EUC Research Update – March/April 2026

Accolades, Awards and Acknowledgements

Interim President and Vice-Chancellor Lisa Philipps visited EUC on March 6 to meet with faculty, staff and students about their research. President Philipps took time to visit the faculty’s research labs such as the Sustainable Energy Initiative, the Wild Garden Media Centre, and affiliate research centres like The CITY Institute.

The event showcased the Faculty’s innovative research and provided an opportunity for faculty, students and staff to talk about their research with the President. The visit deepened the President’s appreciation and understanding of the important research initiatives taking place in the Faculty and how they work to advance knowledge, address social issues and strengthen connections with local and international communities.

The visit highlighted some of the wide-ranging work of EUC’s faculty and students including their contributions to better community-engaged research at the university and beyond through knowledge exchange, creative exhibitions, experiential learning through the Faculty’s “living labs” and international development work.

EUC held its first Undergraduate Research Fair on March 18. The event was attended by Interim President Lisa Philipps and VPRI Amir Asif. EUC Associate Dean Research Carlota McAllister moderated the event and EUC Dean Alice Hovorka presented the awards for outstanding posters presentation.

WINNERS:
Mereille James — Annual floods control sediment mobility in Black Creek Toronto. Supervisor: Adeyemi Olusola.
Quincy Johnson — Neglected at the intersections: Gender, 2SLGBTQIA+ identities and policy gaps in homelessness intervention. Supervisor: Brandon Hillier.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:
Anthony Loschiavo — The successful preservation of the Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor in Costa Rica: An assessment of land cover and habitat patches from 2018-2025. Supervisor: Anna Martinez.
Fatima Minhas — Diasporic Ecological Refusal. Supervisor: Anders Sandberg.
Gurneet Singh — The demise of Trudeau’s promising carbon pricing policy. Supervisor: Mark Winfield.

In addition, the following undergraduate students also presented their innovative works:
Angiolina Catalano – Cumulative effects in Arctic mining. Supervisor: Peter Mulvihill.
Melina Ghasem-Asad – ASA: Earthwork and ancestral reclamation. Supervisor: Martha Stiegman.
Meetkumar Patel – Integrating camera traps & acoustics data to link predator visits in seabird colony & disturbance via machine. Supervisor: Gail Fraser.
Ganesa Persaud – A workflow for georectifying iPhone LiDar to map and analyze mixed-wood forests. Supervisor: Tarmo Remmel.
Nicolas Vargas Gonzalez – Field study of edible fungi, mycelium, and soil structure under heat stress. Supervisor: Phyllis Novak Novakowsky.

Lina Brand Correa and EUC PhD candidate Muhammad Arsam received a MITACS Accelerate award for a project on “Developing a Framework and Toolkit for Climate Justice-Oriented Housing in Canada.” In partnership with Social Innovation Canada, the project will tackle the growing problem of climate change making housing less safe and affordable for vulnerable communities in Canada. It will focus on finding fair and practical solutions to ensure climate adaptation for plans for cities do not inadvertently push people out of their homes through rising rents or poorly planned projects. As project intern, Arsam will work with communities and organizations in the cities of Toronto, Vancouver, and Kitchener Waterloo-Cambridge to co-create a practical “how-to” guide and toolkit that will help cities and organizations design housing policies that are effective and equitable. For SI Canada, this project will provide a ready-to-use, evidence-based framework for use in their climate and housing work.

Juliet Dhanraj, MES Planning student, was named one of WWF-Canada’s Living Planet Leaders and obtained a certificate of recognition for her “contributions to helping nature thrive.” She is the first MES and MES (Planning) student to become a WWF-Canada Living Planet Leader. As a Sustainability Champion Volunteer with York University’s Office of Sustainability, Dhanraj also spearheaded the World Water Day Celebration (with One Water) at the Scott Library. She organized three interactive stations with the main attraction being a giant floor map of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Watershed using augmented reality.

Sarah Flicker received an Ontario HIV Treatment Network (OHTN) research award for her project on “Theatre Making Impact (TMI): Scaling-Up a Youth-Led HIV Prevention Play Across Ontario.” Former EUC postdoc Shira Taylor and current TMI Director is co-principal applicant. The project responds to the OHTN’s HIV Endgame Program, particularly in line with the Breaking New Ground mandate to scale up innovative approaches to HIV prevention. TMI (formerly SExT: Sex Education by Theatre) is a trauma-informed anti-racist youth-led, arts-based program that uses theatre, music, and storytelling to spark open conversations and improve youth self-efficacy around sexual health, HIV prevention, mental health, and healthy relationships. It has reached more than 12,000 youth in areas of Canada most impacted by HIV, such as Northern Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, Northern Quebec, and Ontario.

Andil Gosine received a SSHRC Connections Grant for his project on “A Decade of Visual Arts After Indenture: Representation, Repair, and Wild Returns in Contemporary Art.” The project will support outreach activities that reflects on research that he has conducted over the last ten years on contemporary visual arts and Indentureship.

The outreach activities will include an international conference, video documentary production, public panel and book publication. In Fall 2026, scholars, critics, museum professionals and students will gather at the renowned Clark Institute for “A Decade of Visual Arts After Indenture: Representation, Repair and Wild Returns in Contemporary Art.”

