Michaela Pedersen-Macnab
Graduate Fellow
Michaela is the 2019-20 IMFG Graduate Fellow. She is a PhD student at the University of Toronto in the Department of Political Science. Before coming to Toronto, Michaela worked as a researcher at the China Institute, a Canadian policy think-tank that specializes in Canada-China relations. She has also worked as a governance consultant for a variety of municipalities in Western Canada. Michaela previously completed an MA in Political Science at the University of British Columbia, and a BA in Environmental Studies at the University of Alberta. In 2018, Michaela was also selected as one of the winners of the International Policy Ideas Challenge hosted by Global Affairs Canada. Her research seeks to compare the response strategies of Canadian cities to heat waves and to evaluate the efficacy of short and long-term municipal heat response planning. In particular, it examines the ways in which long-term urban infrastructure and climate adaptation planning, which are necessary for municipal hot weather response, are constrained and empowered by multi-level funding arrangements.