Academic Reseach  

My PhD Journey

My new journey starts in September 2025 at Concordia University in Applied Linguistics in Education supervised by Dr. Jennifer Burton. I want to explore the educational and policy barriers for students from refugee backgrounds in Ontario, Canada from their perspectives using youth participatory action research (YPAR).

Collaboration with House of Friendship

The House of Friendship (Maison d'Amitié), which supports newcomers in Montreal, and Concordia University (Dr. J. Burton) are partnering to research volunteer's experience. 

Research with iMPACTS 

I joined iMPACTS: Collaborations to Address Sexual Violence on Campus, as a research assistant in 2023. I conducted a thematic literature review with Safeera Jaffer and Dr. Shaheen Shariff exploring ethical reporting practices related to sexual violence in traditional media, now published in the Journal of Communication Inquiry. Our research was featured in McGill Newsroom. 

My Master's Thesis

In my master’s thesis, with the support of Dr. Mela Sarkar, I conducted an interpretive policy analysis of Ontario’s Steps to English Proficiency (STEP). I examined the policy as it related to students, primarily from refugee backgrounds, in English Literacy Development (ELD) programming. I explored STEP as an artefact that shapes teachers, students, and the language education policies of the Ministry and the school boards, mediating among them.

Critical Food Literacy Writing Textbook

Dr. Amir Kalan invited me to work as a research assistant on his critical participatory action research (PAR) project, Writing for an Authentic Audience as Academic and Professional Development in Teacher Education: A Community Publishing Project. I contributed to and am co-editing a writing textbook for multilingual students learning English. My chapter focuses on writing instruction while learning about industrial animal agriculture and the environment. The chapter is for students with refugee backgrounds who have experienced interrupted schooling.