Casey Burkholder

Dr. Casey Burkholder is a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Social Justice in Youth and Child Studies at Concordia University. She leads several research initiatives including The JOYLab (focused on participatory visual research with marginalized youth) and Pride/Swell (exploring queer joy and community archiving). Her work spans critical pedagogy, gender-based violence prevention, and 2SLGBTQIA+ studies through arts-based methodologies.

Research interests center on:

• Queer and femme pedagogies in sexuality education
• Participatory visual methods (cellphilming, zine production, mail-based research)
• Community-engaged archiving and digital activism
• Intergenerational dialogue and social justice frameworks

Publication trends emphasize participatory methods in queer studies, with recurring themes of joy as resistance, ethical facilitation, and arts-based interventions in Atlantic Canadian contexts. Recent work prioritizes pandemic adaptations and educator training.

Awards:

• Tier II Canada Research Chair in Social Justice in Youth and Child Studies (2024-present)

She mentors through collaborative projects like Queer Histories Matter and SexualityNB, employing participatory approaches that position youth as co-researchers. Her labs emphasize ethical community partnerships and creative knowledge dissemination.