Research Chat: Recent Episodes
Office of Research Services Wilfrid Laurier University, Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies Wilfrid Laurier University
Research Chat showcases research contributed by Laurier’s graduate students who share their work in their own words.
Visit wlu.ca/Research-Chat to read a follow up article and show notes and links.
Research Chat is a partnership between the Office of Research Services, the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, and the Laurier Library.
The episode features:
- Hannah McGurk, (she/her) who completed her Master's degree in the Applied Politics program at Laurier.
- She is interviewed by Emily Kraemer, (she/her), who completed her Master's degree in the Applied Politics program at Laurier.
- Her research generated a report that analyzed municipal responses to homeless encampments. The report emerged from a community-engaged research project with the Region of Waterloo and provides a comparison of encampment protocols among six municipalities, through a human rights lens.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) is available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
This episode features:
- Emily Kraemer (she/her), who completed her Masters degree in the Applied Politics program at Laurier.
- She is interviewed by Hannah McGurk, who completed her Masters degree in the Applied Politics program at Laurier.
- Emily’s research focused on diversity in municipal policy settings and how diversity enriches good decision-making at the municipal level.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) is available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
This episode features:
- Hari KC, (he/him) is a Post-doctoral Fellow working at the Balsillie School of International Affairs at Wilfrid Laurier University.
- His recently completed PhD research explored international migration flows, centred on Nepal.
- He is interviewed by Ali Hosseini, (he/him), a PhD student in Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) is available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Ali Hosseini, (he/him), a PhD student in Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs.
- He is interviewed by Hari KC, (he/him) a Post-doctoral Fellow working at the Balsillie School of International Affairs at Wilfrid Laurier University.
- His research focuses on the failure of the international community to assist Afghanistan citizens in accepting democratic values.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) is available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Carolyn Brown, (she/her) a PhD student in the Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences at Laurier.
- She is interviewed by Carla Johnston, (she/her) a PhD student in Global Governance at the School of International Policy and Governance at Laurier.
- Her research focuses on making Environmental Impact Assessments as valuable and informative as possible to address developments' environmental impacts. Specifically, she focuses on fish health near the Mactaquac Hydroelectric Generation Station (MGS), upstream of Fredericton, New Brunswick on the Wolastoq | Saint John River, as part of the Mactaquac Aquatic Ecosystem Study.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) is available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Carla Johnston, (she/her) a PhD student in Global Governance at the School of International Policy and Governance at Laurier and a member of the Northern Food Systems Research Group,Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems.
- She is interviewed by Carolyn Brown, (she/her) a PhD student in the Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences at Laurier.
- Her work examines the link between global and local food policy and ensures Indigenous knowledge and voices are included at all levels of food policy discussions.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) is available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
This episode features:
- Hiromichi Kato, (he/him) is a PhD student in the Department of Mathematics.
- He is interviewed by Patrícia Ferreira, (she/her) a PhD student in the Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences and 2022 WinS Hypatia winner.
- His research uses the power of math to inform financial market decisions to better reflect today's real financial markets.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) is available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Patrícia Ferreira, (she/her) is a PhD student in the Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences and 2022 WinS Hypatia winner.
- Her research uses the power of CRISPR gene editing to create fish that have no stomachs and then uses these animal models to explore why organisms have stomachs and what the implications are of having a stomach, or not.
- She is interviewed by Hiromichi Kato, (he/him) a PhD student in the Department of Mathematics.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) is available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Gabe Massarotto, (he/him) a MSc student in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education at Laurier.
- He is interviewed by Seth McCarthy, (he/him) a PhD student in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education at Laurier.
- His research focuses on the effect of high-intensity exercise on learning and memory. This research, which uses 3D technology to test memory recall, may help explain why high-intensity exercise can benefit memory and navigation recall.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) is available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Seth McCarthy, (he/him) a PhD student in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education at Laurier, and is part of Dr. Tom Hazell’s Energy Metabolism Research Laboratory.
- He is interviewed by Gabe Massarotto, a MSc student in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education at Laurier.
- His research focuses on the role of lactate, a substance produced in the body when we exercise, and when/if/how we experience hunger after exercising.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) is available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Rosemary Dupuis, a human rights advocate and feminist pursuing her Ph.D. in Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs, Wilfrid Laurier University. She is interviewed by Tin Vo, an equity-focused researcher and public health practitioner who is pursuing a PhD in Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work.
- Her current research nexus is violence against women and girls, human rights, and trauma/resilience-informed global health governance policy.
- She explains her work as founder and Executive Director of JAMII Circle, an NGO supporting the health and well-being of resettled refugee women in South-Western Ontario region (Huron-Perth and Oxford counties) through non-medical evidence-based wellness services
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) is available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Caitlyn Lyons, a northern ecologist and environmentalist passionate about sustainability and science communication who is pursuing a PhD in Biological and Chemical Sciences at Wilfrid Laurier University.
- She discusses her research measuring the impacts of climate warming on the aboveground plant communities in the Northwest Territories.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Tin Vo, an equity-focused researcher and public health practitioner who is pursuing a PhD in Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University’s Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work.
- Tin shares his dissertation research which examines intersectional discrimination of LGBTQ2S+ people and their social and mental health well-being within LGBTQ2S+ leisure spaces.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) are available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Gifty Attiah is an international student pursuing a PhD in Geography, a joint program run by Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo. Gifty is part of the Remote Sensing of Environmental Change lab and has a particular interest in using geospatial tools to solve environmental and climate issues.
- She shares her current research focused on monitoring lake ice thickness in the Northwest Territories using remote sensing and modeling.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) are available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- graduate research emerging from Laurier Brantford-based research community.
