Dr. Shanaya Vanhooren
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS)
Canadian Municipal Barometer Partnership
I am a postdoctoral research fellow at INRS working for the Canadian Municipal Barometer partnership. I research Canadian politics. I focus specifically on provincial party systems (e.g. evolution over time, policy issue polarization), as well as policy issues and representation in urban and local politics. My dissertation research used political party election platforms to investigate party position change and programmatic polarization in provincial elections since 1945. My work draws on various tools, such as quantitative text analysis, archival research, and interviews.
I completed my doctoral studies in the Department of Political Science at the University of Western Ontario. I have taught undergraduate quantitative methods and public policy courses. I am a Director and Vice-Chair for a non-profit organization in my local community called Nature's Calling Environmental Education.
Research Interests
Provincial political parties’ policy positions · Local politics · Representation · Public policy