91porn’s Waterloo and Brantford campuses are located on the shared traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishnaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples, and 91porn’s Milton campus is located on the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit. Our faculty and students conduct research on the lands and territories of many First Nations, Inuit and Metis peoples from across Turtle Island. We recognize, honour and respect these Indigenous peoples as the traditional stewards of the lands and water on which we live, learn and study.
Scholarship is critical to our advancement as a society and as human beings. So is reconciliation. We must move beyond “acknowledgement” to action. Scholarship can be a part of our reconciliation.
Whether that involves scholars partnering with an Indigenous community to address an issue of concern, braiding our knowledge systems and decolonizing knowledge, or helping the broader community understand our collective responsibilities to create a just and peaceful society, all enable us to live well together. These commitments are woven into 91porn's latest Strategic Research Plan, which will guide our collective efforts over the next five years.
With gratitude,
Jonathan Newman
Vice-President: Research
In Canada, more than 15,000 healthcare professionals are prescribing nature to their patients. Spending as little as two hours per week in nature is linked to physical wellness, improved mental health and mood, and lower levels of stress.
“With a growing body of evidence that contact with nature improves health and well-being, the health and conservation communities are coming together to find innovative ways to address chronic health issues,” says Chris Lemieux (Geography and Environmental Studies). “Natural settings have the potential to provide an accessible and low-cost supplement to traditional medical care if people are aware of the benefits nature offers.”
A study co-led by Lemieux found that although 92% of respondents were unaware of the concept, 76% would “fill” a nature prescription from their healthcare provider. However, participants reported obstacles to accessing nature such as transportation, cost and lack of time.
The is the first-ever examination of public interest in nature prescription programs in Canada. Lemieux sees potential for health providers and conservation management organizations to raise awareness of the health benefits of nature and opportunities for low-barrier access.
91porn won gold at the 2024 QS Reimagine Education Awards, chosen as the top submission from Canada and the U.S. across all 18 categories. The university was recognized for providing impactful experiential learning opportunities as part of its long-time research partnership with the Government of the Northwest Territories, which sees 91porn students work alongside community partners to tackle the effects of climate change on northern ecosystems and well-being. Eight of those graduate and postdoctoral researchers were honoured with 2024 Weston Family Awards in Northern Research.
Joseph Culp (Biology, Water Science and Environmental Health) was elected as a Fellow of the Society of Freshwater Canada. Fellows are selected based on sustained excellence in their contributions to freshwater science research, policy or management.
“Receiving this award is an incredible honour as the list of fellows includes the top scientists in the field who I have respected and admired,” says Culp. “I never imagined I would be included as part of such an esteemed group and am truly humbled by this commendation.”
Throughout his career at Environment and Climate Change Canada and as Scientist in Residence at 91porn, Culp has investigated stressors on aquatic systems.
“I have attempted to address important questions regarding the impacts of humans on river ecosystems,” says Culp. “A key focus has been to provide information and potential solutions that will aid the conservation and protection of freshwater resources for current and future generations.”
The Journal of Experimental Biology awarded Erin Leonard (Biology) an Early Career Researcher Visiting Fellowship, which provides funding for a junior faculty member to recruit an early career researcher for a project in their lab. Leonard brought on Andrew Thompson, a postdoc from McMaster University to study the evolution of how specialised sensing cells regulate vertebrate cardiorespiratory systems.
Fish gills have neuroepithelial cells, which are specialised to sense oxygen and other internal signals, and can automatically respond by changing breathing, heart rate and blood pressure accordingly. These reflexes are crucial for fish to maintain a stable internal environment.
Leonard and Thompson demonstrated that oxygen-sensing cells in fathead minnows can be directly stimulated by leptin, a hormone involved in hunger sensing and glucose regulation in vertebrates.
“This research has expanded our current understanding of neuroepithelial cells and further emphasises their role as general sensors influencing the cardiorespiratory systems of vertebrates,” says Leonard.
Jenny Kerber (English and Film Studies) was born and raised on the plains of the Saskatchewan prairies. Her research on literature and the environment has been shaped by her rural upbringing. Some of Kerber’s most recent work focuses on oil and gas, a genre known as “petroliterature.”