- Ali Diebold, pronouns she/her, is a feminist community-based researcher, social worker, and human rights advocate who is pursuing a PhD in Social Work at Wilfrid Laurier University.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Natasha Martino, a researcher in the realm of homelessness and policing, pursuing a Master of Arts in Criminology at Wilfrid Laurier University. Natasha’s research interests are homelessness, enforcement agents, including police, by-law, and private security, social control, regulation, and marginalization.
- Her research focuses on the role that by-law enforcement and municipal ordinances play in the social control and management of homelessness and homeless encampments across Ontario. This research investigates by-law officers’ perceptions of their work in response to issues associated with homelessness.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Tyler Pacheco, a PhD student and social psychologist who is working on the research team exploring “Overcoming the unseen. The effects of the COVID-19 crisis on the mental health of Canadian-based workers.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Eric Story, a historian of infectious disease in the 20th century and outreach manager of the Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada.
- The COVID-19 pandemic has greatly shaped his current dissertation project, which explores the history of tuberculosis in the era of the First World War and the ways in which masculinity shaped the Canadian state’s response to the disease in war and its aftermath.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Ali Jasemi, who is pursuing a Ph.D. in Developmental Psychology at Wilfrid Laurier University at the Language & Literacy lab under Dr. Alexandra Gottardo’s supervision.
- Ali's research is a deeper exploration of the psychological, social, and academic factors that influence general mental health and well-being interplay with the successful cultural adjustment and second language learning of immigrants to Canada.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Nelson Graham, pronouns he/him, is a PhD candidate in the Global Governance program of the Balsillie School of International Affairs, hosted by Wilfrid Laurier University.
- His research investigates the increasing role that higher education intuitions have on the Canadian immigration system.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Deb Shelley (she/her), who is completing her Master of Arts in Community Music at Laurier, interviewed by Esther Hayford, who is a PhD Candidate in the Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University.
- She shares her research investigating the lives of those who choose to sing bedside someone who is dying: what motivates them, and what keeps them doing it.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Esther Hayford (she/her), a PhD Candidate in the Lyle S. Hallman Faculty of Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University. In episode 1, Esther shares her research with Deb Shelley, who is completing the Masters of Community Music program at Laurier.
- Her research focuses on African girls and activism in high schools in Ontario.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- She shares her experiences at Laurier and how she came to study at Martin Luther University College.
- She explains the topic of her research and her personal connection to her research topic.
- Her interview concludes with some details about her son Matthew.
- Additional information about the research and transcript available from wlu.ca/ResearchChat
The episode features:
- Nicole Luymes who completed her PhD in the Department of Kinesiology.
- She shares her experiences at Laurier during her studies and how the Movin' and Groovin' program evolved from her research interests.
- Her interview concludes with a discussion of inclusion for children in physical education classes.
- Additional information about the research and transcript available from wlu.ca/Research-Chat
The episode features:
- Allison Petrozziello, a feminist migration researcher and human rights advocate who is pursuing a PhD in Global Governance at the Balsillie School of International Affairs and is affiliated with the International Migration Research Centre. She shares her experiences at Laurier and how she came to study in the PhD in Global Governance program and her academic influences including Dr. Jenna Hennebry, Dr. Margaret Walton-Roberts, Dr. Alison Mountz, Dr. Rianne Mahon, Dr. Carol Duncan, Dr. Jasmin Habib and the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
- After explaining what her interdisciplinary research encompasses, she explains how her work connects gender, migration, citizenship rights, and statelessness.
- She explains the global inventory of exclusionary birth registration practices she is creating.
- Her interview concludes with an invitation of where to start to get involved in eliminating statelessness and efforts to link her academic work with global advocacy campaigns.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) available from wlu.ca/ResearchChat
The episode features:
o an interview with Peter Fisher, PhD in management in the Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource program at Lazaridis School of Business and Economics at Laurier. He shares his experiences at Laurier and how he came to study at Laurier.
o Next he explains his on-going research into how organizations can find the right person for a particular job.
o His interview concludes with an discussion of interviewing processes including using AI for hiring.
o Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) available from wlu.ca/ResearchChat
The second episode of Research Chat features:
- an interview with Kai Reimer-Watts, a PhD student in Community Psychology program at Laurier and a doctoral fellow at the Viessman Centre for Engagement and Research in Sustainability (VERiS). He shares his experiences at Laurier and how he came to study in the community psychology program at Laurier.
- Next he explains his on-going research into the power of cultural signposts in response to our shared climate emergency.
- After explaining what signposts are, and relating them to the COVID crisis and the Green New Deal, Reimer-Watts explains how his climate emergency activism is connected to his research.
- His interview concludes with an invitation to get involved in responding to the climate crisis and to link academic work with community advocacy.
- Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) available from wlu.ca/ResearchChat
The first episode of Research Chat features:
- a welcome from Johnathan Newman, Vice-president: research and Douglas Deutschman, Associate Vice-president and Dean, Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, who briefly outline the goals for the podcast.
- an interview with Olga Kanj, a recent graduate of the Lazaridis School of Business and Economics PhD in Management (Finance). She shares her research findings on how ethnic diversity on corporate boards affects risk related decisions in insurance companies. After explaining what diversity means and the role of diversity on corporate boards, Kanj explains the benefits beyond finance companies.
Additional information about the research and transcript (with relevant links) available from wlu.ca/ResearchChat
Dr. Jonathan Newman, Vice-president research and Dr. Douglas Deutchman, associate vice-president and dean of Laurier’s Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies (FGPS) introduce Research Chat.