Martina Jakubchik-Paloheimo, EUC postdoc, is a lead applicant for the Foundation Inisha Nunka and Mushkegowuk Council’s successful IDRC education and science initiative on “Connecting Indigenous Research Leadership in Canada and Global South”. The project, with EUC adjunct professor, Vicki Sahanatien, titled “Honouring Shuar Kakaram Penker Pujustin and Omushkego Wahkohtowin: Indigenous-Led Conservation Research, Plant Medicines, and Climate Change Resilience in the Amazon and Subarctic”, aims to develop a conservation management plan for the Shuar Peoples living in the Cordillera de Transkutukú in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Drawing on decolonial theory and employing a planetary health lens, this community-led participatory research will focus on enhancing the health of their people by honouring their own Indigenous sciences related to plant medicines, agriculture, and land stewardship, thereby promoting greater planetary health.

Carli Melo, PhD candidate in Geography, is one of the recipients of the Journal of Economic Geography‘s best early career paper prize for her article on “COVID, coup, and crises of social reproduction: Exploring the effects of Myanmar’s polycrisis on migrant workers in global seafood production networks in Thailand.” In this article, Melo argues that the Thai seafood industry and buyers in seafood GPNs are benefitting from a polycrisis-generated supply of labour which shows that production is not only supported by the social reproduction of workers, but also by crises of social reproduction that contribute to the making of a potential and precarious workforce.

Joseph Mensah received a subgrant from Trent University’s David Farang for a SSHRC project on “International Students’ Lived Experience and Resilience During the COVID19 Pandemic”.

The project explores the experiences of international students amid the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the economic consequences of the pandemic on Canadian universities. The project will provide insights into the appropriate strategies required to strengthen international students’ resilience to deal with the crisis and universities’ capacities to address the challenges facing international students.

Michaela Michalak (ES PhD Candidate) presented her short film “An Archive of Disappearing Sounds” at La Lumière Collective in Montreal in March and at the Toronto Images Festival in April. The film mediates on the Land and its silences. Time is characterized not only by visual imprints of identity but as well as the audible and inaudible sounds that shape it.  For more info, visit the Images Festival program.

Lisa Myers received a SSHRC Connections Grant for her project on “Recording Indigenous Frequencies and Futures,” an Indigenous-led podcast training and mentorship program emerging from the Sounds Like Land podcast that explores the relationships between Indigenous languages and land-based knowledge across the territories of Canada. Both podcasts are outreach and knowledge mobilization initiatives of Finding Flowers, an interdisciplinary research project that studies the intersections of art, ecology and education, based at EUC. At its core, RIFF advances acoustic justice by increasing Indigenous presence in public soundscapes, encouraging long-term capacity, cultural continuity, and self-determined knowledge sharing.

Grace Pawliw-Fry, Geography MA, has won the York University Thesis Prize for 2026! Their thesis, “Teetering on the Edge of Surplus: Neurodivergent Work, Social Reproduction, and Bodyminds in the Ontario Labour Market” won the Paul Simpson-Housley Award for the best master’s thesis in the Graduate Program in Geography in 2025-26 and was then nominated to FGS for the university-wide Thesis Prize competition.

The Paul Simpson-Housley Award is awarded annually to one MA/MSc graduate student in Geography with an outstanding thesis or major research paper (MRP) and one PhD student in Geography with an outstanding dissertation.

Adedibu Sunny Akingboye is EUC’s new Connected Minds Postdoctoral Fellow collaborating and worlking with Adeyemi Olusola in an interdisciplinary research that integrates geotechnical engineering, artificial intelligence, and environmental systems. His work focuses on understanding how climate-related hazards, particularly flooding, influence both surface and subsurface conditions, shaping infrastructure stability and its resilience. He works across geotechnics, geophysics, and environmental systems, integrating geophysical, geotechnical, and geospatial datasets with artificial intelligence to better capture how these processes evolve and interact. He will be developing an integrated framework combining environmental data, geotechnical analysis, and social vulnerability indicators to support more comprehensive and equitable strategies for managing environmental risk in rapidly growing urban areas.

Mark Terry, EUC/LA&PS adjunct professor, represented York at this year’s Polar Plunge, an annual event to raise funds for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s (RCGS) education and research programs. Diving into the icy waters of Lake Ontario at Woodbine Beach, all for a good cause, Terry has done this before as a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in Toronto, Iceland, Greenland, Alaska, and Antarctica. In 2025, he led a flag expedition for the RCGS to the Svartisen Glacier in Norway, presented findings at COP30 in Brazil, and published a paper through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

It is with profound sadness that we share the news that Professor Emeritus John Urquhart Marshall, whose passion for teaching geography at York University for 33 years passed away in February.

Throughout his career, Marshall channelled his interests into publishing several books, primarily focused on human geography and urban systems. His work explored how cities and towns are organized, the distribution of service centres and patterns of population and settlement within regions. He was particularly interested in central place theory, examining why certain towns emerge as hubs for surrounding areas and how urban and rural spaces are spatially structured.

Publications and Reports

Basu, R., & Gonzalez, L. P (2026) ‘Subalterity in Education’ Chapter 27 in Handbook on Geographies of Education, edited by Peter Kraftl, Sarah Holloway, Yi’En Cheng and Silvie Rita Kučerová. Elgar Publishing.

