Sarah Heath is an Associate Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice at The University of Winnipeg. She holds a PhD in Education (specializing in program evaluation) and an MA from the University of Ottawa. Prior to her academic appointment, she conducted criminal justice research for Canadian federal agencies including Public Safety Canada and Correctional Service Canada. Research Focus: Dr. Heath specializes in collaborative evaluation methodologies with emphases on youth engagement, ethical frameworks for evaluators, and criminal justice applications. Her current projects examine child abuse case processing in Manitoba (funded by Manitoba Law Foundation) and chronic missing persons. She integrates experiential learning through CEWIL Canada-funded initiatives training students in Western and Indigenous evaluation approaches. Professional Affiliations: Collaborator: SSHRC-funded Manitoba Northern and Rural Institute in Program Evaluation Research Partner: RCMP and Toba Centre for Children and Youth Former Collaborator: St. Leonard’s Society of Canada, Canadian Centre for Gender and Sexual Diversity Awards & Funding: Experiential Learning Grant from CEWIL Canada (2020-present) Manitoba Law Foundation Research Grant (2021-present) Teaching: Develops and instructs core Criminal Justice courses including Research Methods, Ethics in Criminal Justice, and field placement programs connecting students with practical research opportunities.
Dr. Marc Spooner serves as a Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina, specializing in Educational Psychology. His work bridges rigorous academic research with community activism through qualitative and participatory action methodologies. His academic credentials include: PhD in Education (University of Ottawa) MA in Education (Psychopedagogy) BEd across multiple teaching levels (English) BA (Hon) in Psychology (Carleton University) Research focuses on critical societal issues with three interconnected pillars: homelessness/poverty in Regina (funded by federal/municipal governments), neoliberal 'audit culture' in academia (examining corporatization's impact on intellectual freedom), and social justice through participatory democracy . His approach rejects academic detachment—instead centering marginalized voices via community-engaged documentaries and government reports. Publication trends reveal consistent scholarly impact since 2009, with recent work (2018-2025) increasingly addressing academic freedom under institutional management. His output spans peer-reviewed journals ( Qualitative Inquiry ), influential handbooks, government reports, and public-facing media like Briarpatch Magazine , demonstrating commitment to both theoretical rigor and accessible knowledge mobilization. Key recognition: Formally acknowledged by the Canadian Senate as a homelessness expert As principal investigator, he has secured multiple government grants for homelessness research while mentoring graduate students through advanced methodology courses. His community work includes chairing Carmichael Outreach, co-creating the Regina Survival Guide, and speaking at policy advocacy events like the 2011 Rent Control Rally. This praxis-oriented approach ensures research directly informs community action. Though no formal lab exists, his community-based projects—particularly the Regina homelessness documentaries—function as dynamic research collectives involving service providers, policymakers, and individuals with lived experience, embodying his participatory action research philosophy.
Rob Aitken is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science within the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta. He teaches a range of courses from introductory politics to advanced seminars on international political economy and research methods. His educational background includes a BA in Political Studies and Comparative Development Studies from Trent University, followed by MA and PhD degrees in Political Science from Carleton University. A leading scholar in International Political Economy, Aitken's research examines the cultural dimensions of financial systems, particularly how everyday people interact with global financial markets. His work bridges governmentality studies, cultural economy, and post-structuralist methods to understand how financial institutions mobilize working-class populations and how resistance to financial practices emerges. His publications reveal a consistent focus on the cultural aspects of finance, with recent work exploring payday lending, debt relationalities, and the financialization of micro-credit. His research demonstrates how financial practices are embedded in cultural contexts and power relations. As an educator, Aitken supervises graduate students interested in critical approaches to IPE and welcomes those working on cultural analysis of economic life. He teaches courses including POL S 101 (Introduction to Politics), POL S 462 (Political Economy of Global Governance), and POL S 680 (Theories and Methods of Political Inquiry) for PhD students.
Danielle Landry serves as a Research Associate with the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Health Equity and Community Wellbeing at Toronto Metropolitan University's Faculty of Community Services. She has taught Mad Studies and Disability Studies courses at TMU since 2014 and developed Centennial College's inaugural Disability Studies course in 2019, demonstrating deep institutional integration across Ontario post-secondary education. Education: PhD (ABD), York University MA, York University Landry's research centers on Mad studies and disability justice through feminist political economy and institutional ethnography frameworks. Her community-engaged scholarship examines how social determinants of health impact marginalized populations, particularly psychiatric survivors and people with disabilities. She actively bridges academic research with activist movements, focusing on labor precarity, mental health policy, and decolonial approaches to wellbeing. Her work consistently challenges institutional norms while amplifying lived experience narratives. Recent publications reveal evolving themes: early work established foundations in survivor-led research and critical psychiatry, while current output emphasizes pedagogical innovation in Mad-positive education, labor rights for disabled workers, and digital archiving of disability activism. Her scholarship increasingly intersects with Indigenous health perspectives and digital health methodologies, reflecting the CERC's multidisciplinary research streams on social determinants and community wellbeing. Scientific Awards: Hewton-Griffin Archival Research Award (2024) Wilhelm Cohnstaedt Social Justice Award (2020) Dean’s Teaching Award (2019) Ontario Graduate Scholarship (2019) Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canadian Graduate Scholarship (2015-2018) St. George’s Society Endowment (2013) Landry secured SSHRC doctoral funding and Hewton-Griffin support for building Madness Canada's digital archive of psychiatric survivor businesses. As a core CERC member, she contributes to federally funded projects examining health equity, Indigenous wellbeing, and digital health access. Her teaching grants include curriculum development initiatives that established foundational Disability Studies programming across institutions. She actively collaborates within the CERC's ecosystem including the Internal Governance Group, Global Advisory Research Governance Group, and IDEA Global Research Innovation Advisory Group. Her current flagship initiative—the Madness Canada digital archive—documents decades of psychiatric consumer/survivor advocacy while partnering with community organizations to ensure research sovereignty and knowledge mobilization.
