StFX political science alumnus Erin Kinzie (’21), along with faculty member Dr. Nathan Allen and collaborator Ekta Singh [Dr. B. R. Ambedkar University Delhi], have recently published an article examining emigrant voting rights in South Asia. The article is based on research Ms. Kinzie conducted while completing her honours thesis at StFX.
“My interest was piqued when I began working for Prof. Allen as a research assistant after my second year at StFX,” she says. “Throughout that process, South Asia continually stood out in many ways, and the lack of research on the region presented a unique opportunity to take a deep dive into non-resident voting in the area.”
Ms. Kinzie currently holds the position of policy analyst for the Canadian Coast Guard. “Most of my work is concerned with preparing research papers and briefing materials, both of which are very similar to the type of work I completed in my undergrad.”
Between time at StFX and starting with the Coast Guard, she completed a MA in political science at Carleton University. “I was (pleasantly) surprised with how applicable my skills gained at StFX were during my master's degree” Ms. Kinzie says. “I worried about being able to keep up, as I had heard horror stories about people struggling to make the leap from undergrad to post-grad, but quickly realized that the two are not so different.”
Ms. Kinzie shared some advice for honours students: “Start thinking about it early! You'd be shocked with niche topics that become thesis papers, so take anything that interests you and explore it further to see if it's a viable topic. Note I said ‘interests you;’ you're going to be researching the subject for at least your entire fourth year, so make sure it's something that you can see yourself talking about after a year of research, or five years in my case!”
Asked what she learned about the publication process, Ms. Kinzie joked “It’s long!”