Chun, K., Octavianti, T., Bradford, L., Reeves, M., Nagheeby, M., Olusola, A. et al. (2026). Decolonising hydrology: Reflecting on positionalities for sustainable and just futures, Environmental Science & Policy, Volume 178, 2026, 104340.

Erratt, K. J., Creed, I. F., Blais, J. M., Favot, E. J., Gushulak, C. A., Korosi, J. et al (2026). Paleolimnology uncovers environmental drivers of cyanobacterial blooms, species shifts and toxin emergence. Harmful Algae, 154, 103089. (Early-Print).

Flicker, S., Ivanski, C., Gareau, L., McIntyre, C., Gilbert, J., & Walker, J. (2026). Reflections on facilitating teen dating violence prevention programming in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic: comparing online, in-person and hybrid facilitation. Sex Education, 26(2), 202–216.

Florko, K. R. N., T. R.Ross, S. H.Ferguson, Thiemann, G. et al. 2026. “Top-Down and Bottom-Up Processes Jointly Explain Mesopredator Movement and Foraging Ecology.” Ecology Letters 29, no. 3: e70364.

Gosine, A. (2026) “Coolie Créole,” in Beyond Boundaries: Seeing Art History from the Caribbean. Edited by Anna Arabindan-Kesson and Wayne Modest. Yale University Press.

Gosine, A. (2026) “I, Ixora,” in Caribbean Eco-aesthetics. Machester University Press.

Kapoor, I. (2026). The oil logic behind Trump’s war on Iran. Aljazeera. March.

Kapoor, I (2026). Washington’s Russia U-Turn Exposes the Real Logic of Sanctions. Social Europe. March.

Lakhan, C. (2026). The Stagnation Paradox: A Longitudinal Analysis of Structural Limitations in Canadian Extended Producer Responsibility Programs, Social Science Research Network (SSRN) Open Access.

Lo, K., Basnet, N., Miller, E., Srikanthalingam, B., Foley, B., Van Berkum, J. L., Long, A.H., Toneva, P., Ermina, M., Klinkenberg, C. 2026. National Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts, Edition 2026 (1961-2025). Results and metadata version 1.0. Produced for Footprint Data Foundation by researchers at York University and the University of Iceland.

Lombardo, C., Toala, E. F., Gareau, L., McIntyre, C., Walker, J., Gilbert, J., & Flicker, S. (2026). Canadian Teacher Perspectives on Navigating Relationships: A Sexuality Curriculum for Grade 9 Students. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 21(1), 75–96.

Melo, C. (2026). COVID, coup, and crises of social reproduction: Exploring the effects of Myanmar’s polycrisis on migrant workers in global seafood production networks in Thailand. Journal of Economic Geography. February.

Olson, C., Schaefer, K., Azaroff, A., Angot, H., Douglas, T., Fahnestock, M. F., Haugk, C., Hugelius, G., Jahangir, E., Jonsson, S., Kirkwood, A., Korosi, J. et al. (2026). A Consolidated Database of Mercury Observations for Permafrost Regions, Earth System Science Data. [preprint].

Onek, G., Scott, D. and Harris, L. (2026). Educational Resource for Young People – Rise Up! The Lancashire Weaver’s Rising and Chatterton Massacre. The Open University, Open Societal Challenges.

Quarshie, E., J., Baduor,T.,  Mensah, J. and K.Laar, K. (2026). “Diplomatic Disparities and Mobility Bias: Structural Inequalities in the Migration-Development Nexus.” International Migration 64, no. 1: e70132.

Rotz, S. (2026). Who is Ontario’s ‘food independence’ really for? Canadian Dimension. April.

Rutherford, J., Fraser, G.S., Carter, A.V., Pilditch, C.A. and Ellis, J., (2026). Examining stakeholder engagement in New Zealand’s offshore petroleum governance. Extractive Industries and Society, 26: 101878. 

Webber, C. and Zigman P. (2026). Renoviction and Resistance in the Capitalist City. Between the Lines.

EUC and Associated Events

Upcoming Events

The Ontario Network for Sustainable Energy Policy (ONSEP) will hold its annual workshop from May 4-6 at the Schulich Executive Learning Centre. The event will be bringing scholars together from a variety of disciplinary and methodological perspectives focused on energy policy. ONSEP is a multi-disciplinary network based in Ontario universities focused on the promotion of sustainable energy policy.

ONSEP is particularly interested in developing greater understanding of the policies, technologies and strategies needed to sustainably decarbonize energy systems. The workshop will take place at Schulich Executive Learning Centre at York University. Discounted registration fees will be available to full-time students.

Join Franklin Ginn, Oriana Schwartzentruber, and Patricia Wood in a seminar on Globa/Local Plant Worlds on May 6 as they consider how plants and people inhabit and shape complex, multispecies worlds together. The seminar is part of More-than-Humanities: Interdisciplinary Collaborations, Multiagential Worlds, a joint venture between EUC and the Centre for Environmental Humanities at the University of Bristol. This online seminar series highlights exciting new arts and humanities research considering diverse forms of life and nonlife as collectively shaping past, present, and future worlds. Register here.

The African Mobility Scholars Association will host a lecture by Professor Joseph Mensah on Postmodernism and Poststructuralism on May 6, 12pm GMT. AMSA is an African-focused non-profit research organization whose goal is to promote African mobility research to contribute to a balanced and nuanced discussion on global as well as Africa-centered mobility issues.