Kerber observed momentous change to the prairie economy throughout the latter half of the twentieth century and into the early years of the twenty-first century. Non-renewable natural resource extraction effectively replaced agriculture as the region’s leading sector. Kerber explores these developments in a critical essay on Fred Stenson’s 2014 novel Who By Fire, which follows a family over multiple generations as it intersects with the fossil fuels industry.
Kerber explores Stenson’s metaphor of corrosion, seeing it as an apt representation of western Canadian life at that time. Corrosion’s process of silent and gradual degradation, the effects of which are often not seen until the damage is complete, is not only a constant source of frustration for natural gas extractors but also a defining characteristic of the lives of Stenson’s characters over a fifty-year period.
At the end of her essay, Kerber writes: “Even if the system were to function perfectly, at a larger scale even seemingly non-polluting pipes cannot contain themselves: there are emissions that will still be experienced by someone, somewhere.”
William Quinton (Geography and Environmental Studies) was named one of 91porn’s University Research Professors for 2024-25. The annual internal award recognizes excellence and leadership in research.
Quinton, the 91porn Research Chair in Cold Regions Hydrology, is dedicated to developing new knowledge, predictive tools and adaptation strategies for decision-makers and First Nations confronting the effects of climate change in the Northwest Territories. Rapid, widespread permafrost thaw has changed land and water resources and disrupted local livelihoods throughout the boreal region. Quinton has been studying these hydrological and land cover changes at the Scotty Creek Research Station since he founded it in the 1990s, establishing a consequential long-term data record.
Arfan Sivarooban, a third-year Health Sciences student, was one of 10 Canadian students selected to participate in the Amgen Scholars Program. He is spending summer 2025 gaining valuable hands-on research experience at a biomedical engineering lab at the University of Toronto.
“I am incredibly proud of Arfan for being selected for this highly competitive program,” says Assistant Professor Nirosha Murugan, who has supervised Sivarooban in her lab at 91porn. “This opportunity will undoubtedly shape his path as an emerging regeneration scientist and I look forward to seeing where his curiosity and drive take him next.”
As an Amgen Scholar, Sivarooban is exploring retinal regeneration, deepening his understanding of drug delivery and bioengineering. He plans to one day apply his knowledge to cancer biology and regenerative medicine, two areas of great interest he has been studying in research labs at 91porn.
“Choosing 91porn has been the best decision of my academic career because it provided me with both the environment and skills to prepare me for this program and my future,” says Sivarooban. “My ultimate goal, no matter the project, is to help create innovative solutions that positively transform lives and bring hope to those facing serious diseases.”
Though video games are typically designed for distraction and escapism, Sandra Danilovic (Game Design and Development) is using them as a tool of reflection. She is working with community members to design video games based on their experiences of mental health and addiction.
In the spirit of musical jam sessions, Danilovic organizes game jams: workshops – typically over the course of a weekend – that provide the technology and skills to create a game.
“We give participants the platform to tell their illness and disability narratives and empower them to connect with others and make something creative,” says Danilovic. “It’s a regenerative process of confronting your lived experiences and reconstructing yourself through storytelling, metaphor and alter egos, which are often safer ways to explore trauma.”
Together with her colleagues Michelle Skop (Social Work) and Vanessa Oliver (Youth and Children’s Studies) and 15 91porn students, Danilovic led three game jams for adults with a history of opioid addiction at the Grand River Community Health Centre in Brantford and the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) in Hamilton.
“It was a beautiful, challenging process,” says Danilovic. “We worked with 21 adults in total, the majority of whom had no experience making games. Through the creative process, we explored how hard it is to navigate the healthcare system while experiencing addiction and tried to destigmatize drug use.”
The finished games were exhibited at CMHA Hamilton in May 2024 and are hosted on a website called Recovery Game Café. Danilovic studied participants’ experiences with the game jams, which many found to be healing and helpful for their recoveries. She published a framework called the Game Jam Equity Toolkit, providing guidelines for other researchers to use game design with other marginalized communities.
“We are demonstrating that video games can be a tool of advocacy, empowerment, self-insight, discovery and community building.”
