Research Interests

My research interests lie in unpacking the contradictions inherent in the use of neoliberal ideas to drive development policies and planning in the Global South. I am studying the master planning of Bonifacio Global City in Manila, Philippines. I am doing so through the lens of political economy, which looks at the intersections of power in money in shaping the material world. I approach this study with almost a decade of experience working as an urban planner in the private and public sector across Asia and Canada.

Research Interests

My research interests centre around the military-industrial complex and the involvement of private military and security companies (PMCs/PSCs) in extractive industries. Situated in the context of extensive and continued environmental degradation, my research will consider what available information on PMCs/PSCs in extractive industries tells us about access to and control over resources.

Research Interests

I am broadly interested in transboundary relations. Specifically, my research focuses on examining transboundary water relations from a political-economy perspective in the Fergana Valley, a densely populated region divided between the modern states of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan. By studying water, livelihoods, climate, and power relations, I hope to unveil who has access to and control over water and other crucial resources in the region.

Research Interests

My research aims to explore how agricultural co-operatives can bolster smallholder farmers’ resilience to climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa. Climate variability, characterized by drought, unpredictable rainfall, and soil degradation, continues to threaten food security, yet agricultural co-operatives remain underutilized in adaptation strategies. I plan to examine how co-operatives facilitate resource pooling, provide institutional support, and enable access to climate-smart innovations, while encouraging rural farmers to adopt climate-resilient crops that improve productivity and ensure long-term food security.

Research Interests

The concept of power is intriguing to me, as it is inherent and impactful but yet often subtly overlooked. To overlook how difference can limit or amplify access is to overlook power. This form of delusion, strengthens the status quo. My research interest is embedded in addressing power in international aid, particularly in relation to decision making, governance and accountability to affected communities.

In my last professional assignment, I worked with more than 47 member agencies, both local and international in Bangladesh, to identify gaps in their accountability mechanisms and co-create an accountability framework. My work sparked my interest in exploring the political governance of aid and how representation is politicised, particularly related to power politics between local and international NGOs, community participation and broadly the economic and social costs of aid.

Brief Biography

Meghan Mendelin is a PhD candidate in the department of Global Development Studies at Queen's University. Her doctoral research project uses feminist political economy and social reproduction frameworks to examine the role of community-based non-profit organizations in contemporary Canada. Focusing on the child care sector, she researches how advocacy groups and daycare providers navigate and resist the undervaluation and invisibilization of their work under neoliberal austerity.

Research Interests

Social reproduction, care work, child care, non-profit organizations, democracy under neoliberalism

Selected Awards 

• SSHRC Doctoral Award 2024-2026
• Ontario Graduate Scholarship 202
• Award in Leadership, Innovation, and Community Engagement 2023
• FHSS Congress Graduate Merit Award 2025 

Teaching Experience

• DEVS392: The Political Economy of Care - Gender, Non-Profits & Social Reproduction (Teaching Fellow)
• DEVS101: Introduction to Global Development 
• DEVS102: Canada in the World 
• DEVS230: The Global Political Economy of Development
• DEVS280: Global Engagement 
• DEVS260: Globalization, Gender, and Development
• DEVS340: Theories of Development
• DEVS300: Cross-Cultural Research Methods 
• DEVS230: The Global Political Economy of Development

Publications

Peer-reviewed articles

Mendelin, M., & Hall, R. J. (2025). Who Cares for Communities? Conceptualizing Non-Profit Work as Social Reproduction Through the Case of Food Banks. Affilia, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/08861099251340703

Mendelin, M. (2025). Authoritarian Neoliberalism and the Repression of Protest and Dissent in Canada: The Wet’suwet’en Land Defense Movement & #ShutDownCanada. Studies in Social Justice, 19(1), 43–61. https://doi.org/10.26522/ssj.v19i1.4483

Forthcoming contributions

Mendelin, M. [under review]. “We Feel Invisible”: Early Childhood Educators and the Policy Contradictions of Ontario’s CWELCC Approach. Submitted to Social Politics. 

Book reviews

Mendelin, M. (2024). Care Activism: Migrant Domestic Workers, Movement-Building and Communities of Care: by Ethel Tungohan, Champaign, IL, University of Illinois Press, 2023, 256 pp., $28.00 (paperback), 978-0-252-08740-0. International Feminist Journal of Politics, 26(4), 965–968. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616742.2024.2329175

Brief Biography

Sandra is a doctoral candidate and SSHRC Doctoral Fellow in the Department of Global Development Studies at Queen’s University. She holds an M.A. in Development Studies from York University, an M.A. in Sociology from McMaster University, and a B.A. (Hons.) in Social Psychology from McMaster University. Before beginning her doctoral studies, she worked as a consultant in Peru's mining sector, where she is originally from. 

Research Interests

Sandra's research engages with debates around resource extraction and development. She focuses on resource governance, sourcing initiatives, and revenue-sharing systems in artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM). For her doctoral dissertation, using a "following the thing" methodology, she examines the experiences of artisanal copper miners, their communities, traders, and processing plants as they navigate the challenges and opportunities of Peru's ASM (in)formalization process. Her work is situated within the broader context of an increasing demand for critical minerals. 

Awards

• 2022-2026 SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship
• 2024-2025 MinErAL Research Network Scholarship
• 2025 Canadian Association for Latin American and Caribbean Studies Travel Award
• 2024 Karl Polanyi Graduate Student Essay Prize, runner up, Canadian Association for the Study of International Development
• 2023-2024 International Development Research Award (IDRA)- IDRC (declined)
• 2020-2021 Canada Graduate Scholarship-Master's Program (SSHRC)
• 2020-2021 The Paavo and Aino Lukkari Fieldwork Research Award
• 2020-2021 York’s University Graduate Fellowship

Teaching Experience

Teaching Fellow:

• DEVS 356: The Political Economy of Resource Extraction (Winter, 2025).

Teaching Assistant:

• DEVS 101: Development Studies in Global Perspectives (Fall 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025)
• DEVS 102: Canada and the World (Winter 2022, 2024)
• DEVS 230: The Global Political Economy of Development (Winter 2024)
• DEVS 365: Trade and Investment in the Global South (Fall 2023)

Selected Publications

McKay, S. (2026). Critical minerals or criminal miners? The (in)formalization of artisanal and small-scale copper miners in Peru. The Extractive Industries and Society. 25, 101811. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2025.101811 

McKay, S. and Hall, R. (2025). Gold as something to be Proud of? Contradictions of ethical consumerism in artisanal and small-scale gold mining. Third World Quarterly. 46(13), 1647-1666. https://doi.org/10.1080/01436597.2025.2544337  

McKay, S. (2025). Entering the Critical Era: A review of contemporary research on artisanal and small-scale mining. The Extractive Industries and Society. 21, 101590. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2024.101590

Melendez, L. and McKay, S. (Forthcoming). Are some minerals more governable? Copper mining materialities and formalization of artisanal and small-scale mining in Peru. 

Brief Biography

Oarisa is a MA candidate in the department of Global Development Studies at Queen’s University. Her research focuses on the concept of just transitions within South Africa. The fieldwork she conducted in Lephalale, South Africa investigates how tourism can be used as an alternative site of economic growth during the nation's shift away from coal extraction and energy production. Her thesis specifically explores the parallels between extraction and game farming, and advocates for the integration of community-based tourism initiatives. 

Research Interests

Just transitions, Extraction, Tourism, and Game farming 

Awards

• SSHRC Graduate Scholarship Master’s

Teaching Experience

• DEVS 101: Development Studies in Global Perspective
• DEVS 250: Environmental Transformations
• DEVS 355: AIDS, Power, and Poverty