Prof. Mensah is the Global Geography Program Coordinator at EUC. His current research interests include transnational and return migration; ethno-racial identity formation; African development; and dialectics. He is a founding member of the University of Ghana Pan African Doctoral Academy (PADA). Sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, PADA runs short-term courses on selected topics for Ph.D. students across Africa.

Recent Events

EUC held its 4th seminar series this April on Thinking with/in/as water with Lakshmi Aysola, Carlota McAllister and Rachel Murray, who explored the rich, diverse possibilities of water as a substance, medium, and metaphor in the environmental humanities. The seminar is part of the “More-than-Humanities: Interdisciplinary Collaborations, Multiagential Worlds” seminar series, a joint venture between EUC and the Centre for Environmental Humanities (CEH) at the University of Bristol, which highlights exciting new arts and humanities research considering diverse forms of life and nonlife as collectively shaping past, present, and future worlds. The talk explored the questions: How might thinking in, with, and/or as water help us shift away from rigid boundaries and borders: corporeal, political, affective, institutional? Through what forms, concepts, and practices might we incorporate liquid desires, aquatic relations, and fluid embodiments into our research? How does being (in) water with others shape our affections, relationships, and imaginations? What potential does water hold as an element of refusal, resistance, and renewal? Session recordings are now available for viewing on EUC-CEH’s seminar series webpage. The 5th and final seminar series on Global/Local Plant Worlds will be held on Wednesday, May 6 at 12:45pm EST with Franklin Ginn, Oriana Schwartzentruber, and Patricia Wood.

On Earth Day, April 22, the International Ecological Footprint Learning Lab (IEFLL) held a webinar presenting their latest research about Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity of all countries and the world from 1961-2025. The accounts measure Ecological Footprint, and Biocapacity, by total and by component, at a national level and on a world-total basis. Presenters include researchers at the Ecological Footprint Initiative at York University, and at University of Iceland, who co-authored the dataset, for the Footprint Data Foundation. See YFile news for more info.

Also in January, IEFLL hosted a live webinar on Institutional Scaling of Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity. The event explored how ecological footprint and biocapacity accounting can be applied at the scale of universities and other institutions. Speakers included Eric Miller and Kiona Lo (York University), Hemanthi Ranasinghe, Ph.D. (University of Sri Jayewardenepura), and moderated by Peri Dworatzek. The webinar aimed to share research findings and discuss the application of these measures at the institutional level. Visit the IEFLL YouTube channel for more of their webinar events.

Renowned feminist scholar and activist, Dr. Silvia Federici, gave a public lecture this April on Women, war and social reproduction. In her talk, Federici argued that women play a major role in the reconstruction of the community and the struggle for a different world. A world-renowned feminist intellectual and longtime activist, teacher, and writer, she was one of the founders of the International Feminist Collective, the organization that launched the Campaign for Wages for Housework in the US and abroad. She is the author of many essays on political philosophy, feminist theory, cultural studies, and education. She is Emerita Professor of Political Philosophy and International Studies at Hofstra University (Hempstead, New York). The lecture, for which she was joined by EUC professor Anna Zalik and graduate students Farida Rady and Christoppher Sorios, is part of the International Political Ecology and Economy Summer School in 2025 on Coloniality and the War on Social Reproduction: A Feminist Perspective. The webinar is now available for viewing on the EUC YouTube Channel.

EUC in the Media

Ilan Kapoor published an article in The Loop titled “ The quiet power of energy dependence”. The article explores how fossil fuels continue to shape global geopolitics, arguing that states increasingly exert power through energy markets rather than military force. Kapoor uses examples such as the Strait of Hormuz and Russia’s gas supply cuts to Europe to show how control over energy flows creates strategic leverage.

Kapoor emphasizes that energy dependence generates structural vulnerabilities, allowing countries to influence global prices, economic stability, and political outcomes, making it a powerful but often less visible tool of international power.

Abidin Kusno was featured in an article in Interdependence Magazine titled Building Ideas from the Middle. The article explores Kusno’s work on urbanism in Jakarta, focusing on how cities are shaped by decentralization, informality, and shifting power structures in the post-Suharto era. Drawing from Kusno’s ideas, the piece introduces the concept of the “middle” as a critical space between state authority and marginal communities, where social, political, and spatial practices are constantly negotiated. It highlights how collectives like Gudskul operate within this “middle,” using informal networks, shared spaces, and alternative governance models to challenge traditional hierarchies and rethink urban life, politics, and knowledge production in rapidly changing cities.

Mark Winfield penned an article in The Energy Mix titled Could a New Nuclear Reactor Double or Triple Electricity Rates in New Brunswick? In this article, Winfield examines the economic and policy implications of building a new large-scale nuclear reactor in New Brunswick, emphasizing the high capital costs, financial risks, and long-term impacts on electricity systems. He notes that based on recent nuclear projects, construction costs could reach $15 to $26 billion, and if passed on to consumers, electricity rates could double or even triple.

Winfield highlights that such investments could significantly strain provincial finances, increase utility debt, and concentrate risk in a single large project, raising concerns about affordability, economic competitiveness, and the viability of this pathway for future energy planning.