Louise Fontaine is an Associate Professor in the Department of Administrative Sciences at Sainte-Anne University in Nova Scotia, Canada, specializing in Public Management and Organizational Theories. Her academic career spans multiple institutions across Canada and Belgium, reflecting her international research perspective. Her educational background includes: Postdoctoral fellowship in sociology at the Ethnicity and Society Research Group (GRES), University of Montreal (1991-1993) Doctorate in Political Science from Laval University (1986-1990) with thesis on "The State Organization of Inclusion and Exclusion: The Case of Quebec (1976-1988)" Degree in sociology from Catholic University of Louvain, Belgium (1985) Master's degree in political science from Laval University (1983-1985) with thesis on "Linguistic groups, political conflicts: the Belgian case" Bachelor's degree in political science with minor in history from Université Laval (1978-1981) Professor Fontaine's research program has consistently examined the relationship between identity and otherness in the context of international migration. Her work initially analyzed these phenomena at the systems level but has increasingly focused on microsocial perspectives. She approaches the question of identity/otherness from multiple angles across different situated fields, connecting theoretical and methodological dimensions in her analyses. Her research intersects both macrosocial and microsocial dimensions related to temporalities and life courses, international migration, and processes of social inclusion/exclusion, with particular attention to Francophone communities in Nova Scotia and Quebec. Her scholarly output demonstrates a consistent focus on identity, migration, and public administration, with increasing attention to the work of sociologist Jacques Zylberberg. Professor Fontaine has made significant contributions to understanding Francophone immigration in Nova Scotia, the political categorization of cultural communities, and the application of Goffman's theories to contemporary social issues. Her methodological approach combines qualitative analysis with theoretical innovation, particularly in examining how bureaucratic structures interact with social identities across different cultural contexts. Professor Fontaine is actively involved in academic leadership, serving as co-founder and co-responsible for Working Group 37 (Socio-anthropology of social interactions) of the International Association of French-Speaking Sociologists (AISLF) for 2024-2028, and as co-responsible for Working Group 15 (Interdisciplinary qualitative analysis) for the same period. She has supervised numerous doctoral students and participated in various research networks focused on migration, identity, and qualitative methodology. She maintains strong community connections through affiliations with the Centre Métropolis Atlantique (2006-2013), the Group d'accueil communautaire pour les nouveaux arrivants dans Clare (2018-2020), and the Comité local sur l'immigration pour la région du sud-ouest de la Nouvelle-Écosse (2006-2010), demonstrating her commitment to bridging academic research with community needs related to immigration and integration.
Victor Ezeugwu is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physical Therapy at the University of Alberta's Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine. He is a Physical Therapist and research affiliate with the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital. Dr. Ezeugwu is also a member of multiple research institutes including the Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute (NMHI), the Institute for SMart Augmentative and Restorative Technologies and Health Innovations (iSMART), the Women and Children's Health Research Institute (WCHRI), and the Sedentary Behaviour Research Network (SBRN). His educational background includes: Postdoctoral Fellowship - Canadian Healthy Infant Longitudinal Development (CHILD) Cohort Study, University of Alberta PhD - Rehabilitation Science, University of Alberta MSc - Physical Therapy, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria BMR - Physical Therapy, University of Nigeria Dr. Ezeugwu's research primarily focuses on precision rehabilitation, utilizing wearable technologies, behaviour change techniques, and ecological approaches to study movement behaviours across the lifespan. His work involves personalizing rehabilitation interventions for individuals living with stroke, Parkinson's disease, frailty, and Long COVID. He has developed expertise in accelerometer-based movement behavior assessment and has contributed significantly to understanding how sedentary behavior impacts health outcomes in various populations, with particular emphasis on compositional approaches that consider physical activity, sedentary behavior, and sleep together rather than in isolation. Analysis of Dr. Ezeugwu's publication record reveals a strong progression from foundational work on movement behavior patterns to targeted clinical interventions. His recent high-impact publications in journals like The Lancet Neurology demonstrate his growing influence in stroke rehabilitation research. A distinctive theme throughout his work is the application of ecological momentary assessment approaches to understand real-world movement behaviors and develop practical, evidence-based interventions that can be implemented in clinical settings. His research increasingly focuses on precision rehabilitation approaches that integrate multiple movement behaviors rather than addressing them separately. Dr. Ezeugwu teaches PTHER 546 - Adult Neurology, covering theory and application of physical therapy for adults with neurological conditions. The course includes assessment, intervention, outcome evaluation, therapeutic exercise, electrophysical agents, and evidence-based skills. While specific scientific awards are not explicitly mentioned in the available information, his research has been published in high-impact journals including The Lancet Neurology, PLoS One, and Journal of Physical Activity and Health. As a research affiliate with the Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital, Dr. Ezeugwu maintains strong clinical connections that inform his research agenda. His work with the CHILD Cohort Study demonstrates his commitment to longitudinal research that tracks movement behaviors from early childhood through development. His current research program addresses critical gaps in rehabilitation science, particularly in developing evidence-based approaches to reduce sedentary behavior and promote optimal movement patterns across various patient populations and conditions.
