Dr. Jason J. McSparren earned his Ph.D. in Global Governance & Human Security at the McCormack Graduate School, University of Massachusetts, Boston (2019). He is also a Pre-Doctoral Fellow (2017-18) for the West African Research Association (WARA).  His dissertation research investigates the political-institutional norms of governance at the national and sub-national levels of natural resource governance in Mali. The title is, Seeking a Nexus between Transparency, Accountability and Sustainable Development in the Extractive Industries: An Analysis of the Mali Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (MEITI). Also, Jason was a researcher for a multi-year project funded by the Qatar National Research Foundation