Accolades, Awards and Acknowledgements

Interim President and Vice-Chancellor Lisa Philipps visited EUC on March 6 to meet with faculty, staff and students about their research. President Philipps took time to visit the faculty’s research labs such as the Sustainable Energy Initiative, the Wild Garden Media Centre, and affiliate research centres like The CITY Institute.

The event showcased the Faculty’s innovative research and provided an opportunity for faculty, students and staff to talk about their research with the President. The visit deepened the President’s appreciation and understanding of the important research initiatives taking place in the Faculty and how they work to advance knowledge, address social issues and strengthen connections with local and international communities.

The visit highlighted some of the wide-ranging work of EUC’s faculty and students including their contributions to better community-engaged research at the university and beyond through knowledge exchange, creative exhibitions, experiential learning through the Faculty’s “living labs” and international development work.

EUC held its first Undergraduate Research Fair on March 18. The event was attended by Interim President Lisa Philipps and VPRI Amir Asif. EUC Associate Dean Research Carlota McAllister moderated the event and EUC Dean Alice Hovorka presented the awards for outstanding posters presentation.

WINNERS:
Mereille James — Annual floods control sediment mobility in Black Creek Toronto. Supervisor: Adeyemi Olusola.
Quincy Johnson — Neglected at the intersections: Gender, 2SLGBTQIA+ identities and policy gaps in homelessness intervention. Supervisor: Brandon Hillier.

HONOURABLE MENTIONS:
Anthony Loschiavo — The successful preservation of the Alexander Skutch Biological Corridor in Costa Rica: An assessment of land cover and habitat patches from 2018-2025. Supervisor: Anna Martinez.
Fatima Minhas — Diasporic Ecological Refusal. Supervisor: Anders Sandberg.
Gurneet Singh — The demise of Trudeau’s promising carbon pricing policy. Supervisor: Mark Winfield.

In addition, the following undergraduate students also presented their innovative works:
Angiolina Catalano – Cumulative effects in Arctic mining. Supervisor: Peter Mulvihill.
Melina Ghasem-Asad – ASA: Earthwork and ancestral reclamation. Supervisor: Martha Stiegman.
Meetkumar Patel – Integrating camera traps & acoustics data to link predator visits in seabird colony & disturbance via machine. Supervisor: Gail Fraser.
Ganesa Persaud – A workflow for georectifying iPhone LiDar to map and analyze mixed-wood forests. Supervisor: Tarmo Remmel.
Nicolas Vargas Gonzalez – Field study of edible fungi, mycelium, and soil structure under heat stress. Supervisor: Phyllis Novak Novakowsky.

Lina Brand Correa and EUC PhD candidate Muhammad Arsam received a MITACS Accelerate award for a project on “Developing a Framework and Toolkit for Climate Justice-Oriented Housing in Canada.” In partnership with Social Innovation Canada, the project will tackle the growing problem of climate change making housing less safe and affordable for vulnerable communities in Canada. It will focus on finding fair and practical solutions to ensure climate adaptation for plans for cities do not inadvertently push people out of their homes through rising rents or poorly planned projects. As project intern, Arsam will work with communities and organizations in the cities of Toronto, Vancouver, and Kitchener Waterloo-Cambridge to co-create a practical “how-to” guide and toolkit that will help cities and organizations design housing policies that are effective and equitable. For SI Canada, this project will provide a ready-to-use, evidence-based framework for use in their climate and housing work.

Juliet Dhanraj, MES Planning student, was named one of WWF-Canada’s Living Planet Leaders and obtained a certificate of recognition for her “contributions to helping nature thrive.” She is the first MES and MES (Planning) student to become a WWF-Canada Living Planet Leader. As a Sustainability Champion Volunteer with York University’s Office of Sustainability, Dhanraj also spearheaded the World Water Day Celebration (with One Water) at the Scott Library. She organized three interactive stations with the main attraction being a giant floor map of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Watershed using augmented reality.

Sarah Flicker received an Ontario HIV Treatment Network (OHTN) research award for her project on “Theatre Making Impact (TMI): Scaling-Up a Youth-Led HIV Prevention Play Across Ontario.” Former EUC postdoc Shira Taylor and current TMI Director is co-principal applicant. The project responds to the OHTN’s HIV Endgame Program, particularly in line with the Breaking New Ground mandate to scale up innovative approaches to HIV prevention. TMI (formerly SExT: Sex Education by Theatre) is a trauma-informed anti-racist youth-led, arts-based program that uses theatre, music, and storytelling to spark open conversations and improve youth self-efficacy around sexual health, HIV prevention, mental health, and healthy relationships. It has reached more than 12,000 youth in areas of Canada most impacted by HIV, such as Northern Saskatchewan, Northwest Territories, Northern Quebec, and Ontario.

Andil Gosine received a SSHRC Connections Grant for his project on “A Decade of Visual Arts After Indenture: Representation, Repair, and Wild Returns in Contemporary Art.” The project will support outreach activities that reflects on research that he has conducted over the last ten years on contemporary visual arts and Indentureship.

The outreach activities will include an international conference, video documentary production, public panel and book publication. In Fall 2026, scholars, critics, museum professionals and students will gather at the renowned Clark Institute for “A Decade of Visual Arts After Indenture: Representation, Repair and Wild Returns in Contemporary Art.”

