This bilingual partnered knowledge mobilization project aims to develop and evaluate knowledge sharing approaches that will galvanize youth whose parents did not complete postsecondary education to become first-generation university students. We strive to reach a wide audience through bilingual animated short films that condense evidence-based strategies into a highly accessible and engaging format. The films will be distributed by leveraging the existing networks and social media platforms of our partners and will help us reach a large public audience. Secondarily, we provide direct support to youth and our partners by developi 'My Future workshops/les ateliers Mon Avenir' to be hosted by our partners and led by first-generation university graduates. These will provide opportunities for youth to learn from those with direct experience and to ask questions specific to their circumstances. Our partners will assist at every stage of the development of knowledge sharing activities and our evaluation research to assess the acceptability of our short films. They will also provide insights into regional and linguistic differences as we co-organize the focus groups and the workshops/ateliers.

Month: Jul   Year: 2025

Month: Jul   Year: 2028

The proposed partnered research with the Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute (DBDLI), a not-for-profit center that promotes excellence in Africentric education, examines the role and meaning of intergenerational storytelling among African Nova Scotians. This research project explores the potential of intergenerational storytelling as a transformative educational practice. It will adress the fact that Black Canadians’ multifaceted histories are often relegated to footnotes, or minimized and erased in official narratives. It also responds to prior findings that Black students consistently stress the need for more culturally relevant and sustaining curricular content that values and fosters fluency in Black Canadian cultural heritage. In order to investigate intergenerational storytelling, the principal investigator will mobilize a qualitative approach.

There are three objectives. The first objective consists of investigating how African Nova Scotian collective identity and generativity (intergenerational transmission of knowledge and lessons) take place during intergenerational storytelling. The second objective involves examining how intergenerational storytelling constitutes a counter-narrative that defies erasure from official narratives and promotes cultural sustainability. The last objective of this partnership is to generate knowledge to inform educational policy that fosters culturally educational content in schools.

Month: Jun   Year: 2024

Month: May   Year: 2025

This proposed interdisciplinary symposium brought together Black scholars working in the health and social sciences in Canada and provided them with opportunities to share their experiences conducting research with Black communities in various regions using diverse methodological approaches. The symposium consolidated and expanded the state of knowledge regarding how to conduct research with Black populations that can result in Black Canadian communities flourishing. It sought to highlight approaches and practices that build up Black communities and populations via four objectives: 1) Assemble French- and English-speaking Black scholars working with Black communities to exchange knowledge about their research. 2) Facilitate knowledge exchange between senior scholars and graduate students. 3) Establish the gaps and innovations needed within different fields to promote a more equitable society. 4) Summarize and disseminate the key lessons in at least one published scholarly article.

This interdisciplinary project involved two phases: the one-day in-person symposium and subsequent dissemination of the findings. Phase 1, the one-day symposium took place on November 20, 2023 at York University. Phase 2 involves disseminating the important outcomes of the symposium, including in a research brief and at least one scholarly open access peer-reviewed article. The main audience of this in-person symposium was attended by faculty and graduate students, community-based organizations representatives , and the general public. The outcomes involved re-imagining research design, ethics and methodologies, knowledge creation based on the experiences of panelists, and more research collaboration between panelists, faculty, students, and community-based organizations.

Month: Oct   Year: 2023

Month: Sep   Year: 2024

This research focuses on four main objectives. (1) It explores the evolution of the school resource officer (SRO) program in Canada. (2) It investigates the experiences of persons with nexus to SRO programs in five Canadian cities. (3) It interrogates the organizational, institutional and contextual factors influencing divergent decisions about SRO programs within cities and across educational jurisdictions. (4) It is designed to produce empirically and theoretically informed knowledge to guide policy on school security and police presence in schools.

Month: Apr   Year: 2022

Month: Mar   Year: 2026

The next generation of researchers in human development, child and youth health research must be equipped to lead the creation and application of knowledge across all sectors to achieve the best reproductive, infant, child, and youth health outcomes. To address this need, we designed a unique national training and mentoring platform -Empowering Next generation Researchers In perinatal and Child Health (ENRICH). We are an interjurisdictional, interdisciplinary,intersectoral, and bilingual team of 193 experienced applicants, mentors, collaborators, partners, and patients. Building on our collective national expertise with research training, we developed strategic partnerships with 16 Canadian pediatric academic health centres and established a unified platform spanning eight Provinces and one Territory.

Drawing from organizational theory, this qualitative inquiry will examine if and how institutional resources facilitate first ­generation graduate students’ academic success and persistence and how these students negotiate the challenges and expectations of graduate programs. It will address 3 specific objectives: 1) assess the scope and nature of existing institutional resources that support first­ generation graduate students through a content analysis of 22 Ontario universities’ official policies, and grey literature about student services and programs; 2) explore how first­ generation graduate students use institutional resources and perceive their experiences as they navigate graduate school; and 3) examine how belonging to a Francophone minority community affects graduate education experiences.

Month: Jul   Year: 2020

Month: Jun   Year: 2023