Michael Selbie, undergraduate student (Labour Studies and Sociology), will present the following talk:

Governing Access: Hegemony, Disability Justice, and Institutional Power at Brock University

This presentation introduces an honours thesis in development examining how Brock University governs accessibility through institutional discourse, accommodation procedures, and campus space. Rather than treating access as a technical matter of compliance or individualized support, the project asks how universities determine whose needs become recognizable, what counts as an accessibility barrier, and where responsibility for removing barriers is placed.

Drawing on critical disability studies, disability justice, Gramscian theories of hegemony, and critiques of settler colonialism and racial capitalism, the project examines the relationship between institutional commitments to inclusion and the organization of everyday access. These frameworks help investigate how ostensibly neutral policies, resource decisions, documentation requirements, and spatial arrangements may normalize barriers while shifting the work of participation onto disabled students. Colonialism and racial capitalism are approached as historical and structural frameworks shaping institutional governance, rather than as claims that all disabled students experience access in the same way.

Building on prior course-based research, the thesis proposes critical analysis of institutional documents, accommodation systems, and built environments. It attends to differences in embodiment and access requirements without presuming a singular disabled student experience. Questions guide the inquiry: Whose knowledge is treated as credible? How is exclusion rendered administratively reasonable? What institutional changes would allow disabled students to shape, rather than merely navigate, conditions of access?

This presentation outlines the project’s developing questions and approach, arguing for accessibility understood through dignity, self-determination, material change, and institutional accountability.

supervisor: Associate Professor Lauren Corman (Department of Sociology and Criminology)

Bryn Thomas, MA candidate (Psychology), will present the following talk:

Feigning Connection: How Mimicry Shapes Psychopathic Social Interaction

​There are many adverse outcomes associated with dating a psychopath, making it important to understand the nuances within psychopathy and dating. The different factors within total psychopathy, though highly correlated, do indicate the potential for different dating behaviours. The majority of the population engages in some form of mimicry; however, psychopaths may use it more to benefit themselves in dating scenarios. Participants were asked to fill out the HEXACO, SRP-4, and mimicry items. They participated in a dating scenario using The Sims 4 where the interactions they had were coded. Through the use of Pearson’s r and an independent t-test, it was found that the use of instrumental mimicry was not associated with date success, but spontaneous mimicry was. There was a trend for high F2 individuals to be more successful, which may be because they used more spontaneous mimicry. With further research using a larger sample size, one would be able to see if the trend for F2 date success would continue or if different results would be rendered.

supervisors: Professor Tony Volk (Department of Child and Youth Studies) and Associate Professor Drew Dane (Department of Psychology)

Emily Guertin, PhD candidate (Child and Youth Studies), will present the following talk:

Exploring the genetics of learning to read: A genetic variant on HECW1 is associated with Grade 1 students’ growth in phonemic decoding

Background: Children’s ability to read is significantly associated with their genetic information; behavioral genetic studies estimate genetics can explain an average of 59% of variability in reading skills. Given this high heritability, it is important to investigate the role of specific genetic variants that can inform future research of neurodevelopmental processes leading to reading (dis)ability.

Purpose: This project investigated associations between children’s latent change in four reading skills and genetic variants in their genome through a genome-wide association study (GWAS).

Method: Participants were a subset from the New Haven Lexinome Project, a longitudinal study of 498 early elementary students with rich longitudinal reading achievement data and molecular genetic sequencing. We constructed eight latent change score (LCS) models for fall-to-spring and spring-to-fall intervals of Grade 1 for word reading and phonemic decoding, and Grade 2 for reading fluency and rapid automatized naming. These eight LCSs were then used as phenotypes for a GWAS.

Results: One genetic variant in the gene HECW1 reached genome-wide significance; children with the genetic variant showed greater growth from fall to spring in Grade 1 on their phonemic decoding, and post hoc tests of longitudinal effects demonstrated a persistent and consistent association between the HECW1 variant and phonemic decoding across four assessments from Grades 2 to 3.

Conclusion: This is the first study to implicate a variant on HECW1 in growth of reading skills during a time when phonemic decoding is instructed in schools; future research should investigate the role of HECW1 in the neurodevelopment of reading.

supervisors: Professors Jan Frijters and Tricia Vause (Department of Child and Youth Studies)

Danielle McNabb, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, will present the following talk:

“I had a lot of trust in him, I mean he was a police officer”: Police-Perpetrated Sexual Violence in Canada

Sexual assault committed by police officers is one of the most common criminal offences investigated by Canadian civilian police oversight agencies. Police sexual violence (PSV) is not only a profound violation of the trust and authority granted to police officers, but it also makes clear the significant barriers that survivors face in accessing the justice system. Drawing on a series of findings across my research, I will share what we currently know about PSV in Canada, including how the justice system responds to these challenging cases.

Julia Baird, Professor in the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies and Director of the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, will present the following talk:

Ripple effects: the value – and values – of sustainability science

Sustainability science compels us as researchers to work together with community to address urgent sustainability challenges with promising solutions. I’ll discuss this approach to research, with examples from my work, and the direct and indirect ripple effects it has on advancing science, practice, and student training.