Martina Jakubchik-Paloheimo, EUC postdoc, is a lead applicant for the Foundation Inisha Nunka and Mushkegowuk Council’s successful IDRC education and science initiative on “Connecting Indigenous Research Leadership in Canada and Global South”. The project, with EUC adjunct professor, Vicki Sahanatien, titled “Honouring Shuar Kakaram Penker Pujustin and Omushkego Wahkohtowin: Indigenous-Led Conservation Research, Plant Medicines, and Climate Change Resilience in the Amazon and Subarctic”, aims to develop a conservation management plan for the Shuar Peoples living in the Cordillera de Transkutukú in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Drawing on decolonial theory and employing a planetary health lens, this community-led participatory research will focus on enhancing the health of their people by honouring their own Indigenous sciences related to plant medicines, agriculture, and land stewardship, thereby promoting greater planetary health.

Carli Melo, PhD candidate in Geography, is one of the recipients of the Journal of Economic Geography‘s best early career paper prize for her article on “COVID, coup, and crises of social reproduction: Exploring the effects of Myanmar’s polycrisis on migrant workers in global seafood production networks in Thailand.” In this article, Melo argues that the Thai seafood industry and buyers in seafood GPNs are benefitting from a polycrisis-generated supply of labour which shows that production is not only supported by the social reproduction of workers, but also by crises of social reproduction that contribute to the making of a potential and precarious workforce.

Joseph Mensah received a subgrant from Trent University’s David Farang for a SSHRC project on “International Students’ Lived Experience and Resilience During the COVID19 Pandemic”.

The project explores the experiences of international students amid the COVID-19 pandemic as well as the economic consequences of the pandemic on Canadian universities. The project will provide insights into the appropriate strategies required to strengthen international students’ resilience to deal with the crisis and universities’ capacities to address the challenges facing international students.

Michaela Michalak (ES PhD Candidate) presented her short film “An Archive of Disappearing Sounds” at La Lumière Collective in Montreal in March and at the Toronto Images Festival in April. The film mediates on the Land and its silences. Time is characterized not only by visual imprints of identity but as well as the audible and inaudible sounds that shape it.  For more info, visit the Images Festival program.

Lisa Myers received a SSHRC Connections Grant for her project on “Recording Indigenous Frequencies and Futures,” an Indigenous-led podcast training and mentorship program emerging from the Sounds Like Land podcast that explores the relationships between Indigenous languages and land-based knowledge across the territories of Canada. Both podcasts are outreach and knowledge mobilization initiatives of Finding Flowers, an interdisciplinary research project that studies the intersections of art, ecology and education, based at EUC. At its core, RIFF advances acoustic justice by increasing Indigenous presence in public soundscapes, encouraging long-term capacity, cultural continuity, and self-determined knowledge sharing.

Grace Pawliw-Fry, Geography MA, has won the York University Thesis Prize for 2026! Their thesis, “Teetering on the Edge of Surplus: Neurodivergent Work, Social Reproduction, and Bodyminds in the Ontario Labour Market” won the Paul Simpson-Housley Award for the best master’s thesis in the Graduate Program in Geography in 2025-26 and was then nominated to FGS for the university-wide Thesis Prize competition.

The Paul Simpson-Housley Award is awarded annually to one MA/MSc graduate student in Geography with an outstanding thesis or major research paper (MRP) and one PhD student in Geography with an outstanding dissertation.

Adedibu Sunny Akingboye is EUC’s new Connected Minds Postdoctoral Fellow collaborating and worlking with Adeyemi Olusola in an interdisciplinary research that integrates geotechnical engineering, artificial intelligence, and environmental systems. His work focuses on understanding how climate-related hazards, particularly flooding, influence both surface and subsurface conditions, shaping infrastructure stability and its resilience. He works across geotechnics, geophysics, and environmental systems, integrating geophysical, geotechnical, and geospatial datasets with artificial intelligence to better capture how these processes evolve and interact. He will be developing an integrated framework combining environmental data, geotechnical analysis, and social vulnerability indicators to support more comprehensive and equitable strategies for managing environmental risk in rapidly growing urban areas.

Mark Terry, EUC/LA&PS adjunct professor, represented York at this year’s Polar Plunge, an annual event to raise funds for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s (RCGS) education and research programs. Diving into the icy waters of Lake Ontario at Woodbine Beach, all for a good cause, Terry has done this before as a Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in Toronto, Iceland, Greenland, Alaska, and Antarctica. In 2025, he led a flag expedition for the RCGS to the Svartisen Glacier in Norway, presented findings at COP30 in Brazil, and published a paper through the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

It is with profound sadness that we share the news that Professor Emeritus John Urquhart Marshall, whose passion for teaching geography at York University for 33 years passed away in February.

Throughout his career, Marshall channelled his interests into publishing several books, primarily focused on human geography and urban systems. His work explored how cities and towns are organized, the distribution of service centres and patterns of population and settlement within regions. He was particularly interested in central place theory, examining why certain towns emerge as hubs for surrounding areas and how urban and rural spaces are spatially structured.

Publications and Reports

Basu, R., & Gonzalez, L. P (2026) ‘Subalterity in Education’ Chapter 27 in Handbook on Geographies of Education, edited by Peter Kraftl, Sarah Holloway, Yi’En Cheng and Silvie Rita Kučerová. Elgar Publishing.