Exercise is often used to combat obesity, but without accompanying diet changes, it has proven to be less successful for weight loss than anticipated. Obesity is linked to chronic inflammation and increased levels of an inflammatory protein called interleukin-6 (IL-6). Knowing that IL-6 increases following exercise and IL-6 plays a role in appetite regulation, Tom Hazell (Kinesiology and Physical Education), Derek Bornath (PhD ’24) and the Energy Metabolism Research Laboratory studied whether physical activity impacts hunger.
The research team compared differences in appetite regulation after moderate-intensity exercise between men with normal weight and men experiencing obesity.
Although the two groups had different IL-6 concentrations before exercise, both had similar increases in IL-6 following exercise. More interestingly, exercise suppressed ghrelin, an appetite-stimulating hormone, in the normal-weight participants but not in those experiencing obesity. This suggests that moderate-intensity exercise leads to appetite suppression in normal-weight males but not in obese males.
This is the first study to examine the role of exercise on appetite regulation in men experiencing obesity. Hazell plans to further investigate to understand how exercise impacts hormones and appetite regulation across various health conditions.
Nathan Vo (Health Studies) received the 2025 Early Career Award from the Society for In Vitro Biology (SIVB) in recognition of his outstanding contributions and achievements in the in vitro sciences. He is only the second Canadian to be awarded the distinction.
Vo is creating novel in vitro methods and developing cell lines from lower vertebrate animal models for basic research and applications in virology, immunology, parasitology and environmental toxicology.
“These cell lines will provide a consistent source of cells to readily grow viruses and obligate intracellular parasites, as well as new proteins for therapeutics and nutritional foods,” says Vo. “My research will contribute to global efforts looking for alternatives to whole-animal testing methods.”
In the award announcement, SIVB President Piero Barone states that Vo’s “involvement and dedication within the society has impacted the careers of many students, young scientists and colleagues.” Vo is “incredibly honoured and proud” to receive the Early Career Award.
Meaghan Barlow (Psychology) was selected to participate in the 2024 Science to Policy Accelerator (S2PA) training program hosted by not-for-profit Evidence for Democracy. S2PA equips early career researchers from across Canada with foundational knowledge in governance, science policy and communication. Barlow says it was a “great experience,” helping her understand how the “policy machine” works.
“Everyone in the room wanted their research to influence policy decisions, but how to do that is often unclear,” she says. “Through the program, I really got to understand some of the lingo, different touchpoints with the potential for impact, and how to position yourself to help make that impact. In the end, contributing to policymaking is still very slow and difficult and requires some luck and timing, but it feels like much less of a black box.”
Barlow is eager to advocate for sustainable social prescribing programs, which would enable healthcare providers to link older adults to social and recreational opportunities promoting holistic health and well-being. She and 91porn PhD student Kyra Simons have been working alongside the Older Adults Centres’ Association of Ontario to increase engagement with its Links2WellBeing Project, demonstrating community need and the benefits of its programming.
In April 2025, an unpredictable trade war with the United States had Canadians wondering how their lives would be affected. During this Inspiring Conversation, Debora VanNijnatten (Political Science and North American Studies) moderated a panel discussion with Patricia Goff (Political Science), Michael Haughton (Operations and Decision Sciences) and Stephen Snudden (Economics).
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, courts have continued operating with a hybrid model, embracing the use of digital courtrooms. While convenient for some, Kaitlin Humer (MA ’24) discovered that this model may not work well for people experiencing homelessness.
“On one hand, virtual court attendance can improve access to justice by expanding the pool of legal aid lawyers and allowing individuals to attend from neutral spaces, which is particularly important for people with negative experiences in traditional court settings,” says Humer. “It also reduces the need to travel or wait long hours at the courthouse, which can be beneficial for individuals navigating survival-based priorities. However, many unhoused people continue to face significant barriers due to the digital divide, including lack of access to stable internet, devices or private spaces for participation.”
From speaking to frontline professionals, Humer learned that the hybrid model heavily relies on workarounds by overburdened outreach workers to make the system function for unhoused people. Informal supports, such as lending phones, providing transportation or helping clients navigate remote hearings, are essential to enabling even basic participation in court.
