career as a Faculty Lecturer/Research Associate in the Department of Geography at McGill University. Following this, Jamshed joined the Alberta Department of Environment as a soil scientist providing advice to landowners, energy industry staff and other government officials on land reclamation principles and practices across the province.

Whilst still in Alberta, Jamshed joined the federal public service as a Soil Conservationist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC). In this capacity he worked with farmers, local decision makers, farm organizations, academia and provincial officials across the Prairie Provinces to promote and implement environmentally sustainable agricultural practices. Jamshed also worked as Director of Communications for a branch of AAFC that was headquartered in Regina, SK.

Jamshed moved to Ottawa and assumed the role of Executive Assistant to the Deputy Minister of AAFC and then as AAFC’s Director General of Strategic Business Planning. Jamshed left AAFC to become the Director General of Government on Line and e-Services in the department of Canadian Heritage.

Following this, Jamshed joined the Treasury Board Secretariat of Canada. Initially as the Executive Director for Transport, Infrastructure and the Environment and then as Assistant Secretary responsible for Aboriginal and Northern Affairs, the Climate Change Review and the Blue Ribbon Panel on Grants and Contributions.

Jamshed returned to AAFC as Assistant Deputy Minister, Agri-Environment Services Branch. Following this, Jamshed assumed his last position in the federal public service, before retiring, as Consul General for Canada in the US Upper Mid-West, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Jamshed has a BSc in Environmental Science from the University of East Anglia, UK and an MSc in Pedology and Soil Survey from the University of Reading, UK.

Barbara Martin has over 30 years of experience in Canada’s department of foreign affairs. Over the course of her career, Ms. Martin worked on a diverse range of international policy areas including security, peacekeeping, development, economic relations, human rights and Canada’s relations with the US. She also has extensive experience with respect to Canada’s multilateral engagement in the UN, ASEAN, G8, G20, NATO and NORAD. In 2013, she co-chaired the G20 Anti-Corruption Working Group during Russia’s G20 Presidency.

She was Director General for the Middle East and North Africa during the tumultuous period of the Arab Spring. And, having worked on Canada’s engagement in Afghanistan in the early years immediately following 9/11, she was later Director General of the Afghanistan Task Force during the lead up to Canada’s withdrawal from Kandahar. She has also worked in various capacities in the Privy Council Office, including in the Foreign and Defence Policy Secretariat, and the Security and Intelligence Secretariat.

Abroad, Ms. Martin has served in Canada’s embassy in Manila, Philippines (during the People Power Revolution), as well as in Canada’s Delegation to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris, France where, among other responsibilities, she addressed energy, environment and development issues.

She is a graduate of Queen’s University, with an MPA from the School of Policy Studies, as well as a BA Hons and a BEd. She spent one year of her undergraduate degree at St. Andrew’s University, Scotland. She is a Fellow of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute (CGAI). In addition, she has served as an elected Councillor in the Municipality of Chelsea, Quebec. 

Dr. Colin Magee is the Senior Evaluator, and Concepts and Doctrine Developer at the Dallaire Centre of Excellence for Peace and Security, at the Canadian Defence Academy. Dr. Magee retired from the Canadian Armed Forces as a Lieutenant Colonel in 2020, with close to four decades of command, staff, concept development and teaching experience in Canadian and international civilian and Professional Military Educational institutions, as well as practical experience in planning, commanding and conducting operations. 

Dr. Magee received his PhD in Management (Organizational Leadership in Complex Environments) from the University of Guelph, and holds master’s degrees, in War Studies from the Royal Military College of Canada and a Master’s of Military Arts and Sciences, from the US Army Command and General Staff College. 

Dr Magee has taught courses in the Theories of War, Leadership, Ethics, Strategic and Operational Planning, Organisational Behaviour, Defence and Security Policy, at the graduate level at academic and professional military institutions. He has also extensively developed and taught courses at the Canadian Forces College, US Army Command and General Staff College, and the Australian Command and Staff College in subjects related to senior officer professional and academic development

Dr. Magee has a number of operational deployments to Cyprus, Somalia and Afghanistan. In addition, he has served with NATO, the US Army, Australian Defence Force and as the Deputy Military Advisor at the Canadian Permanent Mission to the United Nations. His professional and academic backgrounds resulted in co-authoring a number of Canadian, Australian, American and United Nations policy documents, concepts and manuals, as well as academic works.    

A deeply interdisciplinary professional with two decades of experience, Malumir has spent the most recent decade delivering both formal and informal leadership with increasing responsibility on high visibility portfolios in three orders of public service in Canada. From negotiating the terms of a multi-billion dollar funding agreement, to overseeing a $2 billion infrastructure program, and leading a team through several organizational transformations, Malumir's modus operandi has been to deliver exemplary people-centered leadership with wise stewardship.

In addition to her Master of Public Administration from Queen's University and Bachelor of Urban and Regional Planning from Ryerson University, Malumir also spent a decade in multidisciplinary fulltime work experience which helped to inform her broad and inclusive perspective, including experience in media, the education sector and frontline customer service. Malumir is also a small business owner, a mixed settler and neurodivergent. Malumir identifies as she and her.