Chun, K., Octavianti, T., Bradford, L., Reeves, M., Nagheeby, M., Olusola, A. et al. (2026). Decolonising hydrology: Reflecting on positionalities for sustainable and just futures, Environmental Science & Policy, Volume 178, 2026, 104340.

Erratt, K. J., Creed, I. F., Blais, J. M., Favot, E. J., Gushulak, C. A., Korosi, J. et al (2026). Paleolimnology uncovers environmental drivers of cyanobacterial blooms, species shifts and toxin emergence. Harmful Algae, 154, 103089. (Early-Print).

Flicker, S., Ivanski, C., Gareau, L., McIntyre, C., Gilbert, J., & Walker, J. (2026). Reflections on facilitating teen dating violence prevention programming in schools during the COVID-19 pandemic: comparing online, in-person and hybrid facilitation. Sex Education, 26(2), 202–216.

Florko, K. R. N., T. R.Ross, S. H.Ferguson, Thiemann, G. et al. 2026. “Top-Down and Bottom-Up Processes Jointly Explain Mesopredator Movement and Foraging Ecology.” Ecology Letters 29, no. 3: e70364.

Gosine, A. (2026) “Coolie Créole,” in Beyond Boundaries: Seeing Art History from the Caribbean. Edited by Anna Arabindan-Kesson and Wayne Modest. Yale University Press.

Gosine, A. (2026) “I, Ixora,” in Caribbean Eco-aesthetics. Machester University Press.

Kapoor, I. (2026). The oil logic behind Trump’s war on Iran. Aljazeera. March.

Kapoor, I (2026). Washington’s Russia U-Turn Exposes the Real Logic of Sanctions. Social Europe. March.

Lakhan, C. (2026). The Stagnation Paradox: A Longitudinal Analysis of Structural Limitations in Canadian Extended Producer Responsibility Programs, Social Science Research Network (SSRN) Open Access.

Lo, K., Basnet, N., Miller, E., Srikanthalingam, B., Foley, B., Van Berkum, J. L., Long, A.H., Toneva, P., Ermina, M., Klinkenberg, C. 2026. National Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity Accounts, Edition 2026 (1961-2025). Results and metadata version 1.0. Produced for Footprint Data Foundation by researchers at York University and the University of Iceland.

Lombardo, C., Toala, E. F., Gareau, L., McIntyre, C., Walker, J., Gilbert, J., & Flicker, S. (2026). Canadian Teacher Perspectives on Navigating Relationships: A Sexuality Curriculum for Grade 9 Students. American Journal of Sexuality Education, 21(1), 75–96.

Melo, C. (2026). COVID, coup, and crises of social reproduction: Exploring the effects of Myanmar’s polycrisis on migrant workers in global seafood production networks in Thailand. Journal of Economic Geography. February.

Olson, C., Schaefer, K., Azaroff, A., Angot, H., Douglas, T., Fahnestock, M. F., Haugk, C., Hugelius, G., Jahangir, E., Jonsson, S., Kirkwood, A., Korosi, J. et al. (2026). A Consolidated Database of Mercury Observations for Permafrost Regions, Earth System Science Data. [preprint].

Onek, G., Scott, D. and Harris, L. (2026). Educational Resource for Young People – Rise Up! The Lancashire Weaver’s Rising and Chatterton Massacre. The Open University, Open Societal Challenges.

Quarshie, E., J., Baduor,T.,  Mensah, J. and K.Laar, K. (2026). “Diplomatic Disparities and Mobility Bias: Structural Inequalities in the Migration-Development Nexus.” International Migration 64, no. 1: e70132.

Rotz, S. (2026). Who is Ontario’s ‘food independence’ really for? Canadian Dimension. April.

Rutherford, J., Fraser, G.S., Carter, A.V., Pilditch, C.A. and Ellis, J., (2026). Examining stakeholder engagement in New Zealand’s offshore petroleum governance. Extractive Industries and Society, 26: 101878. 

Webber, C. and Zigman P. (2026). Renoviction and Resistance in the Capitalist City. Between the Lines.

EUC and Associated Events

Upcoming Events

The Ontario Network for Sustainable Energy Policy (ONSEP) will hold its annual workshop from May 4-6 at the Schulich Executive Learning Centre. The event will be bringing scholars together from a variety of disciplinary and methodological perspectives focused on energy policy. ONSEP is a multi-disciplinary network based in Ontario universities focused on the promotion of sustainable energy policy.

ONSEP is particularly interested in developing greater understanding of the policies, technologies and strategies needed to sustainably decarbonize energy systems. The workshop will take place at Schulich Executive Learning Centre at York University. Discounted registration fees will be available to full-time students.

Join Franklin Ginn, Oriana Schwartzentruber, and Patricia Wood in a seminar on Globa/Local Plant Worlds on May 6 as they consider how plants and people inhabit and shape complex, multispecies worlds together. The seminar is part of More-than-Humanities: Interdisciplinary Collaborations, Multiagential Worlds, a joint venture between EUC and the Centre for Environmental Humanities at the University of Bristol. This online seminar series highlights exciting new arts and humanities research considering diverse forms of life and nonlife as collectively shaping past, present, and future worlds. Register here.

The African Mobility Scholars Association will host a lecture by Professor Joseph Mensah on Postmodernism and Poststructuralism on May 6, 12pm GMT. AMSA is an African-focused non-profit research organization whose goal is to promote African mobility research to contribute to a balanced and nuanced discussion on global as well as Africa-centered mobility issues.

