Research Highlights

Learn more about how our faculty members and students engage in collaborative research that bridges disciplines and contributes to positive change both locally and globally.

Brock University Social Justice and Equity Studies student Isabella Palumbo standing at a lectern with a presentation projected on a screen in the background.

SJES student receives the Congress Graduate Merit Award for research

Social Justice and Equity Studies student Isabella Palumbo received the Congress Graduate Merit Award, presented by the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, in partnership with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and the Canadian Sociological Association. The award was given in recognition of academic excellence. She was recognized after presenting her thesis research, “An Examination of the Evolution of the Vertical Mosaic Through the Lens of Whiteness Theory: Ethnic Socioeconomic Disparities Among White European Immigrants in Canada,” at Congress in June.

Learn more about the Congress Student Merit Award
Head and shoulders close-up of Associate Professor of Child and Youth Studies Chelsea Jones with a blurred-out red bush and pine trees in the background.

Associate Professor Chelsea Jones

SJES students co-write article exploring critical grief pedagogy

Kimberlee Collins, Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Guelph, and Chelsea Jones, Associate Professor of Child and Youth Studies at Brock University, co-wrote a paper with SJES students Janice Desroches, Guneet Bagga, sarah pierson and Morgan Crosby.

“The need for deep rest: Six stories of critical grief pedagogy,” published in the May 2025 issue of Journal of Praxis in Higher Education, provides a reflection of a digital Death Café that lead author Collins delivered to SJES students in the Bodies, Ableism and Disability Justice course.

Read "The need for deep rest: Six stories of critical grief pedagogy"
Students and researchers climb through rugged jungle terrain in Guatemala.

(Photo courtesy of C. Nolin)

Grad student’s Guatemalan travels inform Canadian mining research

Brock Master of Arts in Social Justice and Equity Studies student Morgan Crosby travelled to Guatemala in May 2023 with a field school run by Professor Catherine Nolin of the University of British Columbia and Grahame Russell to learn about the impact of the Canadian mining industry on Indigenous communities.

“What hit me the most was being able to see where everything happened and contextualize everything I’ve been researching,” says Crosby. “Community members affected by Canadian mines want their stories shared, especially here, because it is a Canadian problem and we have a responsibility for how detrimental mining is to these communities.”

Read more about Morgan Crosby's experience
Rev. Karen Orlandi delivering closing remarks in a church.

Brock research shared during local Harm Reduction Community Forum

Reverend Karen Orlandi co-organized the Harm Reduction Community Forum at Silver Spire United Church on Nov. 5, 2022, during her second year of study in the master’s program in Social Justice and Equity Studies.

Lecturer Scott Neufeld in the Department of Psychology also sat on the co-organizing committee, which included representatives from several community organizations, including Positive Living Niagara, Niagara Health and Willow Arts.

Read more about the Harm Reduction Community Forum

Other student research news

Explore topics of recently completed Theses and Major Research Papers

2024

  • Brushett, Cameron (2024) Bolivia and Canada, The Politics of Recognition and Differing Approaches to Indigenous Self-Determination. (MRP). Dr. Pascal Lupien (Supervisor), Dr. Liam Midzain-Gobin (Second Reader).
  • Crosby, Morgan (2024) Canadian Mining in Guatemala: Framing Analysis and Indigenous Testimony. (MRP). Dr. Liam Midzain-Gobin (Supervisor), Dr. Pascal Lupien (Second Reader).
  • Paetkau, James (2024) Picture this: Representing Local Discourses of Poverty Reduction through Graphic Notetaking. (MRP). Dr. Mary-Beth Raddon (Supervisor), Dr. Shannon Moore (Second Reader).
  • Salifu, Laadi (2024) Inclusive Education in Ghana, Challenges and Lessons from Canada. (MRP). Dr. Ifeanyi Ezeonu (Supervisor), Dr. Maureen Connolly (Second Reader).
  • Singh, Gurkirat (2024) Inside “Community Prison”: Halfway houses in crisis. (MRP). Dr. Maureen Connolly (Supervisor), John Biancin (Second Reader).
  • Taggart, Kathleen (2024) Together for a Cause: Considerations of Social Justice Orientations of the BTS ARMY on Twitter. (MRP). Dr. Liz Clarke (Supervisor), Dr. Karen Louise Smith (Second Reader).

