Jana Walkowski
Doctoral Candidate
She/Her
Political Studies
Doctoral Candidate
Brief Biography
Jana Walkowski is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Political Studies at Queenâs 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 ârefugee housing crisisâ 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 masterâs degree in political science from McGill University and a bachelorâs degree in Global Development Studies from Queenâs 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
- Deanâs fieldwork Grant, 2023-2024
- Queenâs Graduate Research Fellowship (GRF), 2022-2024
- SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship- Masterâs (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 Unionâs Bordering Practices through the method of Critical Visual Discourse Analysisâ, Canadian Political Science Association Annual Conference, Montreal, Canada (June 12-24. 2024)
- Speaker, âUnderstanding the Local Dimension of Global Displacementsâ presented at Queenâs 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 EUâs Emergency Trust Fund for Africa Instrumentâ, International Studies Association, Montreal (held March 2023)
- âDepoliticizing border externalization through development: An analysis of the EUâs mainstreaming of migration-development activities through the EU Trust Fund for Africa Instrumentâ 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)
- âContested 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,â Public Issues and Public Reason: A Conference of Applied Ethics and Critical Social Sciences, Carleton University, Canada (October 20, 2020)