Call for Applications
Teaching Assistant Positions 2026-27
Department of Global Development Studies
Queen’s University, Kingston, ON CAN K7L 3N6
In accordance with the collective agreement between »ĆÉ«ĘÓƵ and Teaching Assistants (PSAC Local 901) applications are invited from qualified individuals for teaching assistant positions. TAships are filled according to Group Preferences set out in the Collective Agreement between Queen’s University and the Public Service Alliance of Canada.
Responsibilities
Teaching assistant duties include but are not limited to grading assignments, attending lectures and tutorials in person, office hours with students, and answering emails. More specific expectations will be covered at the beginning of the term.
Courses
*Please note course times may be subject to change.
DEVS 101 Development Studies in Global Perspective
Term: Fall 2026 (on-campus and online)
Class Time(s): On-campus: Wednesday 6:30-8:00, Thursday 1:00-2:30; Online: To be announced
Description: Explores the relationship between global economic integration, technological change, environmental sustainability, political systems, and cultural diversity. Introduces interdisciplinary perspectives to complex global challenges, from poverty to climate change. The course builds foundations for ethical cross-cultural engagement.
DEVS 102 Canada in the World
Term: Winter 2027 (on-campus)
Class Time(s): Wednesday 11:30-1:00, Thursday, 10:00-11:30
Description: Canada in the World will help students build knowledge and analytical capacities in global development, with a focus on Canada. The course examines how processes of global development are differentiated across borders and axes of gender, racialization, and colonization. Students will explore applications of theories of global change.
DEVS 221 Indigenous Studies II - Resistance and Resurgence
Term: Fall 2026 (online)
Class Time(s): To be announced
Description: Indigenous Studies II - Resistance and Resurgence highlights the perpetual resilience and resistance of Indigenous communities as they grapple with gendered settler colonialism. The re-emergence of Indigenous knowledge and governance within the settler nation state, and the re-building of Indigenous communities is examined in detail through topics such as contemporary issues in Indigenous healing, art, teaching and learning, Indigenous protest, and socio-political life. Students will engage in work that aims to center the voices of Indigenous people.
DEVS 230 The Global Political Economy of Development
Term: Fall 2026 (on-campus)
Class Time(s): Wednesday 3:30-5:30
Tutorials: Thursday 8:30-9:30, 9:30-10:30
Description: Applying global political economy perspectives to key aspects of development finance. Topics include the introduction of basic economic terms, the role of the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, World Trade Organization, and the growing roles of Transnational Corporations and financial markets in development.
DEVS 240 Decolonizing Development
Term: Winter 2027 (on-campus)
Class Time(s): Monday 12:30-2:30
Tutorials: Monday 4:30-5:30, Tuesday 8:30-9:30, 2:30-3:30, 4:30-5:30
Description: By interrogating concepts of culture and colonialism, the course invites students to question established development narratives, confront Eurocentric biases, and envision alternative pathways for inclusive, egalitarian, and culturally sensitive approaches to global development.
DEVS 250 Environmental Transformations
Term: Winter 2027 (on-campus)
Class Time(s): Wednesday 1:00-2:30
Description: Examines the relationship between development and environmental change by introducing social science perspectives on themes including energy, agriculture, climate, urbanization, and water. With a focus on combining macro- and micro-analysis, the course reflects on the meaning of development in an era of global environmental transformation.
DEVS 260 Globalization, Gender, and Development
Term: Winter 2027 (online)
Class Time(s): To be announced
Description: This course is designed for those interested in undertaking a critical analysis of the gendered impact of the globalization process and development policies with a focus on women in the Global South.
DEVS 275 Global Health and Development
Term: Fall 2026 (on-campus)
Class Time(s): Thursday, 2:30-4:30
Tutorials: Fridays 8:30-9:30, 9:30-10:30
Description: This course examines the nexus between global health and development with a focus on preparing students for work on contemporary health and well-being issues. It takes a multidisciplinary perspective to analyze current global challenges including environmental and social transformations and changing disease burden. Using case studies, students will learn important concepts and principles in global health and development. The course also focuses on exploring innovative approaches that bridge the global health and development divide and help in addressing difficult global health challenges.
DEVS 280 Global Engagement
Term: Fall 2026 (online)
Class Time(s): To be announced
Description: This course explores current thinking around the motivations for, and ethical implications of, working with communities on issues of social justice, inequality, and sustainable development. Students will engage in self-reflexive practices and work collaboratively to create tools and action plans for ethical global engagement in the future.
DEVS 300 Cross-Cultural Research Method
Term: Winter 2027 (on-campus)
Class Time(s): Tuesday 1:30-2:30
Tutorials: Tuesday 1:30-2:30
Description: A study of practical issues related to development research and program evaluation in development settings, using a case-study approach. Topics include information retrieval, cross-cultural research methods, basic data analysis, and results-based project evaluation.
DEVS 302 Development In Action
Term: Fall 2026 (on-campus)
Class Time(s): Monday 9:30-11:30
Tutorials: Wednesday 11:30-12:30, Thursday 2:30-3:30
Description: Development in Action focuses on institutional efforts to frame, plan, and manage development and change towards sustainable, just and equitable outcomes. It will examine political negotiations in setting strategic development agendas and goals. It also includes critically learning about the history, evolution and politics of development aid, and practical planning approaches used in development programs.
