Congratulations to the four FPGA educators who have received 2026 �Ӱ�ԭ�� Achievement Awards, administered by the Office of the Vice-President (Research, Innovation and International) as well as the Office of the Provost and Vice-President (Academic). 

“We are proud and grateful to our colleagues for their dedication to meaningful research and outstanding teaching,” said Interim Dean Mary Francoli. “Their work exemplifies the role of FPGA in generating knowledge that matters and in preparing students to address complex challenges facing communities in Canada and around the world.” 

2026 Achievement Award recipients 

Research Achievement Award 

William Walters��(Political Science)����

Chancellor’s Professor William Walters is a globally recognized expert in the areas of borders and migration, Foucault studies, international political sociology and critical security research. In 2023 and 2024, he was listed as a top 2% most-cited scientist in the world by Elsevier/Stanford’s authoritative ranking. Throughout the past decade, he played a leading role in the development of secrecy studies as a new interdisciplinary field. Prof. Walters’ contributions have been recognized with a visiting professorship in the UK and a research post at the prestigious Institute for Advanced Studies in Amsterdam. His academic works have been translated on 17 occasions into nine different languages.  

Teaching Award 

Peter Andree��(Political Science)��

Enhanced mindfulness enables students to respond to ecological challenges with greater clarity, compassion, confidence and courage. Mindfulness offers a response to growing eco-anxiety, strategic insight, career-enhancing skills and a deeper connection with the more-than-human. This project will offer in-class mindfulness training for ecopolitics students. It will also stimulate further discussion among post-secondary educators and support staff at �Ӱ�ԭ��, in Ottawa and beyond, about how action on ecopolitical issues can benefit from the cultivation of mindfulness.   

Professional Achievement Award 

Katie Graham��(Journalism and Communication)��

Katie creates student-focused learning environments that foster autonomy and a sense of belonging. Through flipped classrooms, experiential learning, and alternative grading, she shifts focus from evaluation to experimentation. Students are encouraged to take creative risks in a supportive environment, becoming confident storytellers and critical creators. Beyond the classroom, Katie builds community and collaboration among students in the Media Production and Design program, extending learning through mentorship and shared creative practice.  

Contract Instructor Teaching Award 

Sujoy Chatterjee (Public Policy and Administration)����

While formally trained in law, Sujoy is fascinated by the moral philosophy behind public policy, a passion he actively explores with his students. Treating the classroom as a professional training ground, he coaches students to bridge the gap between abstract ethical theory and real-world implementation. His mentorship goes beyond traditional instruction, guiding aspiring leaders to build the critical judgment and practical skills needed to ethically shape tomorrow’s technology and governance.  

The FPGA Excellence Awards highlight the talented and dedicated faculty, contract instructors, and staff in the Faculty of Public and Global Affairs.��

We are now accepting applications for the��2026��FPGA Excellence Awards��in the following categories:����

• Equity and Inclusion Excellence Award
• FPGA Community Engagement Excellence Award
• Public Commentary Excellence Award
• Research Excellence Award
• Staff Excellence Award
• Teaching Excellence Awards

All awards are decided by separate committees formed each year for each award and chaired by an Associate Dean. The awards will be presented at the FPGA Excellence Celebration on May 14, 2026. 

The application deadline for completed application packages is��March 18, 2026.��

While graduate student Farah Ormelet was considering topics for her master’s thesis in Communication, she spent some time looking at TikTok accounts targeting Haitians in Canada, as well as those interested in crossing the border.

“I found lots of reels on how to go to Canada, what to do and what not to do. Some were by lawyers giving legal advice; some were by smugglers who can drive you to the border,” recalls Ormelet. “It was a sea of information targeting this vulnerable population and I wanted to know how they were making sense of it.”

As the graduate student recipient of the 2026 FPGA EDI Research Award, Ormelet received a grant of $3,000 to pursue her topic, “The Digital Railroad: Haitian Asylum Seekers’ Transnational Journey through TikTok,” which will inform her master’s thesis.

