Meet the GRADflix finalist who deployed stop motion animation

Warning: This article includes references to self-harm, which may be triggering for some.

Each year the University of Waterloo GRADflix competition sees Master’s and PhD students from every discipline participate, creating 60-second videos describing their research and showcasing the amazing ideas and ambitions of our community of graduate researchers. This year, Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs is following up with our 2023 participants. In a series of video interviews, we asked them about their GRADflix experience, what they learned, and what they hope to share with others.

Our next GRADflix experience belongs to Anna Good, a Master’s student in Department of History in the Faculty of Arts. Anna’s research examines documents of four soldiers who attempted suicide during the world wars. Her goal is to “help give back the agency that has been unintentionally stripped from soldiers”.

Anna’s GRADflix submission for the 2023 competition was titled Forgotten voices of the World Wars: Examining attempted solider suicides through Canadian army court martial documents. In her interview, she discusses what inspired her to research this topic, why it is important for students in history to share their research, and why she decided to use stop motion animation. 

If you are working on research with interesting applications or implications, consider sharing it with us! Regarding next year’s competition, Anna says “don’t hesitate and sign up. Signing up can be the toughest part, but […] after doing so you’ll notice that your mind just starts to think about different ideas and different ways you could convert your research into a video.”

There is so much amazing research being done here at Waterloo, and GRADflix is the perfect opportunity to showcase it to the wider community! Check out the GRADflix competition web page for more information about how you can participate and create your own GRADflix experience!