Centre for Justice, Equity, and Sustainable Action (JESA)
Centre for Justice, Equity, and Sustainable Action (JESA)
Faculty Associate: Rita Dhungel
Funder: SSHRC Participatory Development Grant
This initiative, led by Principal Applicant Dr. Liza Lorenzettig at the University of Calgary, brings together post-secondary institutions and community-based organizations from Pakistan, Nepal, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the Philippines to explore men’s experiences of gender justice. Using participatory methods such as interviews, digital storytelling, intercultural exchanges, training sessions, and workshops, the project fosters dialogue and learning across diverse contexts. A Community of Practice has been established to guide discussions on collective responsibilities and commitments to advancing gender justice, grounded in anti-colonial and decolonizing frameworks.
Faculty Associate: Inaam Charaf
This project examines how an ethic of care can be embedded in library and information studies education through critical and care-centered pedagogy. Drawing on classroom assignments and teaching practice, it explores counter storytelling, class discussions, and practice as pedagogical approaches that prepare future information professional to cultivate inclusive, compassionate welcoming library spaces.
Faculty Associate: Rita Dhungel
Funder: Vancouver Foundation
This community engagement initiative has been launched in collaboration with PearlSpace and Archway, providing a platform for stakeholders working in anti-human trafficking in British Columbia, Canada, to engage in critical dialogues. Through this initiative, participants share their experiences, discuss challenges, and identify gaps in service provision related to human trafficking. The primary aim of this engagement is to inform the development of research questions and methodologies for a participatory action research proposal, ensuring that the research priorities and focus areas are grounded in the insights and needs identified through this collaborative community engagement process.
Faculty Associates: Geetanjali Gill & Rita Dhungel
Funder: New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF)
In this project, we are exploring the intersectional factors that lead to women's vulnerability to trafficking in 2 districts in Nepal. We are also identifying the challenges that women survivors face when they return and try to reintegrate into their communities in Nepal. We use visual arts-based methods to centre and amplify the voices, perspectives, and knowledge of women co-researchers.
Faculty/Research Associates: Geetanjali Gill, Catherine Liao, Karen Sharkey
Funder: Global Affairs Canada, Development Impact Window
In this 4-year development project, we aim to increase the realization of rights to gender-responsive and inclusive education, especially for girls and young women with disabilities, in 2 districts in Northern Sierra Leone. We contribute to this goal by: Improving the agency and abilities of girls, boys, and youth with disabilities, especially girls and young women, to access gender-responsive and inclusive resources, and challenge barriers to education, harmful gender norms, and stigma in targeted communities; and increasing support for the education and life skills of girls, boys, and youth with disabilities, especially girls and young women, amongst families and communities in targeted communities and Canadian organizations.
Faculty Associate: Rita Dhungel
Funder: Insight Development Grant
Using narrative inquiry, the study aims to critically understand the experiences of skilled immigrants living in Mainland British Columbia. The first phase of the study, a systematic literature review, has been completed. We are currently in the process of gathering and analyzing data simultaneously.
Faculty Associate: Geetanjali Gill
Funder: SSHRC Partnership Grant
In this 5-year project, I will be using visual and arts-based methods to explore the perceptions and experiences of youth in Sierra Leone concerning gender transformative change, and the role of Sierra Leonean youth as changemakers and advocates for greater equity and inclusion in their communities and schools.
Faculty/Research Associates: Geetanjali Gill & Catherine Liao
Funder: New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF)
In this 4-year participatory action research project, we explore the vulnerabilities of individuals and groups in Bangladesh to climate change. We use visual and arts-based methods with approximately 50 co-researchers from 4 locations in Bangladesh. Co-researchers also plan and carry out mitigation and adaptation measures in their communities, and advocate with relevant stakeholders in and outside of Bangladesh.