DEVS 340 Theories of Development
Term: Fall 2026 (on-campus)
Class Time(s): Tuesday 2:30-4:30
Tutorials: Thursday 1:30-2:30, 3:30-4:30, 4:30-5:30
Description: Provides students with an overview of theories that underpin the development enterprise, and critiques of development, through the use of primary texts and critical appraisals.
DEVS 352 Technology and Social Justice
Term: Fall 2026 (on-campus)
Class Time(s): Friday 11:30-1:30
Tutorials: Friday 1:30-2:30
Description: Technology is a pivotal factor in shaping sustainable development. Many people view technology as a crucial component of development and hold high hopes for its potential to address issues such as poverty, diseases, environmental degradation, and climate change. However, some also recognize the negative aspects of technology and how it can exacerbate existing inequalities, leading to tensions in society, especially in the distribution of resources and the creation of new social injustices. This course will examine both the effects of technological innovation on society and the ways in which technology is influenced by cultural, economic, political, and organizational factors.
DEVS 356 The Political Economy of Resource Extraction
Term: Fall 2026 (on-campus)
Class Time(s): Monday 2:30-5:30
Description: This course analyzes the political economy of resource extraction, focusing on Canadian extraction, domestically and globally. Students will critically examine historical and contemporary extraction and its role in economies, livelihoods and transnational movement (e.g. migration and colonialism), and explore alternative extractive futures.
DEVS 359 Migrations, Refugees, and Development
Term: Winter 2027 (on-campus)
Class Time(s): Monday 8:30-10:30
Tutorials: Monday 11:30-12:30, 12:30-1:30
Description: The course examines contemporary issues 'forced' migration of people to obtain theoretical understanding of processes shaping human mobility and the debates governing inclusion or exclusion of people.
DEVS 361 Policy Advocacy in Global Development
Term: Winter 2027 (online)
Class Time(s): To be announced
Description: This course equips students with strategies, techniques and mindsets that help social movements and justice-oriented organizations contribute to policy advocacy. Through historical and sociological research, students apply core concepts and best practices to develop new understandings about where policy advocacy fits within a broader spectrum of transformative societal change. The course provides practical guidance for designing public campaigns aimed at legal and policy changes toward the goal of justice advocacy in global development.
DEVS 365 Trade and Investment in the Global South
Term: Fall 2026 (on-campus)
Class Time(s): Wednesday 9:30-11:30
Tutorials: Wednesday 11:30-12:30, 4:30-5:30
Description: The future of globalization is highly uncertain. The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the fragility of global supply chains. The rise of mercantilist policies has also brought the rules-based order for trade into crisis. In this course, students will examine this shifting landscape and what it means for global development. Students will learn about the World Trade Organization and key regional trade and investment agreements. Students will also assess alternatives to the current system, with a focus on fair trade. Finally, we will explore wildlife trade and how trade affects climate change.
DEVS 366 Land Politics and Health
Term: Winter 2027 (on-campus)
Class Time(s): Tuesday 8:30-10:30
Tutorials: Tuesday 2:30-3:30, Wednesday 8:30-9:30, 9:30-10:30
Description: This course explores land politics and health promotion at local and global levels. It situates health inequalities in political ecologies of environmental appropriation, exploitation, dispossession, and repossession. Students examine how global health can benefit from equity and ethics in human-land interaction and consider how equitable land reforms can promote healthy environments and healthy populations in communities and at the global level.
DEVS 392 Global Settler Colonialisms
Term: Winter 2027 (online)
Class Time(s): To be announced
Description: TBD
DEVS 393 Topics in Development Studies II: Careers to Make a Difference in Social Sciences
Term: Winter 2027 (on-campus)
Class Time(s): Wednesday 11:30-1:30
Description: TBD
Contract Hours
The hours in the TA contract will be determined based on the actual course enrollment.
To Apply
The University invites applications from all qualified individuals. Queen’s University is committed to employment equity and diversity in the workplace and welcomes applications from women, racialized persons, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, 2SLGBTQIA+ persons and such other groups as may be designated by legislation.
The University will provide support in its recruitment processes to applicants with disabilities, including accommodation that takes into account an applicant’s accessibility needs.
Application Process
The process of assigning qualified graduate students to these positions is outlined in the Collective Agreement between the Public Service Alliance of Canada () and Queen’s University. Remuneration will be in accordance with the Collective Agreement, and appointments are subject to funding or enrollment criteria. Applications will be reviewed, and positions allocated in reference to candidates’ teaching and academic experience as it applies to the course subject field and in reference to the candidates’ priority for a Teaching Assistantship as specified by the Collective Agreement.
If you wish to be considered for a teaching assistantship listed above, please complete the . Applicants from Preference Groups B, C, D, and E will be required to upload a CV and unofficial transcripts. All applicants who have previously completed the Mandatory Training will be required to upload proof of completion.
If you have questions, please contact:
Bronwyn Jaques
Graduate Program Advising Coordinator, Hub 1, DEVS Lead
»ĆÉ«ĘÓƵ
Mackintosh-Corry Hall, Room B414
Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6
Application Deadline
Submit your application and supporting documentation no later than Friday July 17, 2026 at 11:59 pm. Only those applicants who will be offered a teaching assistantship will be contacted.
Call for Applications: DEVS Teaching Assistants 2026-27 [PDF 93.2 KB]