2023

  • Bagshaw, Emily (2023) The Commodification of Indigeneity as a Tool for Ongoing Settler Colonization in Canada: A Métis Case Study of the The Heritage Property Act (1979-80).  (Thesis). Dr. Robyn Bourgeois (Supervisor), Dr. Jonah Butovsky (Committee Member), Dr. Liam Midzain-Gobin (Committee Member), Dr. Gina Starblanket (External Examiner) University of Victoria.
  • Bastien, Kennedy (2023) Learning from the Land: A Comparative Analysis Between Indigenous Protected Conservation Areas and Traditional Protected Areas in Canada. (MRP). Dr. Robyn Bourgeois (Supervisor), Dr. Lauren Corman (Second Reader).
  • Boateng, Susana (2023) A Social Justice Enquiry into the Social Determinants of Mental Health Among Female Politicians in Ghana. (MRP). Dr. Ebru Ustundag (Supervisor), Dr. Joanne Crawford (Second Reader).
  • Collins, Victoria (2023) Gender Equity in Ontario fire Department Policy, Agreements and Reports: How Gender is Represented in a Masculinized Workplace. (MRP). Dr. Nancy Taber (Supervisor), Dr. Gale Coskan-Johnson (Second Reader).
  • Dell’Angelo, Meaghan (2023) Yt Supremacy: An Analysis of “Platformed Racism” on TikTok during the Freedom Convoy. (MRP). Dr. Robyn Bourgeois (Supervisor), Dr. Margot Francis (Second Reader).
  • Docouto, Sarah (2023) Immigration Workplace Inequality – why Inequity Still Exists. (MRP). Dr. Joanne Crawford (Supervisor), Dr. Livianna Tossutti (Second Reader).
  • Freeman, Nicole (2023) Who Do You Turn to When the Police Are the Perpetrators? The RCMP and Indigenous Women in the Sex Trade:  How Colonialism, Racism and the Heteropatriarchy Impact Police Response to Gender-Based Violence. (MRP). Dr. Robyn Bourgeois (Supervisor), Dr. Susan Spearey (Second Reader).
  • Gomez, Noemi (2023) The abuela’s unpaid carework during the COVID-19 pandemic. An autoethnography about taken for granted realities. (MRP). Dr. Andrea Doucet (Supervisor), Dr. Simon Black (Second Reader).
  • Guiho, Maria (2023) Bias, Barriers, and Discrimination: Treatment of Indigenous Peoples in Wellness Courts. (MRP). Dr. Shannon Moore (Supervisor), Dr. Lauren Corman (Second Reader).
  • McCubbin, Helen (2023) Women and Trade Unions: Challenging the Status Quo, Looking Back to the Future. (MRP). Dr. Alison Braley-Rattai (Supervisor), Dr. Nancy Taber (Second Reader).
  • Weber, Felicity (2023) The Impact of Legislation on the Criminal Justice Handling of Sexual Violence: How Bill C-127 Has Shifted the Feminist Agenda. (MRP). Dr. Margot Francis (Supervisor), Dr. Andrea Doucet (Second Reader).
  • Zowmi, Raadhiyah (2023) Adequate Mental Healthcare in South Asian Diaspora: Barriers and Futurities. (MRP). Dr. Susan Spearey (Supervisor), Dr. Gale Coskan-Johnson (Second Reader).