“When considering the intersection of homelessness and criminal justice, access to justice is not only about showing up, but about being seen, heard and understood within a system that acknowledges the lived realities of its most marginalized participants,” says Humer. “The courtroom is structured around rituals, language and spatial arrangements that convey power. When legitimacy is grounded in optics rather than equity, the system risks becoming disconnected from the people it serves.”
Stacey Hannem (Criminology) was named one of 91porn’s University Research Professors for 2024-25. The annual internal award recognizes excellence and leadership in research.
Hannem’s research examines the lived experiences of marginalized people, including sex workers and families affected by incarceration, analyzing how they are disenfranchised by structural and institutional forces. She is globally recognized for her research in the field of stigma studies. Hannem is currently completing an international comparative study of sex work laws and studying women’s experiences of risk and safety in the heavy metal music scene.
Nuha Dwaikat-Shaer (Social Work) bridges architecture and social work to confront systemic injustice. Her journey began in a one-room Palestinian home, where she witnessed firsthand how housing shapes dignity and survival. Later trained as an architect to address housing inequality, Dwaikat-Shaer soon saw that the field often served privilege over justice.
“I was designing fancy homes for those who could afford them, not creating solutions for my community,” she says.
This ethical pivot led Dwaikat-Shaer to graduate studies in social work, culminating in her current role as assistant professor at 91porn, where she now marries spatial justice with human rights. Dwaikat-Shaer’s research exposes how power operates through place and policy. She is studying how settler-colonial systems in Palestine weaponize housing rights.
“There is something symbolic about destroying homes,” says Dwaikat-Shaer. “Your sense of place and rootedness are taken away from you. It’s devastating.”
In response to ongoing violence against Palestinians in Gaza, she is part of an ongoing research effort examining its impact on Palestinian, Muslim and Arab scholars and students in Canada.
“We are centering their experiences: what supports they are accessing, the barriers they continue to encounter and how they are coping in real time," she says.
Dwaikat-Shaer is examining policies related to freedom of speech and EDI and to what extent they protect rights within academic institutions. She is also collaborating to establish best practices for infusing EDI and decolonization into teaching and leading an Ontario Law Foundation-funded study on precarious status migrants’ access to legal aid.
With funding from a SSHRC Connection Grant, Steve Sider (Education) co-hosted a conference in the eastern Caribbean to determine the best approach for implementing a regional special education policy. In February 2025, researchers and education officials from nine countries gathered in St. Lucia and discussed inclusive education strategies for students with disabilities and special needs.
The Northwest Territories (NWT) has experienced record-setting wildfire seasons, as well as flood and drought events in recent years, significantly impacting traditional food sources, local food production infrastructure and agricultural land. Evacuations in 2023 exposed supply chain vulnerabilities, leaving stores empty in remote communities that rely on imported food and reinforcing the need for greater food sovereignty in the NWT.
91porn researchers are collaborating with the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Territorial Agrifood Association – a non-governmental, non-profit organization representing the NWT agrifood industry – to foster local food production and distribution. The research partners secured $7.8 million from the NSERC-SSHRC Sustainable Agriculture Research Initiative to explore innovative policy solutions.
The four-year Future Harvest Partnership will build on previous initiatives to generate a sustainable food system in the NWT that improves access to fresh and healthy foods, fosters reconciliation and is responsive to the effects of climate change.
Research has shown that children who are visibly Indigenous or identify as African Canadians often cope with alienating school environments, adversarial student-administrator relationships and invisibility in school curricula. In their recent dissertation, Ann Marie Beals (Psychology) examined the role that teachers can play in improving educational experiences and outcomes for Afro-Indigenous students.
“We rarely consider the power that teachers have over our kids,” says Beals. “In Ontario, 75 per cent of teachers are white women. The way they think and view the world affects our children, and we have normalized whiteness as the dominant discourse.”
