2023 Keynote Speakers
Dr. Jennifer C. Ingrey
Dr. Jennifer C. Ingrey is an instructor at the rank of Assistant Professor in the Teacher Education Program and the Masters of Professional Program at Western working in the areas of educational foundations, equity and social justice.
While her research interests centre around transgender studies, school spaces, and gendered subjectivities for young people, as well as writer reflexivity, her teaching interests extend into equity and social justice more broadly to include anti-homonormative, anti-racist, decolonizing, anti-classist, and disability studies informed curriculum for teacher candidates and graduate students. Her teaching experience at the research intensive and professional graduate levels has led her to highlight the degree to which unlearning and deconstruction can be uncomfortable, yet necessary, pursuits for students and herself. Disruptive pedagogies are productive as they make space for rethinking social norms that marginalize particular groups of people historically and systemically, which help students understand how to interpret the implications of oppression in schools and in wider contexts. Her goal through teaching is to support students to be able to provide authentic, effective and critically informed professional and research-based service.
Date
Monday, March 25th, 2024
Keynote Address
Title: When the research becomes impossible: How to persist in academia in uncertain times
Synopsis: Research is always about facing the unknown and trying to make inroads to secure knowledge, but what if that pursuit is complicated by unprecedented challenges?
Across disciplines, theoretical frameworks, and research goals, researchers and academics share a common struggle. The quest to remain relevant and to offer productive knowledge is at risk when the world of knowledge and the sanctity of the individual is at risk in these uncertain times. Faced with global crises around geo-politics, the environment, technology, and human rights violations, researchers must navigate their research field with care because the tools that have worked in the past may no longer serve. Some crises are abstract, and others are felt materially; nonetheless, to return to productivity, if not certainty, certain strategies and ways forward are necessary. Thinking of the reason for research, the people whose lives will be affected negatively without said research should motivate and incite our work. Re-thinking the crises of the world to consider how we can contribute to their diffusion is the new/old purpose for research(ers). This session will focus on one researcher’s journey and ask others to share from their own through a pseudo workshop engagement session that seeks cross-disciplinary and collective inspiration and strength.
Dr. Alana Butler
Dr. Alana Butler is an Assistant 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 is currently Principal Investigator on a 2019 Insight Development Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) for a study on post-secondary access for low-income youth. She is co-investigator on a number of projects funded by SSHRC including a 2022 Partnership Grant on Sub-Saharan African immigrants, a 2021 Partnership Engage Grant on the academic outcomes and well-being of foster children, and a 2021 Partnership Engage Grant on anti-oppressive, anti-racist pedagogy for secondary schools. Her scholarly work has been published in the Canadian Journal of Education, Gender and Education, and Canadian Ethnic Studies.
Date
Tuesday, March 26th, 2024
Keynote Address
Title: Researching Marginalized Youth Populations from Graduate School and Beyond
Synopsis: My interactive presentation will focus on how researchers can adopt a critical intersectional perspective when researching with marginalized populations. The challenges, ethical responsibilities, and opportunities related to marginalized populations will be shared. The importance of adopting an EDID approach will be discussed, followed by an exploration of my personal journey from graduate student researcher to emerging scholar.