2022

  • Carlsson, Rebekah (2022) Raising the Bar and Closing the Gap? Investigating Learning for All’s Capacity to Support Marginalized Students in Ontario. (MRP). Dr. Diane Collier (Supervisor), Dr. Leanne Taylor (Second Reader).
  • Downton, Zabrina (2022) Representing Recovery: A discourse analysis of the television shows You, AJ and the Queen, and Mom. (Thesis). Dr. Robyn Bourgeois (Supervisor), Dr. Trent Newmeyer (Committee Member), Dr. Liz Clarke (Committee Member), Dr. Sarah Matheson (External Examiner) Brock University, St. Catharines.
  • Jarvis, Julia (2022) Dramatizing the Traumatizing: Narratives of Sexual Violence on TikTok. (MRP). Dr. Shauna Pomerantz (Supervisor), Dr. Rebecca Raby (Second Reader).
  • Kiers-Vander Veen, Sierra (2022) Education as Reconciliation?: Unpacking the Relationship between Non-Indigenous Canadian/Indigenous Reconciliation and Ontario Secondary School Canadian History Textbooks. (MRP). Dr. Andrea Doucet (Supervisor), Dr. Gregory Betts (Second Reader).
  • Lopez Nava, Elvia (2022) Deadly Wounds in the US-Mexico Borderlands: A Rhetorical Analysis of the Anti-Illegal-Immigration News Media Coverage of the El Paso Shooting and the Viral Video of the United Constitutional Patriots. (Thesis). Dr. Gale Cosksan-Johnson (Supervisor), Dr. Robyn Bourgeois (Committee Member), Dr. Andrew Pendakis (Committee Member), Dr. Johah Butovksy (External Examiner) Brock University, St. Catharines.
  • Yilma, Elshaday (2022) The Criminal Justice Domino Effect: A Comparative Study of Plea-bargaining and Bail Bond Systems of Canada and the United States. (MRP). Dr. Voula Marinos (Supervisor), Dr. Matthew Hennigar (Second Reader).

2021

  • Chaudhary, Hunza (2021) Islamophobia at the Border and Beyond: The Experiences of North American Muslims. (MRP). Dr. Jane Helleiner (Supervisor), Dr. Hijin Park (Second Reader).
  • Falk, Jessica (2021) Don Cherry’s Final Rant: Illuminating Canadian Nationalism, Racial Xenophobia and Toxic Masculinity. (Thesis). Dr. Francis Margot (Supervisor), Dr. Dawn Trussell (Committee Member), Dr. Andrea Doucet (Committee Member), Dr. Kirsti Allain (External Examiner) St. Thomas University.
  • Forde, Onika (2021) Anti-Black Racism, Policing, and the Criminal Justice System: A Critical Analysis of Racial Profiling in Ontario. (MRP). Dr. Curtis Fogel (Supervisor), Dr. Hijin Park (Second Reader).
  • Keays, Katie (2021) Disqualification by design: Strategic inefficiencies in Canada’s legal response to sexual assault. (Thesis). Dr. Margot Francis (Supervisor), Dr. Susan Spearey (Committee Member), Dr. Nancy Cook (Committee Member), Dr. Rebecca Godderis (External Examiner) Wilfried Laurier University.
  • Manzella, Elli (2021) Whose Voice Matters? —News Framing and Content Analysis of Cuts to Legal Aid Ontario. (MRP). Dr. Rob Alexander (Supervisor), Dr. Jennifer Good (Second Reader).
  • Mehta, Jasmine (2021) A Secular India: A Critical Discourse Analysis of Tweets Regarding the 2019 Citizenship (Amendment) Act of India. (MRP) Dr. Jennifer Good (Supervisor), Dr. Jason Black (Second Reader).
  • Morningstar, Sarah (2021) Working Conditions of Front-Line Poverty-Reduction Staff at Non-profit Agencies. (MRP). Dr. Mary-Beth Raddon (Supervisor), Dr. Kate Bezanson (Second Reader).
  • Samuelson, Phoebe (2021) Toxification: A Study of Environmental Racism and Indigenous Resistance in Canada’s Chemical Valley. (MRP). Dr. Margot Francis (Supervisor), Dr. Spy Dénommé-Welch (Second Reader).
  • Shah, Sana (2021) Twenty years later: Family’s Continued Battle for Media Coverage of their Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls. (Thesis). Dr. Robyn Bourgeois (Supervisor), Dr. Margot Francis (Committee Member), Dr. Andrea Doucet (Committee Member), Dr. Jennifer Brant (External Examiner) University of Toronto.
  • Shannon, Tayler (2021) The Lack of Justice in Restorative Justice: A Critical Literature Review of the Role of White Settlers in Decolonizing Restorative Justice. (MRP). Dr. Shannon Moore (Supervisor), Dr. Robyn Bourgeois (Second Reader).
  • Smikle, Teshawn (2021) The Implications of Racism: A Critical Analysis Of Black Student-Athletes Experience On and Off The Football Field in a Canadian University. (MRP). Dr. Dawn Trussel (Supervisor), Dr. Cathy van Ingen (Second Reader).