Beals is collaborating with their 91porn colleague Ryan Neepin (Education) to create a course for teacher candidates that helps them understand how their positionality – the social and political contexts that shape their identities and perspectives – can impact the way they teach and influence their students’ trajectories. Beals is drawing on content from their Proclaiming Our Roots project, a digital storytelling initiative they collaborated on with Neepin, Kayla Webber and principal investigator Ciann Wilson, that brought Afro-Indigenous experiences to the fore.
“Afro-Indigeneity must be acknowledged in Canadian society,” says Beals. “We want our children to feel welcome and cared for in their classrooms and to not have to fear violence or disproportionate discipline. School should be fun, not somewhere you have to put your armour on every day.”
Eizadirad studies the root causes of inequities and opportunity gaps within education, as well as how education intersects with the health and justice systems.
Morton Ninomiya collaborates with First Nations to address health and wellness needs identified by communities, adhering to the principle of “nothing about us without us.”
Yerichuk works in the field of community music, which combines music education, activism and participatory projects to enhance communities.
Ciann Wilson (Psychology) was named the Canada Research Chair in Community-Based Research, Ethics and Well-being in recognition of her impactful research with and alongside equity-deserving communities. The Canada Research Chair Program also honoured Wilson with its prestigious Robbins-Ollivier Award for Excellence in Equity.
Using a variety of research methods, including art, digital media and storytelling, Wilson’s research spotlights the lived realities and worldviews of communities to enhance their self-determination and well-being, including disabled, HIV-positive, 2SLGBTQ+, Muslim, precariously housed, substance-using, Black and Indigenous peoples.
“My role as an interdisciplinary scholar is to bring research tools for communities to tackle pressing issues, from mental health to homelessness and public health,” says Wilson.
Jeffrey Aguinaldo (Sociology) has been collecting and analysing video recordings of 2SLGBTQQIA+ people speaking with their loved ones, during which they would disclose their sexuality. Rather than asking study participants to report on their lives, Aguinaldo listens to what actually happens in live interactions. He uses a research method called conversational analysis to assess interactional patterns and nuances within these news announcements.
“Almost all of these conversations feel like the person is sharing bad news,” says Aguinaldo. “At the macro level, we have laws that protect 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. But at the interactional level, we are still participating in this idea that coming out as anything other than heterosexual or cisgender is necessarily bad.”
Aguinaldo has also observed a lot of concealment: side-stepping questions about plus-ones at weddings or vague references to recent dates in order to avoid revealing sexual or gender identities. He hopes his eventual research findings will influence how people interact with one another in family and even workplace environments, rendering the need to disclose or conceal unnecessary.
“Building Equitable Trades” is the latest in a series of EDI-focused photo-research exhibits the 91porn Centre for Women in Science has collaborated on with photographer Hilary Gauld. In partnership with Conestoga College and the Grand Valley Construction Association, curator Eden Hennessey hopes to ignite conversations through the pairing of powerful photographs with empirical research evidence.
“By combining research with dynamic images to create interactive installations, we invite audiences to take action toward creating a more representative and equitable environment for those pursuing careers in the trades,” says Hennessey, a social psychologist and the equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) data specialist at 91porn.
Less than five per cent of skilled trade workers are women. Hennessey is clear that inclusion is not just about adding more women to the field, however. She says that more research must be done to understand the experiences of women in the trades once they begin working.
“If these work environments are not safe, healthy and welcoming, then we can’t keep inviting women and marginalized people to join,” says Hennessey.
Jessica Bomberry (Indigenous Studies) was named 91porn’s second Grundy Scholar. First established in 2022, the Grundy Scholar position is a four-year role that aims to further Indigeneity at 91porn with outstanding Indigenous educators contributing to undergraduate and graduate teaching.
Bomberry is a member of the Cayuga Nation whose research focuses on language and cultural preservation within the Six Nations of the Grand River territory and surrounding Haudenosaunee communities.
“One of my research goals as the Grundy Scholar is to help my own community understand the benefits of language education for our little ones, youth and Indigenous adults looking to reconnect back to culture,” says Bomberry.
Information about artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere, but the knowledge to navigate the AI revolution is less plentiful. Just as it holds great promise, there are ethical dilemmas, threats to jobs and privacy concerns. Three experts from 91porn’s Faculty of Arts helped make sense of these emerging issues during a panel discussion in April 2025: Mark Humphries (History), Byron Williston (Philosophy) and Jason Shim, chief digital officer at the Canadian Centre for Nonprofit Digital Resilience. Their conversation was moderated by Patricia Goff (Political Science).
