Current Students
Asha Edwin, PhD Student, Research Assistant
Asha is an interdisciplinary researcher, anti-racism and equity consultant and facilitator, and yoga and wellness practitioner. She is interested in exploring relationships between movement, wellness, community, culture, care, workplace change, and community development. Asha’s current research is on Black women’s wellness and movement in partnership with Hill Studio Wellness and Hill Run Club. See more at www.bodyishome.ca
Asma Khalil, PhD candidate, Research Assistant
Asma has a master’s degree in kinesiology for her research exploring the ways in which young, visibly Muslim women may experience inclusion or alienation due to involvement in competitive sport in Ontario. She now studies in the IDEAS Research Lab with a focus on women sport leaders in the Republic of Oman. She works on projects related to Movement as Healing and Critical Race Theory in Sport.
Daniel Uy, PhD candidate, Research Assistant
Daniel is a mixed-race queer man with research interests in queer anthropology, critical race theory, and sociology of sport. Daniel’s qualitative ethnographic research is on racialized queer people within health and physical fitness, and sport. Daniel is also in the collaborative specialization in Sexual Diversity Studies through the Mark S. Bonham Centre.
Jasmine Lew, PhD Student, Research Assistant
Jasmine is conducting collaborative autoethnographic research on biculturalism and sport in Canadian contexts and is the coordinator for the Learning to Lead Program: Navigating Physical Cultures and Building Life Skills for BIPOC Women at U of T.
Saidur Rahman, PhD candidate, Research Assistant
Saidur works in the area of decolonizing sport studies and physical activity. His research interests include: physical cultural studies, sociology of sport, nationalism, sport for development and peace, and public policy.
Zeana Hamdonah, PhD candidate, Research Assistant
Zeana is a Muslim Palestinian-Canadian woman with research interests pertaining to Critical Race Theory, Health Policy, Global Health, War and Peace, Sociology of Empires, Imperialism and Colonialism, Political Theory, Health Equity Research and Critical Qualitative Methodologies. She is also the recipient of the 2021 Bruce Kidd Social Science and Humanities Research Fellowship.
Current Research Assistants
Aayah Amir, Lab Coordinator
Aayah is a Sudanese-Canadian PhD student in the Department of Social Justice Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. Her research interests include theorizing racial justice, arts-based social justice education, and oral literacies. Aayah enjoys dancing and playing basketball in her free time.
Maame De-Heer, Lab Manager
Maame De-Heer has overcome many barriers and emphasizes the importance of stepping into leadership with confidence. De-Heer is a lecturer in Brock University’s Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, specializing in equity and health and is committed to bridging the health gap for marginalized and underserved communities.
Alex I. McKenzie, Research Assistant
Alex conducts and consults on research projects addressing gender and racial equity in sport and sport psychology. Alex helped secure a SIRC Researcher-Match Grant to conduct research on the first of its kind in Canada – a mentorship program for Black women coaches.
Braeden McKenzie, Research Assistant
Dr. McKenzie is a Post-doctoral Fellow working under the supervision of Dr. Kaleigh Ferdinand Pennock at University of Waterloo in partnership with IDEAS Research Lab projects. Dr. McKenzie’s research focuses on equity, injury, and the conceptualization of risk in sport and physical activity spaces.
Chrris Lowe, Photographer
Chrris Lowe is a director & photographer with a focus on telling stories that are visually driven and injected with both deep authenticity and colourful expression. Her work focuses on the varied experiences of BIPOC folks, an intentional choice that she has made as a Black, queer, woman director. Chrris’ stories explore humanity with a distinct style and perspective, adaptable to commercials, music videos, branded documentaries and everything in between. She creates striking worlds and immersive narratives that capture the raw and honest facets of the human experience. Ultimately leaving a lasting impact, empowering viewers to delve deeper, ask questions, and explore their own curiosity, establishing her as a compelling force in the world of storytelling.