About Will
Dr. Will Greaves is an Associate Professor of International Relations at the University of Victoria, where his research focuses on global politics and security, climate change, energy, Indigenous peoples, Canadian foreign policy, and the circumpolar Arctic. Professor Greaves is author of more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and book chapters and has three books: Canadian Ecopolitics (2025), Breaking Through: Understanding Sovereignty and Security in the Circumpolar Arctic (2021) and One Arctic: The Arctic Council and Circumpolar Governance (2017).
He is Lead for Climate Change and Security with three federally-funded research networks: the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network (NAADSN), the Canadian Defence and Security Network (CDSN), and the Réseau d’analyse stratégique (RAS). His research has received funding from the Department of National Defence, Global Affairs Canada, UVic and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
An award-winning teacher and researcher, Professor Greaves holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Toronto (2016), MA from the University of Calgary (2009), and BA (Honours) from Bishop’s University (2006). He was previously Lecturer at the Trudeau Centre for Peace, Conflict and Justice at the University of Toronto and Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Sami Studies at UiT The Arctic University of Norway. Professor Greaves teaches courses and supervises graduate students in the areas of international relations, Arctic and environmental politics, Canadian foreign policy, and global security.

At the EGAT coal mine in Mae Moh, Thailand, 2023
Full Bio
I am an Associate Professor of International Relations in the Department of Political Science at the University of Victoria, British Columbia, which I joined in 2017. I received tenure in 2023. My research examines intersections between global security, environmental politics, and Canadian foreign policy with focuses on climate change, energy extraction, North American security and defence, and Indigenous peoples in North America and the circumpolar Arctic. I have published more than 30 peer-reviewed journal articles and edited book chapters in publications such as Canadian Journal of Political Science, Security Dialogue, International Journal, Polar Record, Canadian Military Journal, BC Studies: The British Columbian Quarterly, and The Arctic Yearbook. I have co-authored one book on environmental politics in Canada titled Canadian Ecopolitics (University of Toronto Press, 2025, with Rosalind Warner and Peter Stoett), and co-edited two books on Arctic politics: Breaking Through: Understanding Sovereignty and Security in the Circumpolar Arctic (University of Toronto Press, 2021, with P. Whitney Lackenbauer) and One Arctic: The Arctic Council and Circumpolar Governance (Centre for Foreign Policy and Federalism, 2017, with P. Whitney Lackenbauer and Heather Nicol).
I serve as Lead for Climate and Security with three federally-funded research networks: the North American and Arctic Defence and Security Network/Réseau sur la defense et la sécurité nord-américaines et arctiques (NAADSN/RDSNAA), the Canadian Defence and Security Network/Réseau canadien de défence et de sécurité (CDSN/RCDS), and the Réseau d’analyse stratégique/Network for Strategic Analysis (RAS/NSA). I am also a member of the NATO Research Task Group on Climate Change and Security and the inaugural Treasurer for the Climate Security Association of Canada/L’Association canadienne de la sécurité climatique (CSAC-ACSC). I was previously a Newport Arctic Security scholar at the U.S. Naval War College, Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Sámi Studies at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, and Lecturer at the Trudeau Centre for Peace, Conflict and Justice at the Munk School of Global Affairs. Finally, I serve on the editorial boards of two leading academic journals in my field: Security Dialogue and International Journal. My research has been supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Canadian Department of National Defence, Global Affairs Canada, the University of Victoria, the University of Toronto, and the Government of Ontario.
The son and grandson of diplomats in the Canadian foreign service, I was born in Ottawa and raised there and overseas in Latin America and the Caribbean. Fascinated by international history and politics from a young age, I completed a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in Political Studies and International Studies at Bishop’s University (2006) and Master of Arts in Political Science at the University of Calgary (2009), before completing a Doctorate of Philosophy in Political Science with specialization in International Relations and Canadian Politics at the University of Toronto (2016). My doctoral committee included Professors Matthew Hoffmann, Steven Bernstein, Rauna Kuokkannen, Graham White, and Simon Dalby. I have worked and travelled widely across the Americas, Europe, and the circumpolar Arctic, and have organized and led field schools for undergraduate, college, and high school students on environmental and development issues in Peru, the Northwest Territories, and Thailand. I received the University of Victoria’s Social Sciences Early Career Teaching Excellence Award in 2022 and Early Career Research Excellence Award in 2023.
I live with my wife and daughter in a quiet beach village on southern Vancouver Island, in the traditional territories of the Lekwungen-speaking peoples. Active in my community, I have served as secretary of my strata council, a member of the Capital Regional District (CRD) Arts Advisory Council and its Sub-Committee for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, and serve on the Victoria EDA for the Liberal Party of Canada. In my spare time, I like to bike, cook, sauna, and walk my dog in the woods.

Sherry D. Greaves, my mother, with Prime Minister Stephen Harper at the Canadian Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine in October 2010.

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