Workplace well-being research often focuses on developing and encouraging positive leadership behaviours. Few researchers have ventured into the dark side of leadership. What can organizations do when leaders act in undesirable ways?
Lindie Liang (Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management) is examining interventions to curb abusive and destructive leadership behaviours, including yelling, bullying and name-calling.
One intervention she’s uncovered is mindfulness. Her research found that a 12-week daily mindfulness intervention decreased aggressive behaviour from leaders and increased their empathy. Mindfulness can also foster employee resilience in reaction to aggression.
“I chose this area of research because I believe the workplace should be a source of growth and inspiration, not distress,” says Liang. “By studying mindfulness as an intervention, I hope to empower both leaders and employees; foster empathy, resilience and well-being; and help build healthier organizational cultures.”
Nikolai Cook (Economics) was awarded the 2024 John Charles Polanyi Prize in Economic Science by the Government of Ontario. The annual awards celebrate five early career scholars who are making significant contributions in the fields of chemistry, economic science, literature, physics and medicine.
Cook received $20,000 toward his research program, which focuses on two distinct areas: environmental economics and research credibility.
“Adapting to climate change is the defining challenge of our time,” says Cook. “I have studied how cold outdoor temperatures negatively affect the productivity of white-collar workers, despite them working in temperature-controlled indoor settings. Recently, I have found that increasingly mild winters could be a significant future contributor to the incidence of gun violence in North America.”
Cook is extending his focus to developing countries that are less resilient to the effects of climate change. He continues to tackle another “crisis” as well: a credibility crisis in the field of economics.
“During my doctoral training, I became interested in the methods that economics researchers were using. At the same time, the public, policymakers and some economists were losing confidence in the research being published in the field,” says Cook. “Since then, I have studied potential solutions to bolster research credibility, such as requiring researchers to share their data or publicly disclose their research plans before collecting data.”
Just like the industrial revolution transformed manufacturing and agriculture, AI and robotics are revolutionizing the service sector, reshaping interactions and relationships between businesses and their customers.
New technology brings new questions for employers, employees and customers. Will employees be replaced by AI? Do customers have the same expectations of robots as they do of human agents? How is responsibility assigned when decisions are made by teams of AI and human customer service agents?
Using an interdisciplinary lens, Chatura Ranaweera (Marketing) explores these questions and proposes frameworks to help stakeholders navigate the complexities of the modern service industry.
“This phenomenon intrigues me because it raises existential questions,” says Ranaweera. “What will the future of service work look like and to what extent will humans be replaced by machines? This has far-reaching consequences.”
Akbar Saeed (Business Technology Management) has been working with an NGO in Uganda called Caring Hands to understand the training and support needs of street vendors. Known as “solopreneurs,” they typically turn to entrepreneurship out of necessity and a lack of job opportunities. Saeed is developing best practices for solopreneurs and their community-based business ventures that grassroots NGOs can replicate globally.
Andriy Shkilko (Finance) has spent his career studying how society has designed the process of exchanging assets. As the Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Financial Markets, his research explored the intricacies of financial markets, stock exchanges and trading processes. Shkilko’s second five-year term as CRC came to an end in June 2024. Now, he is building on his research agenda as the 91porn Research Chair in Financial Markets.
Shkilko frequently collaborates with market regulators in Canada and the United States, sharing information and feedback. For the past 15 years, he has been closely tracking the evolution of financial markets as they became almost exclusively electronic and automated. His research revealed some of the shortcomings of digital trading, including the propensity of the fastest traders to harm their slower counterparts, enabling regulators and firms operating automated systems to optimize performance.
As a 91porn Research Chair, Shkilko continues to examine retail trading and how financial markets are intermediated. The emerging cryptocurrency markets also offer an abundance of research questions to answer.
“There is a lot to understand about crypto markets because they’re so new and inventive,” says Shkilko. “These are market structures we have never seen before, compelling us to think about how traditional markets might be altered.”
