Massey Dialogues: Afghan Veterans

Speakers

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  Michael Valpy Senior Fellow, Massey College
  

  Michael Valpy

  Senior Fellow, Massey College

  Michael Valpy is a Massey Senior Fellow and Senior Fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy. He teaches in the Book and Media Studies Program at University of St. Michael’s College. He is a former deputy managing editor, foreign correspondent, national political columnist and member of the editorial board of The Globe and Mail. He was the 2011-2012 Canwest Global Fellow in Media at University of Western Ontario and was awarded the Toronto Star’s 2012-2013 Atkinson Fellowship in Public Policy.

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  Mabruk Kabir Junior Fellow, PhD student in Comparative and International Education at OISE
  

  Mabruk Kabir

  Junior Fellow, PhD student in Comparative and International Education at OISE

  Mabruk Kabir is a fifth year PhD student in Comparative and International Education at OISE, where he studies the role of public-private partnerships in addressing education challenges in developing countries. Prior to his doctorate, Mabruk was at the World Bank, where worked on a broad range of education and skills sector reforms across South Asia and the Middle east, with a focus on conflict and fragile states. Mabruk holds a Master in Global Affairs from the Munk School of Global Affairs.

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  Tim Laidler Executive Director of the Institute of Veterans Education and Transition at the University of British Columbia
  

  Tim Laidler

  Executive Director of the Institute of Veterans Education and Transition at the University of British Columbia

  Cpl (Ret.) Tim Laidler is the Executive Director of the Institute of Veterans Education and Transition at the University of British Columbia and a leading voice for veterans. He completed a tour of duty in Afghanistan before completing a master’s degree in counselling, spurred by a transformative group counselling program still in development at UBC. In 2012, he helped establish the Veterans Transition Network to deliver that powerful program to veterans across Canada. He remains an active Board President of VTN and leads the charity’s ground operation and government battle to bring Afghan Interpreters to safety. That tough mission continues.

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  Leah Morris Alum; Associate at Radical Ventures
  

  Leah Morris

  Alum; Associate at Radical Ventures

  Alum Leah Morris has worked with LGBT+ populations around the world. In Kingston, Jamaica, she assisted in establishing a mobile health program with the Caribbean Vulnerable Communities coalition. Back home she continued with the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the Interagency Organization on AIDS and Development. This was followed by two consecutive internships, first, working at the United Nations Migration Agency in the Migration, Environment, and Climate Change Division and second, a fellowship with Open Society Foundations in Johannesburg, South Africa, which involved evaluating gender-based violence and LGBT+ awareness programming. Leah’s research at the University of Toronto, examined artificial intelligence and the digital economy, resulting in her co-authoring a paper on reducing false denials in refugee claims in Canada with AI. Leah graduated in 2020 with a Master of Global Affairs from the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and an MBA from the Rotman School of Management. Leah currently works as an Associate at Radical Ventures – an AI and deep tech venture capital fund supporting Canadian and global AI researchers scale their transformative technologies. At Radical, Leah has co-led the fund’s diversity, inclusion, belonging, and equity (DIBE) strategy and programming. Leah is passionate about supporting creators in the tech sector with diverse experiences.