Associate Students

Léandre Benoit

leandre.benoit@umontreal.ca

Léandre Benoit is currently a Master’s candidate in Political Science at the Université de Montréal and holds a Bachelor’s degree in International Studies from the Université de Montréal. He is interested in European integration and the rise of the extreme right in Europe. His research project focuses on the participation of far-right parties in the politicization of the European Union.

Tristan Boursier

tristan.boursier[at]umontreal.ca

Tristan Boursier is a PhD student in political science at the Université de Montréal and at Sciences Po Paris (cotutelle). His research focusses on the structuring of social solidarity policies in the midst of cultural diversity. In his PhD project, he deals with theoretical and normative approaches to the concept of non-domination in the constitution of fair multicultural solidarity policies. His supervisors are Charles Blattberg and Réjane Sénac. Tristan obtained a Master’s degree in political science at the University of Geneva. He further studied at the University of Ottawa (Canada) and at Saint Joseph University in Beirut (Lebanon).

Christopher John Chanco

christopher.john.jacobi.chanco[at]umontreal.ca

Christopher is a master’s student in international studies at the University of Montreal. He received a master’s degree in geography at York University where he completed a thesis on the history of the Canadian labour movement and the integration of European Jewish refugees after the Second World War.

A journalist by training, Christopher often writes on immigration and human rights, having published on     the   of refugees in Canada and their with armed conflict in their countries of origin. Lately, he has been exploring the history of asylum, European migration policies, and the perceptions of migrants and refugees in western democracies.

Raised in the Philippines, he worked for a number of years as a researcher in the non-profit sector in Manila where he worked on issues to do with international aid and forced displacement in the southern Philippines

Laurent Charbonneau

laurent.charbonneau[at]umontreal.ca

Laurent Charbonneau is a Master’s student, thesis option, at the University of Montreal. He previously graduated from the University of Ottawa, where he obtained a Bachelor in political science as well as a minor in economics.

Laurent is interested in security issues and defence cooperation in the European context. He is a recipient of the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship from SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council).

Romain Crouton

romain.crouton[at]umontreal.ca

Romain Crouton is studying for a master’s degree in Political Science at the University of Montreal, a thesis option. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Political Science, Public Affairs and Diplomacy option from the Institut Catholique de Vendée, and he is particularly interested in linguistic problematics within international relations. This axis led him to write a thesis on the historical-political relations between Vendée and Québec and to write a research project on the relationship between identities and languages in Bulgaria.

His numerous stays in the Balkans lead him today to question the central issue of the French language and Francophonie in this region. His thesis is about the role and influence of the French-speaking world and the OIF in Eastern Europe, a thesis co-directed by Magdalena Dembinska and Frédéric Mérand.

Maxime Duchâteau

maxime.duchateau[at]umontreal.ca

Maxime Duchâteau is a PhD student in Political Science at the University of Montreal, specializing in International Relations. He graduated with a double bachelor’s degree in Arabic and Russian Studies from the University of Geneva (2015), as well as with a bachelor’s degree in Economics and Politics from the University of Montreal (2018). In June 2020, he completed a master’s degree in International Relations, majoring in Russian studies, from the Institut national des langues et civilisations orientales (INALCO, Paris – France). Thanks to this background, Maxime is fluent in Russian, and has a thorough knowledge of the Arabic language. His main research interests lie in the processes of communication and representations of the Self and the Other in the foreign policy of States, through diplomatic practices, as well as through more intangible tools such as “soft-power”. More specifically, Maxime’s doctoral reserch aims to better understand the discursive processes underlying the construction of French foreign policy towards Russia since 1991, from a critical perspective in International Relations Theory.

Juliette Dupont

juliette.dupont[at]umontreal.ca

Juliette Dupont is a doctoral student in political science at the Université de Montréal since September 2016. She holds a master’s degree in international and European affairs from Sciences Po Lille and worked for a year on the Senate Finance Committee.
Her thesis, directed by Frédéric Mérand in co-direction with Sabine Saurugger (Sciences Po Grenoble), is provisionally entitled “Le visa Schengen, verrou ou vitrine?” It compares the differences in the implementation of Schengen visa policy by European actors in China and Algeria, where there are considerable differences in refusal rates. Involving several fields abroad, notably in Algiers, Beijing and Brussels, Juliette’s research is funded by the FRQSC. Since 2017, she has also been coordinator of the Erasmus+ RESTEP (Transatlantic Network on Transatlantic Europe) research network.

Most recent publications.

Dupont Juliette (accepté pour publication), “Entre sécurité et rentabilité : évolutions du cadrage de la politique de visa Schengen de 1995 à 2015”, Politique Européenne, à paraitre.

Vivien Geoffray

vivien.geoffray@umontreal.ca

Vivien Geoffray is a last year student in International Studies bachelor at the University of Montreal. His major research topic is the influence of the European Union on the international diplomatic scene. Moreover, he is interested in the geopolitical issues in east asia. Notably about the conflict management in the area. His academic exchange in South Korea has allowed him to improve his language skills in Korean (Lv3) and in Japanese (Lv2). On the other hand, he is involved in the student organization CAIUM as an event manager and a writer. One article about the weight of French diplomacy has won a scholarship given by the CERIUM.

