June 15, 2021

Meet our Newest Graduate: Juan Camilo Gil Gonzalez!

Convocating June 2021 with a Master’s degree from UCalgary Department of Political Science
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Meet Our Newest Graduate!

Juan Camilo Gil Gonzalez’s MA thesis was entitled “Protecting After the Fact: Reactiveness, Fragmentation and Disconnection in Canadian Hazard Governance” and written under the supervision of Dr. Jack Lucas

Tell us a bit about your thesis! What was it about and what were its main arguments?

My research looked at why Canadian hazard governance is reactive rather than proactive, and how the roles and relationships of public and social actors influence reactiveness in this system. It consisted of a survey sent to emergency managers from municipal, regional, provincial, federal, and non-governmental entities. Besides studying different actors, my survey also looked for variations between the four different phases of emergency management: mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery.

The main findings of my thesis were threefold. First, I verified empirically that Canadian emergency management does focus on a reactive approach to addressing disaster. Second, there is fragmentation in the governance of emergency management, separating responsibility from fiscal capacity in this system. Last, there is disconnection among actors in this system where they underestimate the willingness of cooperation among themselves, and where public actors moderately misunderstand the role of social actors in emergency management. This governance fragmentation and knowledge disconnection complicates the implementation of a proactive approach to hazard governance in Canada.

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Any favourite memories from your research or at UCalgary Political Science you’d like to share?

My fondest memories from my graduate degree are from my interactions with the amazing people in the Department of Political Science. I always felt at home in the Department, and the conversations I had with my peers and professors were always incredibly interesting and entertaining. I will miss being around the brilliant minds of the 7th floor in the Social Sciences building. Some of the good conversations that stand out were about municipal, provincial and federal elections, as well as about the philosophical Implications of colonialism and modernity. I will also miss the research presentations from resident and visiting scholars, where we learned about the diversity of studies we can pursue in the social sciences. My time as a graduate student was a time of incredible intellectual stimulation.

What your plans for the future?

I decided to explore some non-academic career options after graduating from my MA, and perhaps pursue a PhD program in the foreseeable future. My goal for my near future is to work in policy analysis and governance relations for a governmental agency or a major social entity that functions within the Canadian emergency management field.

Congratulations Juan Camilo Gil Gonzalez on your degree!

To find out more about our current and past graduate students visit our website!