Canada’s Top 40 Under 40 Honoree
2026
Director, Montreal Center for International Studies (CÉRIUM) & Professor, Political Science
Université de Montréal
Laurence Deschamps-Laporte is Director of the Montreal Center for International Studies (CÉRIUM) and a professor of political science at Université de Montréal. An expert in foreign policy, international relations, Middle Eastern politics and feminist perspectives, she brings together academic research, strategic leadership and first-hand experience in Canadian politics to shed light on some of the most pressing international challenges of our time. Laurence has advised three Canadian foreign ministers, including serving as chief of staff, and previously worked at McKinsey & Company, where she advised philanthropic and public-sector organizations worldwide.
She now leads one of the most prominent francophone research centres while mentoring the next generation of scholars and pursuing research on AI-enabled weapons and international efforts to regulate or prevent their use. As a Rhodes Scholar with a DPhil and MPhil from the University of Oxford, she has spent her career translating rigorous research into ideas and strategies that shape policy and influence decision-making on global security and international affairs.
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