Prof. Mensah is the Global Geography Program Coordinator at EUC. His current research interests include transnational and return migration; ethno-racial identity formation; African development; and dialectics. He is a founding member of the University of Ghana Pan African Doctoral Academy (PADA). Sponsored by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, PADA runs short-term courses on selected topics for Ph.D. students across Africa.

Recent Events

EUC held its 4th seminar series this April on Thinking with/in/as water with Lakshmi Aysola, Carlota McAllister and Rachel Murray, who explored the rich, diverse possibilities of water as a substance, medium, and metaphor in the environmental humanities. The seminar is part of the “More-than-Humanities: Interdisciplinary Collaborations, Multiagential Worlds” seminar series, a joint venture between EUC and the Centre for Environmental Humanities (CEH) at the University of Bristol, which highlights exciting new arts and humanities research considering diverse forms of life and nonlife as collectively shaping past, present, and future worlds. The talk explored the questions: How might thinking in, with, and/or as water help us shift away from rigid boundaries and borders: corporeal, political, affective, institutional? Through what forms, concepts, and practices might we incorporate liquid desires, aquatic relations, and fluid embodiments into our research? How does being (in) water with others shape our affections, relationships, and imaginations? What potential does water hold as an element of refusal, resistance, and renewal? Session recordings are now available for viewing on EUC-CEH’s seminar series webpage. The 5th and final seminar series on Global/Local Plant Worlds will be held on Wednesday, May 6 at 12:45pm EST with Franklin Ginn, Oriana Schwartzentruber, and Patricia Wood.

On Earth Day, April 22, the International Ecological Footprint Learning Lab (IEFLL) held a webinar presenting their latest research about Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity of all countries and the world from 1961-2025. The accounts measure Ecological Footprint, and Biocapacity, by total and by component, at a national level and on a world-total basis. Presenters include researchers at the Ecological Footprint Initiative at York University, and at University of Iceland, who co-authored the dataset, for the Footprint Data Foundation. See YFile news for more info.

Also in January, IEFLL hosted a live webinar on Institutional Scaling of Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity. The event explored how ecological footprint and biocapacity accounting can be applied at the scale of universities and other institutions. Speakers included Eric Miller and Kiona Lo (York University), Hemanthi Ranasinghe, Ph.D. (University of Sri Jayewardenepura), and moderated by Peri Dworatzek. The webinar aimed to share research findings and discuss the application of these measures at the institutional level. Visit the IEFLL YouTube channel for more of their webinar events.

Renowned feminist scholar and activist, Dr. Silvia Federici, gave a public lecture this April on Women, war and social reproduction. In her talk, Federici argued that women play a major role in the reconstruction of the community and the struggle for a different world. A world-renowned feminist intellectual and longtime activist, teacher, and writer, she was one of the founders of the International Feminist Collective, the organization that launched the Campaign for Wages for Housework in the US and abroad. She is the author of many essays on political philosophy, feminist theory, cultural studies, and education. She is Emerita Professor of Political Philosophy and International Studies at Hofstra University (Hempstead, New York). The lecture, for which she was joined by EUC professor Anna Zalik and graduate students Farida Rady and Christoppher Sorios, is part of the International Political Ecology and Economy Summer School in 2025 on Coloniality and the War on Social Reproduction: A Feminist Perspective. The webinar is now available for viewing on the EUC YouTube Channel.

EUC in the Media

Ilan Kapoor published an article in The Loop titled “ The quiet power of energy dependence”. The article explores how fossil fuels continue to shape global geopolitics, arguing that states increasingly exert power through energy markets rather than military force. Kapoor uses examples such as the Strait of Hormuz and Russia’s gas supply cuts to Europe to show how control over energy flows creates strategic leverage.

Kapoor emphasizes that energy dependence generates structural vulnerabilities, allowing countries to influence global prices, economic stability, and political outcomes, making it a powerful but often less visible tool of international power.

Abidin Kusno was featured in an article in Interdependence Magazine titled Building Ideas from the Middle. The article explores Kusno’s work on urbanism in Jakarta, focusing on how cities are shaped by decentralization, informality, and shifting power structures in the post-Suharto era. Drawing from Kusno’s ideas, the piece introduces the concept of the “middle” as a critical space between state authority and marginal communities, where social, political, and spatial practices are constantly negotiated. It highlights how collectives like Gudskul operate within this “middle,” using informal networks, shared spaces, and alternative governance models to challenge traditional hierarchies and rethink urban life, politics, and knowledge production in rapidly changing cities.

Mark Winfield penned an article in The Energy Mix titled Could a New Nuclear Reactor Double or Triple Electricity Rates in New Brunswick? In this article, Winfield examines the economic and policy implications of building a new large-scale nuclear reactor in New Brunswick, emphasizing the high capital costs, financial risks, and long-term impacts on electricity systems. He notes that based on recent nuclear projects, construction costs could reach $15 to $26 billion, and if passed on to consumers, electricity rates could double or even triple.

Winfield highlights that such investments could significantly strain provincial finances, increase utility debt, and concentrate risk in a single large project, raising concerns about affordability, economic competitiveness, and the viability of this pathway for future energy planning.