Showcasing Excellence in Graduate Student Research at Laurier

Submit an application for yourself, or nominate a Laurier graduate student, to be recognized for an exceptional research program! The GSA will be showcasing a difference graduate student every two weeks, and all of the successful Researchers of Laurier will be eligible for an award at the conclusion of the Winter term.

This new program will be carried out in collaboration with Laurier departments, but is focused on graduate students being honoured by their colleagues and community.

Please download the application form & send your nomination to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

> Application Form

> Letter to Students re: Researchers of Laurier

November Winner - Liz Clarke

Congratulations to Liz Clarke, one of our November researchers!

Liz is a doctoral candidate in the English and Film Studies department. Her dissertation, “War and the Sexes: Gender in American Film, 1898-1927,”examines representations of gender and militarism in entertainment film in the context of progressive-era politics, early film exhibition practices, intended (female) audiences, and changing gender norms in society more broadly.

In preparation for writing, Clarke performed research in numerous archives including the George Eastman House, Museum of Modern Art and the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, as part of the SSHRC-funded Michael Smith Foreign Studies travel grant.

Her work currently advocates that archival research is necessary to understanding the history of women in film.

November Winner - Serge Lokshin

Congratulations to Serge Lokshin, one of our November researchers!

"My name is Serge Lokshin and I am currently in my second year of graduate studies at Wilfrid Laurier University, Brantford, specializing in criminology. Prior to my entry into the criminology master’s program, I attended York University in Toronto where I completed my undergraduate degree in criminology. I found the discipline fascinating and intellectually rewarding, bringing with it much potential for future studies. I wanted to take my passion for research, theoretical thinking, writing and sociality further and so pursuing a master’s degree seemed like the perfect fit for me.

I have a diverse array of research interests within the criminological field including: juvenile justice from a comparative perspective, models of crime control and their function (e.g., crime prevention through social development, crime prevention through environmental design), organized crime including international drug smuggling networks and the illicit trade in illegal wildlife (i.e., trade in wildlife flora and fauna), as well as the dynamics of crimes of globalization. I have also gained a deep appreciation and interest for environmental crimes and the emerging field of “green criminology”.

My primary research interest and focus for the purposes of my master’s thesis is the comparative study of juvenile justice and trial proceedings. More specifically, I am interested in understanding the role of the courts in processing youth as well as the perpetuation of stigmas (i.e., social, cultural) that result from their interactions within the criminal justice system. My study sets out to examine both the Canadian and Russian contexts with respect to the topic of juvenile delinquency and will shed some crucial light on this issue. It is essentially a ‘compare and contrast’ study in order to understand the functions and differences in juvenile delinquency across international and legal contexts.

My aim is to continue expanding my knowledge and understanding of the complex and fascinating field of criminology, in order to apply the valuable skills both within and outside of the academic environment. Continuing to be actively engaged with research and making exciting new contributions is certainly something that I will always aspire towards. I envision myself promoting my knowledge and skills and extending my passion for criminology into a doctorate degree."

December Winner - Heather Currie

Congratulations to Heather Currie, our December researcher!

Heather is a graduate student in the department of Education. Her recent qualitative research study, “Daughters of Single Fathers: Working as a Team”, looks at the experiences of daughters of single fathers in an urban setting.

A phenomenological approach was used to look at the attributes, challenges, and needs facing daughters of single fathers. Data was gathered through in-depth interviews and later analyzed for emerging themes. Heather’s personal experience being raised by her father, for a majority of her life, motivated this research.  

Heather received her BA from Ryerson University in Early Childhood Education. She further completed her BEd at Wilfrid Laurier, with a focus on primary education. Aside from her research interest in family dynamics, she is also interested in early learning, specifically within the Kindergarten environment.

Heather would like to extend her gratitude to Dr. Steve Sider, from the department of Education, for his support and contribution to this research study.

January Winner - Sylvia Terzian

Congratulations to Sylvia Terzian, one of our January researchers!

Sylvia Terzian has recently completed her PhD in the Department of English & Film Studies, and was nominated for the Gold Medal of Academic Excellence. Her primary research interests are in Postcolonial and Diaspora Literature and Theory, with a focus on contemporary Arab North-American fiction.

Her dissertation, entitled “Arab Pluralities and Transnationality: ‘A Crisis of Diasporic Consciousness’ in Arab North-American Fiction,” is interdisciplinary in its engagement with historical, literary, anthropological, sociological, and cultural studies.

Drawing on several intersecting theoretical models —postcolonial and diaspora studies, trauma theory, psychoanalysis, and queer theory—the dissertation addresses the implications of the experience of migration, settlement, and belonging for Arab consciousness and sense of identity in Canada and the United States. Her research focus, more broadly and comparatively considered, also extends into other literary traditions: in particular, Arabic Literature and World Anglophone Literature.

