Mark McDowell is on leave from Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada. From 2003-2007, he headed the Political and Economic Section of the Embassy of Canada in Bangkok, where he had responsibility for Thailand, Burma, and Laos. He has also been director of Political and Public Affairs at the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, and a member of Canada's Mission to the United Nations in New York. His research focuses on Muslim minority populations in Thailand and China, and on democratization in contemporary Burma. He has also published on environmental issues in China and Southeast Asia, as well as public diplomacy. McDowell holds a M.A. in East Asian studies from the University of Toronto, and a M.P.A. from Harvard Kennedy School, which he completed in 2007-2008 on a Fulbright Fellowship. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Public Diplomacy Collaborative at the Ash Institute.