Nolwen Guegan

nolwen.guegan[at]umontreal.ca

Nolwen Guégan is currently a master’s student in International Studies, European Union option at the University of Montreal and in correlation with the Catholic University of Louvain. She holds a bi-disciplinary bachelor’s degree in Communication and Politics, also from the University of Montreal. The field of studies that currently animates her is about environmental policies.

Calvin Khalesi

calvin.khalesi[at]umontreal.ca

Calvin Khalesi is a PhD student studying political science at the University of Montréal. He is interested in European politics and particularly in the status of democracy in Central and Eastern Europe.

He holds an MA in Global Politics from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and a BA in Political Science from the University of South Florida in Tampa. During his BA, he spent a semester abroad on exchange at New Sorbonne University in Paris, France.

Furthermore, Calvin is a cofounder of The Critical View, a website where he writes and publishes opinion articles on international affairs.

Michel Khneifes

michel.khneifes[at]umontreal.ca

Michel Khneifes is a transatlantic master’s student in European and International Studies, a partnership between the University of Montreal and the Catholic University of Louvain in Brussels. He also obtained his bachelor’s degree in international studies, with a specialization in peace and security, at the University of Montreal. He is interested in internal and external issues that destabilize the European Union, including migration issues, relations with Russia, and the integration of member states.

Jeanne Milot-Poulin

jeanne.milot-poulin@umontreal.ca

Jeanne Milot-Poulin is currently a master’s student in political science at the University of Montréal. She previously completed a bachelor’s degree in political science and a microprogram in Russian language at Université Laval. She is interested in Russian-speaking minorities in Eastern Europe, and more broadly in the relations between Europe and Russia.

Johannes Müller Gómez

johannes.muller.gomez[at]umontreal.ca

Johannes Müller Gómez is a doctoral researcher at the Ludwig Maximilians Universität Munich and the Université de Montréal (co-tutelle). His research centres on the functioning of multi-level systems and comparative federalism with special focus on EU and Canadian politics, EU institutions German EU policy coordination, matters of democracy and legitimacy and climate action. Johannes Müller Gómez studied political science, Latin American studies and energy economics at the universities of Cologne, Montréal, Guadalajara and Liège as well as at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow.

Sabrina Paillé

spaille[at]yorku.ca

Sabrina Paillé is a PhD candidate in Sociology at York University, Toronto, where she is also pursuing a Graduate diploma program in German and European studies. In 2018, she was a Visiting Student in the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at Central European University in Budapest.Her research focuses on nationalism, right-wing populist movements and anti-immigration reactions in contemporary Europe. She is on the governing board of the European Community Studies Association – Canada’s Young Researchers Network. Sabrina was a recipient of the Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship (2015-2018) and the Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2018-19).

Julien Robin

julien.robin.1[at]umontreal.ca

Julien Robin is a PhD student in political science at the University of Montreal. He holds a Master’s degree in Law and Public Management from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration and Paris Dauphine University. He has worked at the National Commission on Election Campaign Accounts and Political Funding (CNCCFP) and at the General Inspection of Social Affairs (IGAS).
Interested in parliamentary studies in France, Europe and Canada, Julien wrote a first thesis on the interpretation of the Rules of Procedure of the National Assembly (France) and his thesis will focus on the nature, effectiveness and interpretation of parliamentary rules in Canada.

Théo Simoncelli

Théo Simoncelli is a PhD student in political science at the University of Montreal. He holds a master’s degree in Political Studies from EHESS Paris, where his thesis provided an overview of the ideas of authors Aldous Huxley and George Orwell through their dystopian novels “Brave New World” (1932) and “1984” (1949). The aim of his research was to examine the evolution of forms of social control in our present time. By choosing these authors, he was able to analyze two different yet complementary visions of authority. After gaining two years of experience in a human resources consulting firm, Théo resumed his research to explore the evolution of these forms of control within the framework of the modernity project in Western democracies. More specifically, his thesis focuses on the role of “happiness” as a new form of modern conditioning in the “society of acceleration” presented by Hartmut Rosa.

Luca Sollai

luca.sollai@umontreal.ca

Luca Sollai is a lecturer in History and International Studies at the University of Montreal, and a research fellow on Europe at the Center for International Studies and Research at the University of Montreal (CÉRIUM). His research focuses on 20th-century Italy (communism and fascism) and France, the Cold War, the Italian community in Montreal, and Italian and European news.

Imène Torkhani

imene.torkhani[at]umontreal.ca

Imène Torkhani is a P.hD. student in political science at the University of Montréal. Her research focuses on the impact of international organizations on education policies. Her thesis focuses on the role of international institutions and especially the European Union and the OECD regarding the improvement of education policies in Europe. She works under the joint supervision of Jean-Philippe Thérien and Frédéric Mérand. She holds a BA and Master in Anglophone Studies from the University Paris-Denis Diderot. She was an exchange student for her two years of Master in the United States, at Sarah Lawrence College (NY) and at the University of Buffalo (NY).

Yaxin Zhou

yaxin.zhou[at]umontreal.ca

Yaxin Zhou is a master’s student in international studies program, European studies option, at the University of Montreal, she also has a master’s degree in law at the Beijing Foreign Languages University. She wrote a thesis on France’s role in improving the relationship between Russia and European Union.She is interested in EU security issues but also in relations between the EU, the US and China.