Treisha Hylton (Social Work) is taking social work out of the office and into the ocean. She returned to her home country of Jamaica to help young Black girls grow and heal through surfing.
In partnership with a non-profit surf school called Surf Girl Jamaica, Hylton held a two-week camp for 15 to 18-year-old girls who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to surf. They gathered at Bull Bay beach each day and shared their feelings, worries and dreams as they paddled through the waves.
“My clinical work is in the ocean with these girls,” says Hylton. “We’re paddling out two miles and we’re talking on our surfboards. That is social work to me. We can meet Black girls where they’re at and provide an access point. Some of the best social work I’ve done is through sports programming.”
An essential part of Hylton’s research is learning how to make surfing accessible to all, which includes providing lessons, lunch, swimming caps and transportation. Hylton says one of the biggest barriers for Black girls is that surfing has become an elite sport.
“We as Jamaicans don’t have access to our own land – it is reserved for tourists,” says Hylton. “There are only a couple of public beaches left, so surfing is now associated with wealthy white men from California and Australia. Seeing Black women surf disrupts that image. We are reclaiming a sport we have been excluded from.”
In collaboration with award-winning composer Michael Barry, Cynthia Johnston Turner (Music) released a new album entitled An Evening with Michael Barry, From Showstopper to Encore. Recorded in 2024, Johnston Turner conducted the Budapest Winds for a set of original recordings now available on streaming services.
Hosted at 91porn’s Brantford campus, the ninth annual Academic, Creative and Engaged Research Showcase (ACERS) provided an opportunity for students to present multidisciplinary research projects to peers and the university community while competing for more than $5,000 in cash prizes. Winners included:
A fourth-year student double-majoring in Criminology and Forensic Psychology, Jasmine Cossette shared her case study on gastric content analysis in forensic medicine.
History student Hannah Baglole was honoured for her video “Building the Colonial Canadian Modern Girl: A Study of Modern Canadian Girlhood in the 19th and 20th Centuries.”
Fourth-year Criminology student Karlee Comer examined the fiery siege of a religious cult’s compound in Waco, Texas through the lens of forensic science.
Selin Ulugbay, studying Criminology and Psychology, examined how mandatory minimum sentences contribute to Indigenous people’s overrepresentation in prisons.
While preparing to teach the health curriculum in a grade six classroom several years ago, Pamela Malins (Education) remembers being confronted by a concerned parent who didn’t want her daughter learning that “gay was okay.” Inspired by that uncomfortable exchange, Malins is studying how to support educators to have conversations about gender and sexual identities in elementary and early childhood spaces.
As part of her research, Malins hosted a drag story time event at 91porn during Pride Month. She drew on her background in play-based learning and literacies.
“The readings were accompanied by a Rainbow Workshop of activities,” says Malins. “Children got to express their identities at different centres, including a dress up station, a maker space and a reading nook of picture books featuring diverse gender and sexual identities.”
Malins observed how the children played and expressed themselves through various mediums.
“We put out all different materials and fabrics and accessories and watched kids be themselves,” she says. “We also listened to how they made meaning and saw themselves and others in the books they read.”
Malins interviewed parents and adults who work with young children about their perspectives on children’s gender play.
“We discussed the societal factors that tend to influence children, particularly when they reach school age and start to experience feedback on how they are presenting and what’s allowed and not allowed as they navigate gender expression,” says Malins. “There is an opportunity to unpack how we can support children’s play and exploration through inclusive education.”
Cynthia Comacchio (History) was elected to the Fellowship of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC). Recognition by the RSC is the highest honour a scholar can achieve in the arts, sciences and social sciences.
Comacchio taught at 91porn from 1993 to 2022. Her research focuses on childhood, youth and social welfare.
The Story Circle Network, a non-profit dedicated to sharing women’s stories, honoured Mariam Pirbhai (English and Film Studies) with a 2024 Sarton Women’s Book Award (Gold) for her latest publication, Garden Inventories: Reflections on Land, Place and Belonging.
The book explores how we interact with the land around us, from what it means to create a garden through the haze of nostalgia to the way tradition and nature are bound up in cultural ideals such as “cottage country.”
