Social Work PhD Doc Talks
What is Doc Talks
DocTalks is a semi-annual newsletter celebrating the many achievements of students in the FSW’s doctoral program. Students are invited to submit items related to their studies, research, and personal lives. For this issue, students were invited to share achievements, accomplishments, and good news items that occurred between June 2023 and December 2023.
Program Milestones
- Jason Fernandes defended his comprehensive examination theory and literature review papers, “The Exclusion of Students with Intersecting Marginalized Identities on Higher Education Campuses in Canada.”
- Grace Ihejiamaizu defended her dissertation proposal, “Gendered Lens on Women’s Social Entrepreneurship in Africa.”
- Sarah Southey defended her comprehensive examination papers, "Conceptualizing Inclusion for Autistic Clinicians in Non-Profit Human Service Organizations" and “Autistic Workplace Inclusion: A Literature Review Across the Organizational Ecosystem.”
Awards, Scholarships, Honours, and Community Recognition
- Amilah Baksh won the Donald F. Morgenson Teaching Award for Early Career Excellence.
- Maryam Motia’s paper, “Connecting Artfully toward Promoting the Mental Health of Immigrant Women in Canada: A Literature Review” was selected as the winning English manuscript at the Student Article Competition 2022 - CASWE-ACFTS.
Congratulations to all the students who received SSHRC Special Research Travel and Research awards to support their work!
Publications, Presentations, Workshops, Posters, Panels, and Media Attention
- Amilah Baksh published the paper, “She didn’t mean it that way”: Theorizing Gendered Islamophobia in the Social Work Classroom in the Journal of Race and Ethnicity in Education, https://doi.org/10.1080/13613324.2023.2268318. Also, Amilah co-authored the papers, “Why Don’t You Just Take it Off?”: Hijab as Resistance in Girlhood Studies, 13(3), https://doi.org/10.3167/ghs.2023.160306, and “Too Muslim to be a Feminist and Too Feminist to be a Muslim? Locating Lived Experiences of Feminism and Muslimness in Social Work Academe” in Affilia: Feminist Inquiry in Social Work, 1(14), https://doi.org/10.1177/08861099231188732.
- Amanda Fraser presented the paper, “Wholistically Healing Indigenous Mental Health & Addictions,” at the 2023 Virtual International Conference on Mental Health and Addictions, Algoma University.
- Amar Ghelani published two papers, “Excited Delirium is Not an Excuse for Police Use of Force” in Clinical Social Work Journal, 51(4), 1-2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-023-00889-9, and “Perspectives on Cannabis Risks and Harm Reduction Among Youth in Early Psychosis Intervention Programs: A Qualitative Study” in Mental Health and Social Inclusion. https://doi.org/10.1108/mhsi-06-2023-0064. He also presented two papers, “Cannabis, Psychosis, and Harm Reduction Methods” at the CAMH Forensic Forum in Toronto, Ontario (October 2023), and “Knowledge and Skills for Mobile Crisis Intervention” at the CEYou! (Continuing Education Program) Summer Virtual Conference in Baltimore, MD (July 2023).
- Maryam Motia facilitated, “Art as a Research Method to Explore the Mental Health of Immigrant Women in Canada” at an MSW lunch and learn event at Laurier’s Faculty of Social Work (November 2023), presented a peer-reviewed poster, “Arts-Based Research as a Space for Exploring Mental Health among Immigrant Women in Canada” at the 4th Cultural Diversity, Migration, and Education Conference at Martin Luther University in Germany (August 2023), and contributed as a co-author on a peer-reviewed presentation, “I Really Learned How to Listen,” a project exploring how simulation-based learning impacts social work students’ communication and interviewing skills at the Society for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Conference in PEI (June 2023).
Personal and Career Updates
- Grace Ihejiamaizu joined the Community Research Ethics Office (CREO) as a Board Member effective December 2023.
- Jen Vasic put forward a motion at City of Waterloo council on September 18, 2023 advocating for the provincial and federal governments to establish a Guaranteed Livable Basic Income, as well as to increase OW and ODSP rates. The motion passed unanimously.
Congratulations to each of the students named above and all our PhD students for their ongoing achievements and accomplishments!
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