In addition to analyzing social media content, Ormelet will seek out Haitians who arrived in Canada and ask them how social media use and the current political climate in the U.S. played a role in their journey.

“This is important because Haitians are often interviewed about the terrible things happening in their country. This project focuses on them as media users: we get to see them in a different light where they’re taking charge of their own life and using digital skills to do so.”

Japanese Canadians in the 1960s

The undergraduate FPGA EDI Research Award was given to Kiran Niet, a student in the Bachelor of Global and International Studies program, who received $2,000 to study his topic, ““Homeland Tourist/Coming Home: Exploring Japanese Canadian Cultural Identity in the Radical 1960s.”

“I’m a fourth-generation Japanese Canadian and I didn’t grow up with a lot of Japanese culture or community around me, so I wanted to better understand my Japanese-Canadian heritage,” he explains.

That curiosity deepened as Niet learned about 1960s politics in a class led by Professor Candace Sobers.

“I just began to connect the dots and started wondering, what were Japanese Canadians doing? What was their relationship to the [protest] movement?”

In his research, Niet discovered The New Canadian, a newspaper published in Japanese and English, that linked Japanese communities across Canada.

“There was so much back and forth in the paper—lots of opinion pieces—debating how Japanese Canadians should think about their relationships to these movements and to their Canadian-ness,” says Niet. “This wasn’t long after Japanese citizens living on the West Coast were placed in internment during World War II. That legacy has permeated the community ever since.”

As part of his research, Niet plans to interview his grandfather, who was 22 years old in 1968, the same age as Niet is now. He was a professional photographer, and Niet hopes to include some of his photographs in the final project.

The FPGA Student EDI Research Awards are annual awards that recognize the importance of, and encourage student research in, EDI and reconciliation-related topics.

The Faculty of Public and Global Affairs is launching an EDI Research Award at the undergraduate and graduate level.

The Dean’s Office will fund one undergraduate student award, valued at $2,000, and one graduate student award, valued at $3,000, for the period of January 1st, 2025 to December 31st, 2025.

The establishment of this award is to recognize the importance of, and to encourage student research in, EDI and reconciliation-related topics as reflected in the Faculty’s strategic plan, Lead. Connect. Transform.

Applications can be found here and close on November 29, 2024.

Eligible projects will use EDI-informed considerations and reflect upon diversity and identity in substantial or significant ways, such as:

• research design, methodology (ex. intersectional analysis, GBA+ analysis),
• topic,
• social application of the research,
• the lived experience and/or community engagement of the student researcher submitting the research proposal, and other relevant considerations.

Each research proposal must be supported by a separate statement from the faculty member who will be supervising the project. Student proposals should pursue a topic of particular interest to them (e.g., the research proposal could explore new issues/topics of interest to them within existing research/labs/groups). Students must also submit their resume/CV, an academic audit, and a one-page cover page along with their research proposal.

Student Eligibility

To be eligible, undergraduate students must have completed at least the second year of their undergraduate program, have a minimum GPA of 9.0, and be taking a program and/or a major at the Faculty of Public and Global Affairs. Students graduating in June are

eligible for this program. Students can only hold this award once during their undergraduate degree.

Graduate students should have a minimum GPA of 9.0 and be taking a program at the Faculty of Public and Global Affairs. Students can only hold this award once during their graduate degree.

“Diversity and identity” may refer to disability, gender identity or expression, racialization, age, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, religion (creed), language, and other demographic dimensions.

Application Process

Applications will be due on November 29, 2024. Please ensure that your application materials are submitted online by the deadline. A letter of support from your supervising faculty indicating their willingness to supervise the project must also be submitted directly by the faculty member.

For more information, please contact the Office of the Dean, Faculty of Public and Global Affairs at odfpga@carleton.ca.