Sylvia has served as a teaching assistant during her MA and PhD at Wilfrid Laurier, and more recently, has taught two senior undergraduate courses, entitled “Middle Eastern North American Narratives” and “Post-9/11 American Fiction.”

January Winner - Ada Sharpe

Congratulations to Ada Sharpe, one of our January researchers!

Ada Sharpe is a doctoral candidate in the Department of English and Film studies, currently writing her dissertation on representations of accomplishment and the decorative arts in British women’s writing of the Romantic period.

Her SSHRC-funded research draws on a number of popular print forms emerging in Romantic Britain between 1780 and 1835, including the novel, verse collection, and gift book, and seeks to elucidate the ways in which literary representations of female accomplishment (such as drawing, painting, and embroidery) provide a familiar frame of reference through which women writers negotiate issues of gender.

Ada is particularly fascinated by lesser-known women novelists of the early nineteenth century, such as Mary Brunton and Amelia Opie, whose didactic fiction features some of the most virtuous, admirable, and accomplished heroines in British literary history. Ada’s research has taken her to archives in Britain and the US and enabled her to discover a wealth of bizarre and wonderful primary sources, including manuals on the decorative arts and conduct books on female amusements.

February Winner - Amira Ragab

Congratulations to Amira Ragab, one of our February researchers!

 Amira Ragab is a Master's student and research assistant at the Department of Mathematics. After successfully completing her graduate courses, Amira started her thesis work in the areas of Artificial Intelligence and Computer Vision.

In particular, she has been working on the development of mathematical models for tackling the problem of automatic gesture recognition. She proposed the use of the Hilbert space-filling curve in representing images of static hand gestures. Experiments on several benchmark data sets revealed the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed method in comparison to state-of-the-art methods for image-based gesture recognition. The current work will be extended to recognize dynamic gestures captured using data gloves.

Amira is working under the supervision of Professor Maher Ahmed and Professor Siu-Cheung Chau, and she is the recipient of the 2012/2013 Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarship in Science and Technology (QEII-GSST).

February Winner - Colin McLaren

Congratulations to Colin McLaren, one of our February researchers!

Colin McLaren is a Master's student in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education, currently studying in the Group Dynamics and Physical Activity Lab with Dr. Mark Eys. His research surrounds the dynamics of youth sport teams, with a specific focus on working with volunteer house-league coaches.

Funded by a SSHRC Canada Graduate Scholarship, an Ontario Graduate Scholarship, and the Wilfrid Laurier Centennial Scholarship, Colin's current research focuses on the motivational climate in youth recreational sport, and how different ego- and task-related coaching behaviours influence perceptions of group cohesion and intentions to return to sport. Specifically, an intervention program was introduced that educated coaches to define success in terms of effort, improvement, teamwork, and cooperation as opposed to outperforming others and winning at all costs. In addition, he is also conducting a separate research project examining both the salience of roles in youth sport, and how various social and group level variables influence group processes in a competitive youth sport context.

From an applied standpoint, Colin also works with a local youth soccer organization in a consultation role where he runs workshops with rep-level coaches on topics such as teambuilding and intra-team communication, and assists in conducting house-league coach certification clinics.

March Winner - Zoey Jones

Congratulations to Zoey Jones, one of our March researchers!

Zoey Jones is a Masters candidate in the Department of Criminology at Laurier’s Brantford campus. Her qualitative thesis, “Purchasing Sex and Negotiating Morality: An exploratory study of sex industry clients and stigma”, focuses on the lived experiences of fourteen male clients of sex workers.

This study has yielded unexpected results reflecting on the qualitative interview process itself and the researcher’s role within it. Zoey will be presenting at the Qualitatives 2013 conference in Ottawa focusing on unpacking ethical challenges, the involvement of academic and personal identity, and the emotion work she has experienced and analyzed throughout this project.

Her research has also encountered a variety of themes including reflections of wider cultural commodification of women, definitions of sexual and non-sexual intimacy, and techniques utilized to combat broader social definitions of ‘deviant’ sexuality.

Zoey would like to thank her supervisor, Dr. Stacey Hannem, for her invaluable contribution and support.

March Winner - Yasaman S. Munro

Congratulations to Yasaman S. Munro, one of our March researchers!

Yasaman S. Munro is currently a doctoral candidate in the Wilfrid Laurier University-University of Waterloo joint program in Religious Diversity in North America.

Her SSHRC-funded research focuses on Ayurveda and associated South Asian medical traditions among Hindu South Asians now living in the Waterloo Region of Canada, many of whom are involved with the two major Hindu temples in this area.

Recognizing the importance of relational networks and material culture, Yasaman asks interviewees to walk her through their everyday health practices and beliefs in domestic and religious spaces, and she traces and photographs the Ayurvedic materials people use for well-being. Her research has taken her to India where interviewees buy their Ayurvedic medicines and go for treatments at Ayurvedic hospitals and religious sites.

More broadly, Yasaman examines how religion and social identity are linked with the ways that people respond to sickness, aging and death.