About Global Governance

Global Governance at the University of Waterloo

David Welch

On behalf of the faculty and staff at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, I would like to welcome you to the PhD in Global Governance website. Here you will find a vast array of information about the PhD program along with our students and faculty.  

The PhD in Global Governance is an academic program that provides exceptional educational opportunities for high-achieving students from around the globe. We have an extraordinarily committed faculty, not only drawn from the Program’s founding departments of Economics, History and Political Science, along with the Faculty of Environment, but also from Anthropology, Sociology and Legal Studies, and Communication Arts.  

Long before it became commonplace, our PhD program adopted and embraced interdisciplinary approaches to exploring as well as proposing solutions to the contemporary challenges faced around the globe. While often interconnected, our inquiries and approaches are structured through the Research Fields of Conflict and Security, Global Political Economy, Global Social Governance, Global Justice and Human Rights, Global Environmental Governance, and Multilateral Institutions and Diplomacy. In classes as well as workshops and events, students have ample opportunity to engage with researchers as well as practitioners, along with advocates as well as leaders for global social change.  

We are committed to offering our graduate students a collaborative environment in which they will have the opportunity to learn from one another as well as from experts in their fields. Together, our students, faculty, and staff aim to explore new ideas, to create new as well as to expand research networks and alliances, and to support those endeavours that will enrich people’s lives and sustain livelihoods. Our students have the opportunity to gain skills and experiences that prepare them well for careers in the academy, government, non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, the non-profit sector, and even, in certain circumstances, the private sector. Our graduates have assumed academic and leadership positions nationally and internationally.  

We invite you to check back regularly as our website will also keep you up to date with the latest news from across our campus and beyond. 

- David A. Welch, Program Director