National Black-Affirming Research Methods Summer Institute

Gina Thésée holds a PhD in Education from the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), with a specialization in science education. Prior to this, she completed a Bachelor’s degree in Molecular Biology followed by graduate studies in Toxicology at the Université de Montréal. Her research interests generally focus on socially acute questions in secondary teacher education, in Canada and internationally. She works within the framework of critical social theories in education, particularly their dimensions related to critical pedagogy and critical epistemology. Through her research topics, which engage especially with the socio‑educational fields of feminism, anti‑racism, and anti‑colonialism, she aims to develop a field of study dedicated to transformative and emancipatory education.

She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at York University. She conducts research projects in English and in French in the fields of sociology of education, sociology of race and ethnicity, youth studies, and research methodology. More specifically, she focuses on school and postsecondary trajectories, policies and interventions, and qualitative research.

She is in an assistant professor at the Institute of Feminist and Gender Studies and the School of International Development and Global Studies of the University of Ottawa. Her research and teaching draw from anti-oppression and anti-racist education, Afro and Decolonial feminisms, and explore questions related to the gender and the politics of memory, migrations, citizenship, political violence and interdisciplinary methods.

She is an assistant professor at the School of Social Work at the Université de Montréal. Her research interests focus on emancipatory group intervention, non‑Western epistemologies in social work, group work within Black communities, and the role of religion and spirituality in social work practice.

Marcelo Paixão is an Associate Professor at The University of Texas at Austin. He is a faculty member at the African and African Diaspora Studies Department (AADS). Dr. Paixão is a Brazilian economist and holds a Ph.D. in Sociology (IUPERJ, Brazil). Before coming to Austin, he was a Professor of Economics at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) for 16 years, the same place where he majored. Between 2012 and 2013, he was a Visiting Professor at Princeton University, where he was a member of the Project on Ethnicity and Race in Latin America (PERLA).

Cecile earned her undergraduate degree in Human Ecology from the University of Manitoba, specializing in Family, Housing, and Communities. Additionally, she holds a Master's in City Planning, during which she co-developed a Comprehensive Community Housing Plan for an on-reserve First Nation. Cecile is also a graduate of the Doctor of Design Program in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape Architecture at the University of Calgary. During her program, she developed the first of its kind in Canada, the Black Housing Equity Framework (BHEF), to combat anti-Black systemic racism and advance Black inclusion in the housing and homelessness sector

She is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at Queen’s University. In 2015, she graduated with a Ph.D. in Education from Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. She joined Queen’s University in 2017 and currently teaches in the Bachelor of Education program as well as the Graduate Studies program. Her research interests include the academic achievement of low-socio economic students, race and schooling, equity and inclusion, and multicultural education.

She completed her doctoral studies in the Faculty of Education and a postdoctoral fellowship in the Faculty of Medicine at McGill University, exploring the culture of faculty development in medical education. Her primary areas of expertise are school, family, and community relations, and the social practices that shape Black children's schooling experiences in K -12 contexts.

She is an Assistant Professor at the McGill School of Social Work. Her research addresses anti-Black racism across sectors of education, health, and justice. Her doctoral research provided the first Quebec study to longitudinally describe the disparate service trajectory of Black children reported to the child welfare system.

He is a Full Professor in the School of Psychology, the Director of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Black Health and of the Vulnerability, Trauma, Resilience & Culture Research Laboratory (V-TRaC Lab). Dr. Cénat also holds the University of Ottawa Research Chair on Black health.

He is an assistant professor in Urban Studies at the Urbanization, Culture and Society Center of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique. His areas of interest bring together youth studies, critical race theory, and gender and sexuality studies. His work examines how the social construction of race, class, and gender shapes the life trajectories of residents in working‑class neighborhoods in contemporary cities.

She is an associate professor of urban education and the chair of the Leadership in Education Department at the University of Massachusetts Boston. In this position she teaches doctoral students pursuing degrees in urban education. Her scholarship explores the experiences of teachers and students of color. She is interested in policy and practice research questions lying at the nexus of the school experiences of students of color and their educational and life outcomes. Highlighting how racial, social, and cultural issues impact equitable educational opportunities and treatment of marginalized groups, she draws from critical theories, such as Black feminism and intersectionality to interrogate education policies, pedagogies, structures, and practices in urban schools, communities, and contexts.

She is an Full Professor at the University of Ottawa's Faculty of Health Sciences, School of Nursing. Dr Etowa completed her BSc. N and MN degrees from Dalhousie University and her PhD in Nursing at the University of Calgary. She completed a Canadian Health Services Research Foundation (CHSRF) Post-Doctoral Fellowship focusing on diversity within Canadian nursing at the University of Toronto and the University of Ottawa. 

He is the lead researcher for the Making Spaces Lab and an Associate Professor in the Department of Leadership, Higher and Adult Education at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, and Director (Interim) of the Transitional Year Programme at University of Toronto. His research explores education, health and the well-being of Black men, boys and queer youth in urban communities and schools.