The Niagara 2022 Canada Games provides an exciting “living laboratory” of sorts. There are all kinds of research and scholarship opportunities we can pursue that will shed light on a wide range of economic, political, social and cultural topics not only directly related to sport but relevant for society in general.
In the time leading up to the Games, we will be posting a series of articles, Q&As, profiles and other material on research and scholarship related to the Games. The series will include work already being done as well as ideas for future work. We are excited that Brock can take the lead on creating the first “academic” Canada Games.
Abdul Ashraf
Associate Professor, Marketing
Goodman School of Business
Abdul Ashraf is an Associate Professor of Marketing in the Goodman School of Business. He studies international marketing, marketing analytics, consumer decision-making and technology adoption. In 2017, he was the recipient of the Goodman School of Business Emerging Scholar of the Year Award.
Kyle Rich
Associate Professor, Recreation and Leisure Studies
Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Kyle Rich is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies. He is interested in how community, policy, and social inclusion/exclusion shape experiences in sport, recreation, and physical activity programs, especially in rural and remote municipalities. In his research, he uses community-based and participatory methods to work with community organizers to understand and address local issues, in efforts to improve community health and well-being.
Donna Szoke
Associate Professor, Visual Arts
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA)
In her role in the Department of Visual Arts at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA), Associate Professor Donna Szoke is an interdisciplinary artist whose practice includes video, installation, animation, drawing, writing, experimental collaboration and printmaking.
Jae Patterson
Associate Professor, Kinesiology
Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
The research of Brock Associate Professor of Kinesiology Jae Patterson is focused on examining ways of training motor skills in people of all ages, from children to older adults. His work touches on topics such as different types of feedback provided by instructors regarding performance success, the benefits of instructors demonstrating skills for learners, and ways of learning more than one motor skill during practice.
Elizabeth Vlossak
Associate Professor, History
Faculty of Humanities
Associate Professor of History Elizabeth Vlossak’s research interests include the cultural history of war, women’s and gender history, border studies, nations and nationalism, critical heritage studies, and memory and the politics of commemoration. Her publications include Marianne or Germania? Nationalizing Women in Alsace 1870-1946 (Oxford University Press, 2010), and articles and book chapters on postwar reconstruction and commemoration, Nazi forced labour policies and writing the history of nationalism. Vlossak is passionate about connecting local community members with history and collaborating with them on public history projects. She has presented her work to historical societies and libraries in Niagara, is a founding member and associate fellow of The History Lab, a scholarly community engagement partnership, and is the co-director of the Sport Oral History Archive
Michael Holmes
Associate Professor, Kinesiology
Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Associate Professor of Kinesiology Michael Holmes is Canada Research Chair in Neuromuscular Mechanics and Ergonomics, Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology and a Graduate Faculty Member for the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College. Holmes studies how the upper limb functions so as to understand repetitive strain injuries and upper extremity disorders such as carpal tunnel syndrome. Using an interdisciplinary approach that combines techniques from neurophysiology and biomechanics, Holmes aims to improve worker performance and minimize workplace injury through his research.
Poling Bork
Senior Lab Instructor and Mentor, Department of Computer Science
Faculty of Mathematics and Science
Poling Bork is a Senior Lab Instructor and Mentor in the Faculty of Mathematics and Science’s Department of Computer Science. She guides students in their career paths and facilitates their involvement as research assistants and co-presenters at conferences. Bork is also the Executive Director and Director of Research for the Selective Mutism Foundation.
Catherine Parayre
Associate Professor, Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures (MLLC) & the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture (STAC)
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts
Catherine Parayre is an Associate Professor in Brock’s Department of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures and at the Centre for Studies in Arts and Culture (STAC) at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA), and co-editor of the Small Walker Press. Parayre and her team are working on a book project focusing on lacrosse.
Michele K. Donnelly
Assistant Professor, Sport Management
Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Michele Donnelly is an Assistant Professor of Sport Management in the Faculty of Applied Health Sciences. Her research interests include gender and sport, particularly gender equality and the Olympic Movement/Games and in sport governance; alternative sport, such as roller derby, skateboarding, snowboarding; and girls- and women-only activities, including women’s home improvement workshops, entrepreneur organizations, and sport and recreation groups.
Brian Roy
Professor, Kinesiology
Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Brian Roy, Professor of Kinesiology and Interim Associate Dean, Faculty of Graduate Studies, researches how exercise and diet regulate the body’s physiological systems, muscle metabolism and sport injuries. His teaching is focused on human physiology, sport nutrition and exercise physiology.
Karen Fricker
Associate Professor, Dramatic Arts
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts
Fricker is one of 11 Brock researchers and scholars who received funding under the 2019-2020 round of the VPR Canada Games Grant program. Here, she discusses her creative research project titled “Circus on the Canal.”
Nicole Luke
Assistant Professor, Applied Disability Studies
Faculty of Social Sciences
Luke is one of 11 Brock researchers and scholars who received funding under the 2019-2020 round of the VPR Canada Games Grant program. Here, she discusses the research she’s conducting, titled “Understanding the Impact of Participation in the Canada Games on Individual Ontario Athletes.”
Nicole Chimera
Associate Professor, Kinesiology
Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
Chimera is one of 11 Brock researchers and scholars to have received funding under the 2019-2020 round of the VPR Canada Games Grant program. Here, she discusses the research she’s conducting, titled “Injuries and Illnesses across 10 years of Canada Games Competitions: 2009-2019.”
Jonathan Younker
Head of Library Systems and Technology
Brock University Library
Younker is one of 11 Brock researchers and scholars to have received funding under the 2019-20 round of the VPR Canada Games Grant program. Here, he discusses the research he’s conducting, titled “Canada Games Research Collection/Support and Digital Storytelling Initiative”
Amy Friend
Assistant Professor, Visual Arts Studio
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts
The third of our series is an interview with Amy Friend, Assistant Professor, Visual Arts Studio at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts.
Dr. William Marshall
Assistant Professor, Mathematics and Statistics
Faculty of Mathematics and Science
The second of our series is an interview with Dr. William Marshall, Assistant Professor of Mathematics and Statistics in the Faculty of Mathematics and Science.
Dr. David Fancy
Professor, Theatre Praxis
Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine & Performing Arts
The first of our series is an interview with Dr. David Fancy, Professor of Theatre Praxis at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.
