Claire Woodside

Claire Woodside is a Master’s candidate in International Relations at Dalhousie University. She is currently completing a thesis that examines transparency, institutions, and oil resource extraction in West Africa. Before beginning her Master’s degree, Claire completed a bachelor’s degree with honours at the University of Guelph in Ontario, where she majored in political science and a minored in international development. During her undergraduate degree, Claire completed and defended an honours thesis concerning interstate cooperation on trans-boundary rivers in the Middle East and North Africa. During the past year, Claire has participated in several conferences sponsored by the Centre for Foreign Policy Studies in Halifax. During her spare time Claire has spent time travelling, working, and studying in France, Peru, Ecuador, India, and Thailand. She enjoys learning new languages and experiencing new cultures. For the coming year Claire has been accepted to pursue further studies at Carleton University where she will begin a PhD in International Affairs at the Norman Paterson School of International Affairs in September 2007. Her current research interests include global energy security, the “resource curse,” and extractive resources and development in Africa.