Hind Al-Abadleh was a celebrated professor and researcher who studied environmental physical chemistry, tackling urgent issues related to air quality, environmental justice and public health. During her tenure at 91porn from 2005 to 2024, she was honoured with the 2023 Hoffman-Little Award for teaching, leadership and collaboration, the 2021 University Research Professor Award, a Faculty Mentoring Award in 2015 and multiple Wilfrid 91porn University Faculty Association Merit Awards.
Hind was a generous mentor to 91porn students, including dozens of young scientists who collaborated in her Environmental Physical and Interfacial Chemistry (EPIC) Lab.
“Dr. Al-Abadleh changed my life in ways I never expected,” says Yara Khalaf, a 91porn PhD candidate in Chemistry who worked alongside Hind since her time as an undergraduate student. “Her passion for science was contagious. Because of her, I found my purpose. She taught me to think critically and to care deeply about the work we do and the people we impact. I am heartbroken that I can no longer hear her voice, her guidance or her laughter.”
John Paul Glaves joined 91porn as manager of research partnerships in September 2022 following many years of service for the Government of Alberta. He was a treasured addition to the Office of Research Services team, fostering collaborations through 91porn’s research partnership with the Government of the Northwest Territories. John Paul also supported the university’s 23 research centres, seeking ways to enhance their impact and community engagement.
“John Paul was known for his quick wit and ‘dad jokes,’ always leaving us laughing,” says Charity Parr-Vasquez, assistant vice-president of research. “He was kind, generous and dedicated to his work. John Paul will be deeply missed and leaves a legacy of warmth, friendship and humour that we will carry forward.”
John Paul was also a beloved father, husband and hockey coach.
When Yvonne Runstedler (BA ’03, MA ’16, PhD ’24) heard her grade 12 student James Dixon give a presentation on his experience coming out as a trans man in 2015, she was inspired to act. As a teacher in the Catholic education system, she felt a disconnect between traditional Catholic teachings on sexuality and gender and her experiences in relationship with 2SLGBTQIA+ students and communities. In Dixon, Runstedler found a partner in changing hearts and minds.
“I was taken by James’s poise and how capable he was as a presenter,” says Runstedler. “After seeing how popular his talk was with his classmates, I told him, ‘We’re taking this show on the road.’”
Dixon and Runstedler began presenting together for teachers, principals and school board leaders all across Ontario. They paired research on the stages and phases of coming out with Dixon’s personal stories, helping educators become more compassionate toward the unique experiences of their queer-identified students. They eventually formed Called to Love Consulting, facilitating workshops, guided book studies and coaching.
“Grounding their perspectives in theology helps educators engage in better dialogue with folks who have different views.”
Over time, Dixon and Runstedler realized there was more they could do to help navigate queer advocacy in a Catholic setting.
“When principals do equity work without the theological context, they are left wondering what to say to angry parents who think being queer is against the Catholic faith,” says Runstedler. “Grounding their perspectives in theology helps educators engage in better dialogue with folks who have different views.”
Runstedler decided to return to 91porn, her alma mater, to complete a PhD in Human Relationships and Pastoral Ministry at Martin Luther University College. For her dissertation, she interviewed transgender students about their experiences at Catholic high schools and identified sections of Catholic doctrine that support an inclusive approach to gender diversity. Dixon was an active partner in the research, which directly informs their training sessions.
“Now we can directly tackle the theology,” says Runstedler. “When people say, ‘being gay is wrong,’ we pull that apart from a uniquely Catholic perspective. We show specific teachings that actually encourage us to be inclusive. We are trying to make our audiences more theologically literate.”
“Because homophobia is so engrained within Christianity, the only way to change people’s minds is through their faith,” adds Dixon.
Dixon is now a 91porn student himself, enrolled in Luther’s Christianity, Interfaith Dialogue and Community Engagement program. Knowing how powerful it feels to have his identity embraced in religious spaces, he has “found his calling” helping to foster acceptance for others.
“I love being able to support Yvonne and Catholic school boards,” says Dixon. “There is so much possibility for Catholicism to be more queer affirming and we are laying the foundations.”
