Lead
Diana Parry
My primary line of scholarship explores the intersections of health and well-being, technology, gender and leisure with an intent to understand quality of life. As a feminist scholar, I intentionally advance a social justice agenda centered on women’s health, recognizing and valuing women as the experts of their own experiences. My research reveals how women understand, cope and advance their well-being through leisure experiences, pursuits and activities, which are often disregarded, discredited and trivialized by the medical model. That is, women’s health concerns have long been ignored and neglected, along with their personal insights into their well-being. My research challenges the medicalization of women’s health and the prevailing assumption that such experiences can be understood solely through the documentation of physiological causes and technological solutions, the dominant focus of research on women’s health. I demonstrate women’s health is personal and political, dynamic, complex and multidimensional with important links to leisure. By challenging the medical model, I attempt to shift attention toward social, emotional, physical, spiritual and sexual dimensions of well-being – in other words, a full range of quality of life issues. This line of research has forwarded unique and innovative substantive areas to leisure studies, including women’s encounters with menopause, infertility, pregnancy, midwifery, cancer, motherhood, women’s use of technology to consume sexually explicit material and erotic capital.
Current graduate students
Ashley Giroux
Ashley Giroux is an incoming PhD student in the Faculty of Health at the University of Waterloo, concentrating on leisure and social justice. Throughout her research and teaching experiences, she has been fiercely committed to accessibility, inclusion, and equity. Ashley has conducted qualitative research while simultaneously teaching students about how research skills can have practical impacts across demographics and spaces. Her past research during her masters involved program development, critical disability studies, and experiences of disability in combination with the complexities of aging. She has remained passionate about women’s issues across the lifespan and is driven to educate and guide others to create change in their communities. During her Ph.D., Ashley hopes to explore the intersections of leisure studies, justice-oriented research, women/gender studies, and critical disability studies. Her work is animated by her connections to authentic engagement with neurodiverse and otherwise unconventional communities.
Christiane Mitchell
Christiane Mitchell is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Health at the University of Waterloo. Her research examines how (in)flexible work arrangements influence labour force participation and leisure among low-income mothers of young children. Grounded in matricentric and socialist feminist theories, her work investigates how patriarchal and neoliberal systems in the workplace shape low-income mothers’ paid work and leisure. In using qualitative methodology, Christiane seeks to gain a nuanced understanding of low-income mothers’ lived experiences as they navigate the tensions between paid labour and care labour, and their pursuit of pleasurable moments of leisure. As part of her doctoral studies, she has also authored an evocative autoethnography on the emotional labour of virtual schooling during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns. Christiane’s work is motivated by her interest in how patriarchal and neoliberal systems underpin gender and class inequalities in the lives of mothers.
Juliet Serwaa Yeboah
Juliet Serwaa Yeboah, a recent Bachelor of Arts in Culture and Tourism graduate from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, is a rising scholar. She offers a distinctive viewpoint that connects cutting-edge digital technology with conventional tourism development. With emphasis on how new technologies may revolutionize travel experiences, Juliet's research interest lies in the connections between sustainable tourism, digital technologies and leisure and well-being. Juliet's professional experience in the hospitality industry and at Ghana Investment Promotion Centre has shaped her understanding of potential tourism for economic empowerment and community development. She exhibits her dedication to multidisciplinary approaches that connect technology, health and sustainable development through her UN System Staff College certificates in subjects spanning from digital sustainability to health facility improvement. Juliet conducts her study with passion, cultural awareness and makes sure her work has a significant influence outside of academia, especially in Ghana, where she is from. Juliet speaks English, Asante Twi and a little French.
Nijat Najafov
Nijat Najafov is a Master’s student in Recreation and Leisure Studies at the University of Waterloo. His research is grounded in feminist theory and social justice, focusing on the marginalization and exploitation of women in the tourism and hospitality industry. His areas of inquiry include workplace harassment, occupational segregation, sexual exploitation, and systemic barriers to advancement—topics shaped by five years of firsthand experience working in hospitality. This professional background deeply informs his academic lens and fuels his commitment to social change. Nijat also holds an MA in Tourism Management from Royal Roads University and a BA in Management from ADA University. His previous roles as Duty Manager and Tourism & Hospitality Management Instructor have provided him with both operational and pedagogical insight into the challenges women face in the industry. Currently, he is exploring feminist participatory research methods that center the lived experiences of women across diverse cultural contexts. Through his work, Nijat aims to challenge structural inequalities and contribute to more inclusive, equitable policies and practices within tourism, hospitality, and leisure sectors.
Silvo Hernesniemi
Silvo Hernesniemi is a Certified Therapeutic Recreation Specialist (CTRS) and PhD student in the Recreation and Leisure Studies Department at the University of Waterloo. Prior to starting his doctoral studies, Silvo worked as a therapeutic recreation specialist with older adults and individuals with dementia at the Residence at Littledale in St. John’s, Newfoundland. As an emerging scholar, his research is focused on re-imagining therapeutic recreation philosophy and practice by drawing on post-structuralism and post-qualitative inquiry. In addition to his previous work as a therapeutic recreation specialist, Silvo performed with Kittiwake Dance Theatre as a company member for several years, as well as the Dolya Ukrainian Dance Company in St. John’s, Newfoundland. He has also worked as a freelance artist with his twin brother, painting a total of 12 murals at healthcare facilities in both Ontario and Newfoundland. In his free time, he enjoys playing the accordion, painting and drawing, pottery, knitting, working out, hiking, and reading.