COVID-19 Vaccine Skepticism Report Series Briefings

Peter Loewen is a Professor in the Department of Political Science and the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. He is also the Associate Director, Global Engagement at the Munk School, Director of PEARL, a Research Lead at the Schwartz Reisman Institute, a Senior Fellow at Massey College, and a Fellow with the Public Policy Forum. For 2020-2021, he is a Distinguished Visitor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Tel Aviv University.

Peter’s main research site is PEARL (Policy, Elections, and Representation Lab) at the Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy. This group is interested in four big questions: How do individuals make decisions about politics? How do politicians make policy and represent citizens? How is technology changing governance and politics? How is COVID-19 shaping political behaviour and citizen behaviour more broadly?

To answer these, they organize their research into four broad groups: Voting Behaviour and Public Opinion; Political Elites and Representation; Artificial Intelligence, Governance, and Democracy; and COVID-19 special research.

PEARL’s research is principally empirical, combining various forms of survey data with experiments (including field, lab, and survey experiments). They also use text-as-data, administrative records, and social media data.

PEARL lab research projects often involve partnerships. Current and past projects and partnerships include MEO, the Digital Democracy Project, the Canadian Election Study and Consortium on Electoral Democracy, Public Policy Forum, Clean Prosperity, the Commission on Leaders Debates, The Samara Centre for Democracy, the Privy Council Office of Canada, the Ministry for the Status of Women, and the Digital Public Square. Their website is here.

Feeling like the conversation around inclusive and diverse decision making was lacking on the East Coast in Canada, Katie Davey created Femme Wonk – a policy and current affairs podcast that seeks to discuss both innovative and traditional public policy through a gender and inclusion lens. Through Femme Wonk, she also speaks, consults, and hosts a book club. Once called ‘the feminist money girl,’ Katie advocates for the integration of economic and social policy.

Katie has served as Director of Policy and Stakeholder Relation at the Office of the Official Opposition in New Brunswick, Senior Advisor for Policy and Stakeholder Engagement in the New Brunswick Premier’s Office, and President of the University of New Brunswick Student Union.
She is a member of the Youth Working Group on Gender Equality for the Government of Canada, and a 2019/20 Action Canada Fellow. Katie holds a Degree in Political Science from the University of New Brunswick and a Master of Applied Politics from Wilfrid Laurier University.