Dr. Evren Altinkas is a political scientist, historian and displaced scholar whose research explores the challenges faced by displaced academics in rebuilding their professional lives. Now based in Canada, his work examines academic freedom, mobility, and the structural barriers confronting scholars forced to leave their home countries. Drawing from his own experience of displacement, Dr. Altinkas combines personal insight with scholarly analysis to advocate for inclusive academic policies and greater global support for at-risk researchers and displaced scholars.

Gabriel Ndayishimiye is the Founder and CEO of the Canadian Foundation for Refugee Education (CFRE) and the founding lead of its research arm, the Centre for Refugee Education and Settlement Studies (CRESS). His work focuses on refugee education systems in Canada and in contexts of global displacement, especially refugee-led institutional coordination, policy design, and the ethics of refugee knowledge production. He is currently leading the Baseline Systems Overview of Refugee Education in Canada, a national field-mapping report examining the architecture and gaps of refugee education across the country and laying the foundation for The State of Refugee Education in Canada and for broader national efforts in research, coordination, and systems development across refugee education in Canada. His broader research interests include exile, memory, and the politics of fear, with attention to migration, representation, and institutional responses to displacement.

Leonne Valantin is a Senior Analyst with the Canadian federal government and is recognized for advancing strategic research, inclusive and evidence-based policy in international development. Fluent in three languages and backed by over a decade of experience across government, NGOs, and research, Leonne brings a multicultural perspective to complex global challenges. She excels at designing innovative evaluation frameworks and synthesizing data to guide high-level decision-making. Her research informs transformative solutions for migration, equity, and institutional resilience, strengthening global governance and advancing justice. Leonne’s work is defined by inclusive dialogue, capacity building in fragile contexts, and the empowerment of displaced populations. She holds a master’s degree in public and international affairs.

Yufei (Mandy) Wu, BA (Hons), MSc., is a PhD candidate in the Department of Psychology at Toronto Metropolitan University, and a former Masters student in the Division of Social and Transcultural Psychiatry at McGill University. As part of the Welcome Haven project (PI: Dr. Rachel Kronick), her Masters research focused on asylum-seeking mothers’ experience of agency and wellbeing during their resettlement process, and how attending a community-based psychosocial support program shapes their self-efficacy, resettlement stress, and wellbeing. Her current PhD research focuses on understanding the experiences of youths with precarious migrant status (Sanctuary Students) navigating transition out of secondary education and advocating for their rights to inclusion in Canadian society.

Yaroslav Samoylov was born in Crimea, Ukraine. He earned his undergraduate degree in International Affairs from Ankara University (Ankara, Turkey) and later completed his master’s degree in the same field at Uludag University (Bursa, Turkey). His master’s thesis, titled “The Impact of the Russian Federation’s Syria Policy on the Regional and Global Balance of Power,” was later published as a book in Turkey. He recently completed his Ph.D. in International Affairs at Ankara University, defending his dissertation titled “Dynamics of Continuity in Soviet and Russian Federation Policy toward Israel.” As part of his doctoral studies, Yaroslav was a visiting scholar at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs at Carleton University (Canada). Previously, he worked as a lead threat analyst at Crisis24 in Ottawa and served as an analyst on the Russia desk at the Sahipkiran Center for Strategic Research in Ankara. Yaroslav completed internships at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies (ORSAM) in Ankara.