Gabriel Boulianne Gobeil - Canada
Prior to moving to Israel, I was pursuing a PhD at the University of Toronto and was working for Canada’s Minister of International Trade in Toronto and Ottawa. Looking to complement my ongoing studies with practical experience in my field (international relations and security studies), I had been searching for various graduate degrees offered at North American and European universities. After receiving a Judge Barbara Seal C.M. Scholarship to attend Tel Aviv University, I enrolled in the master’s program in Security and Diplomacy. TAU would not only give me the hands-on experience I was eager to gain, but would also enable me to live in a country I had never visited before. There, I could further explore my field of interest while immersing myself in a completely new culture, language, religion, and lifestyle.
My experience at TAU has been edifying. A healthy mix of scholars, (cyber) security practitioner, and former ambassadors taught us, which gave my colleagues and I a fine balance between theory and practice as we studied contemporary security matters. I went on seven field trips organized by the program where I visited key military sites along the Egyptian, Lebanese, and Syrian borders as well as near the security perimeter around East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip. These educative outings brought a concrete dimension to my understanding of Israel’s security challenges such as cross-border violence.
During the program at TAU, I worked as an Intelligence Analyst at a top private security firm where I monitored a wide range of events that could impact business stability and continuity in the Middle East and North Africa. This position helped me develop skills that will be beneficial throughout my career. In collaboration with a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, I also authored a peer-reviewed article that offers policy recommendations to mitigate the threats from cyberattacks targeting unmanned aerial vehicles. This article was a way for me to bring theory and practice into a single conversation, which is why I had come to Israel in the first place.
