Political Science Students Brings Trade Research to Global Affairs Canada

When Hannah Brown began her master’s research, she never imagined she’d be presenting it to senior executives at Global Affairs Canada.

But thanks to a SSHRC-funded trip to Ottawa, organized by her supervisor Andrea Lawlor, the Political Science MA student found herself presenting her trade research to federal policy experts.

The temptation to feel awestruck, and to let imposter syndrome creep in, was hard to ignore. But in the debrief afterward, Brown and her fellow students were reminded that their presence in the room was earned.

“Just remember,” one of the faculty supervisors told the group, “the decision‑makers were taking notes from you.”

Organized by Lawlor, the SSHRC‑funded trip to Ottawa took students to the spaces where foreign‑policy decisions are made, and to show how academic research can translate into real‑world action.

“Showcasing the research talent of our students at venues where policy decisions are made illustrates that policymakers are interested in the work being done by young people – and that this generation are demanding a stake in the future of key policy issues like trade,” said Lawlor.

Brown’s research looks at how much Canadians know about trade policy. Specifically, it asks which individual characteristics inform how much people know about policy and how that’s affected by their location, age, education, how much they look at the news, and so on.

The opportunity to present that research to policymakers represented a striking culmination of months of work spent deep in data and analysis.

“It was very surreal. I tried not to think too much about who was in the room beforehand,” she said. “But afterwards, it really hit me that these were people making decisions based on what we were sharing.”

But even though it felt daunting, the supervision from Lawlor meant that Brown never felt unsupported.

“She went through our presentations line by line with us,” said Brown. “Even the morning of the presentation, she was still giving feedback. Having someone like that behind you makes a huge difference.”

The visit to Ottawa was one part of the SSHRC project, titled “Building trust in trade: Measuring the differentiated effects of physical and digital trade”, held with Dr. Erin Hannah, King’s University College, Western; Dr. Tyler Girard, Purdue University; and Dr. Alexandra Guisinger, Temple University.

“Canadians have been directly confronted with the realities of just how central trade is to many facets of our lives, and how disruptions to longstanding trade relationships can upend our economic security quite quickly,” said Lawlor.

And for Brown, it solidified her passion for policy research as a career path.

“I’ve always liked the research side of things, but being able to see it applied, to actually imagine policies being shaped by evidence, really solidified that this is the direction I want to go in,” she said.