Jory Smallenberg

Jory Smallenberg is a Master’s student in the Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia. In 2017, Jory was awarded the Governor General’s Medal in Arts as the top graduate of 3,900 students at UBC, where she received her B.A. in Honours Sociology and French as a first-generation university student. During her undergraduate degree, Jory’s experiences co-founding a refugee sponsorship organization and serving with non-profits like Character Canada solidified her passion for peaceful dialogue during times of global conflict. Building on this passion, Jory presented a TEDx talk on migration policy, volunteered at Moria Refugee Camp in Greece, and joined global governance fora, including the United Nations Peace and Defence Ministerial in 2017 and the Global Solutions Summit in 2019, co-attended by Chancellor Angela Merkel. As an extension of these experiences, Jory’s latest research considers the role of religious organizations in the sponsorship of Syrian refugees to Canada, while she also examines migration policy on an international scale. She intends on pursuing a Ph.D. in Political Science and a career in public service.