Blog

Emmanuel Okeke

As a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Waterloo, my work focuses on understanding the complex causes of Alzheimer's disease (AD), a devastating condition affecting millions worldwide, including over half a million Canadians. Despite significant research efforts, the exact mechanisms leading to AD remain unclear, and current treatments are ineffective.

Geneva Smith

It's in our nature to use stories to exchange information and perspectives, which help us tackle cultural and social challenges with a deeper awareness of and empathy for others. As an alternative to traditional forms of media, Interactive Digital Narratives (IDNs) are an exciting way for people to actively engage with stories that promote social change by exploring complex social issues such as climate change, health awareness, and humanitarian crises.

Our project aims to develop a 3D cancer-on-a-chip microfluidics device to replicate tumor conditions and create a computational framework to predict treatment outcomes. Cancers within the peritoneal (abdominal) cavity, like gastric, colorectal, and ovarian cancers, often spread along the lining surface as peritoneal metastasis (PM). This leads to a poor prognosis. Traditional chemotherapy is ineffective, but hyperthermia intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) has shown promise by delivering heated chemotherapy directly into the abdomen after surgically removing visible tumors.

Paula Sanchez Nunez de Villavicencio

I situate my work as a multidisciplinary project that requires the insights from not only social scientists and humanists, but also those working in technology sectors. For this reason, my research is well positioned to contribute to the Trust in Research undertaken in Science and Technology (TRuST) scholarly network, under the inter/multidisciplinary direction of the supervisors supporting this research, Professor Mehlenbacher (English) and Professor Wells (Engineering), as well as the broader team of scholars they have brought together who are undertaking similarly aligned research studying these urgent questions of trust in technology.

Zachary McKendrick

Zachary’s work sits at the nexus of Drama, Technology, and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI). With a background as a director (MFA), actor, and technician, he has investigated ethnographic shifts towards immersive and extended virtual reality (VR and XR, respectively) in the live performance sector and broader HCI research community. Leveraging the parallels between XR and Drama as cathartic encounters wherein the participants (audience) suspend their disbelief and engage in layered realities, Zach positions actors as interaction specialists capable of existing in multiple states of being simultaneously, making them ideal collaborators in immersive HCI research. Zachary’s research goals are twofold: 1) use XR to support and enhance live performance and 2) incorporate principles and practices from Drama to create more holistic, user-centred immersive experiences; he seeks to enhance interaction while mitigating the adverse side effects of contemporary VR technology.

Bobbie Bigby

My research work examines the ways that tourism can be more than simply an economic tool for Indigenous communities. I am interested in working alongside Indigenous and Tribal communities, including my own, to be able to explore and document how tourism can be a vehicle for resurgence, or (re)connecting people to traditional culture, community and Country (living lands, waters and non-human kin). 

Daniel Amoak

My research interests lie at the intersection of sustainable food systems, environment, and health. For my postdoctoral work, I will investigate the impact of water security and participatory water governance on women's empowerment throughout their life course in East Africa. This study aligns with the Provost Scholarship's vision of contributing empirical knowledge and promoting gender equality and women's empowerment, which are essential for improving livelihoods and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

Oludoyin Adigun

My research project aims to characterize the interaction between novel Stutzerimonas strains, which are predicted to possess nitrogen fixation genes, and various crop plants including corn, soybean, canola, and wheat. This characterization will assess their ability to colonize plants internally as endophytes (microorganisms like bacteria or fungi, that live within the internal tissues of plants without causing any apparent harm to the host) and confirm their capacity for nitrogen fixation, potentially reducing the need for nitrogen fertilizer application.

Emma Brandt

In my research, I seek to understand the relationships between information, media, belief, and the social world. In my current project, I examine youth news consumption in Serbia to understand the political stakes of media literacy and how people find information in a context where distrust of official institutions is more the rule than the exception.

Weiao Xing

My research respectfully involves and engages with Indigenous communities. Focusing on Indigenous encounters with English and French settlers, it examines narratives about translingual exchanges and linguistic knowledge in the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. Recently, cultural historians have underlined the communicative facet of encounters, and literary scholars have investigated Indigenous roles in the origin of Canadian and American literature. Offering cultural and literary insights, my research aims to connect the practical and intellectual facets of translingual encounters.