Dr. Kaija Belfry Munroe founded Politikos Research with Doug Munroe in 2019. She holds a PhD in Canadian Politics and Public Policy. She is the author of Business in a Changing Climate: Explaining Industry Support for Carbon Pricing (2016). Her research on Canadian Politics has been published in the Canadian Journal of Political Science.

Dr. Belfry Munroe is also a passionate and persuasive teacher who believes that everyone should feel capable of engaging with their government. She served as Professor of Political Science and Canadian Studies at Quest University from 2012-2021. During her time at Quest, she taught courses on diverse topics including Canadian government, political economy, public policy, and business decision-making. In her spare time, Dr. Belfry Munroe sat on multiple Boards of Directors and has held leadership roles for several nonprofit organizations. She has also led successful community campaigns to improve local services. Prior to her academic career, Dr. Belfry Munroe worked for the Regional Municipality of Halifax on environmental programming, and as parliamentary staff for both a Liberal MP and a Conservative senator.

Dr. Doug Munroe founded Politikos Research with Kaija Belfry Munroe in 2019. He holds a PhD in Military and Strategic Studies. His doctoral research examined government responses to terrorism in Canada, France and Ireland. His work has been published in the Canadian Journal of Political Science, Terrorism and Political Violence, and Canadian Public Administration.

Dr. Munroe is an experienced public speaker who has provided expert commentary in local and national print and broadcast media. He also has moderated all-candidates’ debates in municipal, provincial and federal elections. Dr. Munroe was a Professor of Politics and Strategic Studies at Quest University from 2012-2021, and served as the university’s interim Chief Academic Officer from 2018 to 2019. Prior to his academic career, he worked in the National Security and Emergency Management Branch of Canada’s Department of Public Safety, where he specialized in cybersecurity. He also has over a decade of operational and administrative leadership experience in search and rescue.

Dr. Natasha Kim Ferenczi holds a PhD in Anthropology. Her research interests bridge medical anthropology, ethnobotany and environmental anthropology with a focus on the intersection of plants and health, including medical tourism, cross-cultural encounters around healing, transnational movements and translations of plant medicines in different cultural contexts.  Her doctoral research focused on seekers (who seek alternative treatments and medicines) from Canada travelling to consult with healers practicing in Costa Rica for primarily cancer and drug addiction.  She has published in Plants and Health.  She also researches the impacts of climate change on botanical healing practices and plant species, along with local perspectives on climate change. These interests intersect with her master’s research on democratic movements in the Republic of Maldives  (2003/2004) in the wake of the 2004 Tsunami.   

Dr. Ferenczi is currently a lecturer at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia where she has taught anthropology for 5 years.  She was previously Visiting Professor at Quest University.  She is a passionate teacher who regularly works with community groups to develop experiential learning opportunities for students.  For instance, she developed a project on Blue Carbon in collaboration with the Squamish Watershed Society, bringing her classes to collect soil samples, analyze carbon content, and debate different approaches to climate change mitigation, using both quantitative and qualitative methods.  From 2006-2010 she taught Anthropology at Vanier College in Montreal, Quebec, where she also organized social science conferences, performances, round table discussions and outreach projects to discuss structural and institutional racism and police violence.  She has served as a consultant to the Red Cross Emergency Response Unit (ERU) leading workshops on cross cultural communication. She is fluent in English and French and can lead workshops in both languages in person or remotely.

Dr. Gregor McEwan holds a PhD in Computer Science. Since 2019, he has been President and CEO of Modail Mara, a data science research firm specializing in aquaculture and agriculture.  His significant technical skills include artificial intelligence techniques and big data analysis.   He also has a strong background in interdisciplinary collaboration with experts from fields such as epidemiology, pathology, ecology, statistics, genetics, and veterinary research.  In his work, he often integrates ethnographic methods in his modelling process and employs research from psychology and sociology to inform human-centred design of technology.   Prior to founding Modail Mara, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at Atlantic Veterinary College in Charlottetown where he built computer simulation models of aquaculture systems. 

Dr. McEwan’s PhD thesis analyzed large datasets of online activity to explore community structures. He received his M.Sc. from the University of Calgary, Canada, and his B.Sc. from the University of Queensland, Australia. During this time he also taught a broad range of computer science courses. He has worked as a Research Scientist at internationally recognised technology research companies in Australia. In these roles, he performed cutting edge research investigating and building technology to help small groups of people collaborate.

Dr. Mary Beth MacLean holds a PhD in Aging and Health and a master's in economics. She has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles on retirement, health economics, and military Veteran population health, income, labour force participation and transition to civilian life. Her most recent publications include “Factors Explaining Involuntary Retirement: A Systematic Review” in the Journal of Ageing and Society, “Health care access and use among male and female Canadian Armed Forces veterans” in Health Reports, and “Predictors of Retirement Voluntariness Using Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging Data” in the Journal of Aging and Health.

Dr. MacLean worked as a health economist with Alberta Health (1989-1991), Statistics Canada (1991-1992), the Patented Medicine Prices Review Board (1992-1993), Health Canada (1993-1995), and Veterans Affairs Canada (1995-2021). She is now working as an independent research consultant. Over her career she has worked on policy and research initiatives related to disability compensation, the continuum of care, the cost-effectiveness of home care, the health of aging Veterans, and program forecasting and evaluation. While working for Veterans Affairs Canada, she led the first of multiple cycles of the Life After Service Studies program of research and income record linkage component in collaboration with Statistics Canada. In 2015, she was appointed to a NATO research panel on transition to civilian life. This panel published an edited book in which she led one chapter and co-authored two others.

Martin Rutte has been the President of Livelihood Consulting, a management firm with offices in Charlottetown, PEI, Canada, and Ranchos De Taos, NM, USA, since 1990.  At Livelihood, he explores the deeper meaning of work and its contribution to society.  The company’s areas of service include: strategic vision, dialogue, corporate spirit, performance management, and courageous leadership.  He is committed to reconnecting business with its natural source of creativity, innovation and genius.

Martin has helped formulate and implement visions for many of America’s leading corporations including Sony Pictures Entertainment, Southern California Edison, The World Bank, Virgin Records, and Apple Computers.  In Canada, he has worked with: Esso Petroleum, London Life Insurance, and Western Union expanding their outlook and positioning them for the emerging future.He is a co-author of The New York Times business bestseller Chicken Soup for the Soul at Work, with sales of over one million copies and translations into fifteen languages.  His newest book is Project Heaven on Earth:The 3 simple questions that will help you change the world … easily.  Articles on his innovative work have appeared in: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Miami Herald, The Boston Globe and The Globe & Mail. 

Dr. Trafton has a PhD in Economics with a specialization in Behavioral and Experimental Economics.  Her doctoral research focused on the effects of differing fundraising campaigns on charitable giving.  Her current research focuses on economics education and, more specifically, on how to teach undergraduate students to perform theoretical and empirical analyses typically reserved for those with advanced degrees in economics. 

Dr. Trafton has experience working with teams of peers to create, implement, and review policy.  She has served at Quest University as chair of the Research Ethics Board and the Governance Committee, during a period of intense policy development at the young institution.  Most recently, Dr. Trafton serves as the founding president of the Quest University Faculty Union. In this role, she has honed her skills for comprehensive but efficient communication, and for navigating both formal and informal structures of power and governance in both academic and labour organizations.  As an economist, she has also supported organizations in undertaking demand and elasticity analyses, gender equity policy review, and analyses of various policies focusing on equity, inclusion, and efficiency.