Faculty/Research Associates: Geetanjali Gill and Catherine Liao in partnership with the University of Allied Health & Sciences, Ghana and Right to Play, Ghana
Funder: International Development and Research Centre, Canada
Adolescents and youth in Ghana’s Upper East Region face limited access to accurate sexual and reproductive health information and services, contributing to high rates of adolescent pregnancy, child marriage, and gender-based violence (GBV). These challenges disproportionately impact girls and young women, undermining their ability to make informed decisions about their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Additionally, there remains a lack of clarity and consistency regarding the implementation of Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) in school settings, particularly around culturally responsive and age-appropriate pedagogical approaches.
Faculty Associate: Tannaz Zargarian
Through spatial intersectionality, we explore how multiply marginalized university students navigate spatial belonging within university institutions. Using narrative inquiry, we examined how these individuals negotiate and navigate belonging across different spaces in higher education.
Project lead: Stefania Pizzirani
The trillion-dollar clothing sector is one of the greatest environmental challenges of our time, and the scale of this challenge is ever growing. This research aims to explore the challenges and opportunities for the sustainable clothing and textile waste management processes in Canada.
Faculty Associate: Rita Dhungel
Funder: SSHRC Explore Grant
This research project focused on identifying scholarly gaps in academic activities by examining the gender-based vulnerabilities of women affected by floods in the Madhesh region of Nepal. Two focus group discussions were conducted with flood-affected women to understand their experiences of gender-based violence.
Faculty Associate: Joy Enyinnaya
Funder: New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF)
This study uses a longitudinal approach to understand Punjabi international students experience after graduating from a post-secondary institution in BC. The study relies on degradation (amalgamation of education and migration) framework which highlights the ways international students use education as a pathway to migrate to other countries. This study is designed as a multiple case study.
Faculty Associates: Brianna Strumm & Amea Wilbur
Funder: SSHRC Explore Grant
This research explores the integration of trauma-informed and care-based pedagogies within British Columbia's (B.C.’s) post-secondary education landscape, responding to the high prevalence of trauma exposure among students. Phase one of the study focused on the perspectives of 12 instructors across six institutions in B.C., investigating how instructors attempt to mitigate learning barriers for traumatized students. Phase two shifted the focus to learners’ perspectives, utilizing photovoice methodology to document the experiences of 14 undergraduate students. The combined results provide practical and actionable recommendations for institutional policy changes, fostering responsive learning environments that prioritize equity, empathy, and the well-being of all learners.
Faculty Associates: Rita Dhungel
Funder: SSHRC Explore Grant
The conference, scheduled for February 12-13 in Kathmandu, Nepal, convened academics, practitioners, researchers, activists, and community stakeholders to engage in a knowledge exchange on gender justice and transformative masculinity while exploring potential avenues for collaboration in research and community-building opportunities.
Faculty Associates: Brianna Strumm & Amea Wilbur
This project engages with and brings local newcomer women together, and highlights photos that are taken by participants which express their perceptions of both belonging and exclusion in Canada. These photos stimulate dialogue and understanding of what it means to be a newcomer in BC, as well as what resources are needed for those who are settling here.
Project leads: Dr. Geetanjali Gill & Catherine Liao
A collaborative project between UFV and the Albinism Royal Foundation focuses on empowering women and girls with albinism in Sierra Leone, Africa. These women and girls, who experience marginalization and stigmatization, will be empowered to be leaders, role models, and advocates for the rights of persons with albinism and gender equality.
Project team: Jeffrey Orr & Jessica Price
This exploratory research project seeks to find ways to strengthen the existing services of the Archway Food Bank and identify innovative ways by which the Food Bank can expand its services into new areas in support of its clientele, and other groups such as the Indigenous community, new Canadians, temporary residents, international students, and refugees.
Project leads: Dr. Geetanjali Gill & Right to Play
Funder: New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF)
This collaborative project, between the UFV and the international development non-governmental organization (NGO) Right To Play, examines the effectiveness and impacts of innovative community- and youth-led approaches to collect and analyze qualitative data in Mali and Senegal. Specifically, the research project tests the use of innovative and participatory visual research methodologies such as photovoice, photo-journaling, digital storytelling, and drawing/mapping with adolescent girls and boys in Mali and Senegal.
Project lead: Dr. Hayli Millar