These honours celebrate academic excellence as well as the leadership, service and initiative that contribute to the school.

Presented to graduating students who have made an outstanding contribution during their time at Osgoode, the 10 juris doctor students selected from dozens of nominations for the 2026 Dean’s Gold Key Awards have enriched the academic journey and advanced student experience through community building, governance, advocacy and extracurricular leadership.

“One of Osgoode’s greatest strengths is our community. The Dean’s Gold Key Awards recognize students whose leadership, service and academic excellence have strengthened the Osgoode experience,” says Dean Trevor Farrow. “These graduates have set a standard for what it means to contribute meaningfully to a law school and to the profession. We are proud to celebrate their achievements and the leadership they will carry forward as Osgoode alumni.”

Ebun Akomolafe

Akomolafe has demonstrated exceptional leadership, integrity and a sustained impact on mooting, student governance and peer mentorship. An internationally accomplished mooter, she has earned top oralist honours and helped advance Osgoode teams at the highest levels while also strengthening the institution through structural reform, serving as the inaugural ethics officer of the Osgoode Mooting Society and later redesigning training programs to improve access, fairness and support for junior competitors.

She has been a steady leader in student governance and a deeply committed mentor, providing extensive one-on-one support during recruitment and transitions, often without recognition. She is noted for her principled judgment, even-handed leadership and quiet dedication.

Avery Cameron

Cameron is noted for exceptional leadership and a lasting impact on student mooting and mentorship. As president of the Osgoode Mooting Society, she expanded access to oral advocacy, guiding dozens of students and helped deliver some of the school’s most successful mooting years, including revitalizing Lerner’s Cup and sustaining Baby Gale and Cassels Cup when organizers or sponsors withdrew.

She devoted extensive time to coaching, brought senior judges to campus, and led the creation of a more ethical, student-centred mooting culture through new conduct and accountability frameworks. Nominators credit her with leaving Osgoode’s oral advocacy community stronger, more inclusive and better positioned for future generations.

Allessia Chiappetta

Nominated for sustained leadership and lasting contributions to student life, Chiappetta has served as president and co-president of the Intellectual Property Society of Osgoode and co-president of the Canadian Italian Association of Osgoode. She is noted for expanding leadership opportunities, launching cross-club collaborations and building programming that strengthens professional, academic and cultural engagement across the school.

Chiappetta has also distinguished herself academically and professionally through faculty research assistantships, advanced work in emerging areas of law, acquiring more than 140 hours of clinical service supporting under-resourced innovators, and success in mooting competitions. As an upper-year mentor and orientation leader, she has provided consistent, practical support to junior students.

Brandon Connor

Connor’s nomination is rooted in values-driven leadership and a broad impact on student life, equity and community care. As co-president of Osgoode OUTLaws, he led major fundraising and programming initiatives, expanded mentorship initiatives and panels supporting queer students navigating the legal profession.

His work as equity officer and Faculty Council Equality Committee member focused on embedding equity into institutional processes, including recruit-focused supports for equity-seeking students and advocacy for stronger student representation. Across clinical work, residence life, mentorship and governance, nominators emphasize that Connor consistently identified gaps in support and took concrete steps to address them.

Michael Conroy

Conroy was nominated for exceptional leadership, service and mentorship across clinical education, governance, scholarship and student life. He is noted for his extraordinary contributions to the CLASP–KPMG Tax Clinic, where he went beyond his role to secure significant relief for low-income clients and continued supporting cases after his formal commitments ended.

As a student leader, Conroy strengthened Osgoode’s mooting culture and tax law programming, helped sustain major competitions and improved fairness and continuity through institutional reforms. He also made lasting contributions through high-level academic research and publication, while consistently mentoring peers, junior students and incoming cohorts with generosity and care.

Elad Dekel

Dekel was nominated for behind-the-scenes leadership that materially improved student life, systems and access. As co-chair of Orientation Week and treasurer of the Legal and Literary Society, he modernized outdated processes, automated workflows, stabilized finances and introduced cost-saving initiatives, including a new financial management platform and at-cost student printing that saved thousands of dollars.

He also strengthened student programming through leadership roles in the Entertainment and Sports Law Association and extensive clinical and volunteer work, while consistently pursuing essential tasks that kept student life running smoothly.

Gabrielle Gonsalves

Gonsalves is recognized for her transformative contributions to equity and access within the law school community. As treasurer of the Black Law Students’ Association, she vastly expanded financial supports, growing the LSAT bursary program from three to 13 awards and establishing an emergency fund for Black-identifying students facing crisis.

She is widely recognized for her intensive, hands-on mentorship, providing academic, recruit and personal support to law and pre-law students, particularly those from underrepresented backgrounds. Across clinical work, student leadership and peer support, nominators emphasize that Gonsalves not only advocates for inclusion, but actively dismantles barriers and equips others to succeed.

Arianna Howse

Quiet leadership and a significant commitment to Indigenous student advocacy has earned Howse this award. From her first year onward, she has played a central role in the Osgoode Indigenous Students’ Association (OISA), serving as 1L representative, director of communications, and later co-chair, where she consistently acted as a bridge between cohorts, advanced student concerns and strengthened academic and community supports.

Her leadership contributed to record attendance at OISA events and record fundraising for Orange Shirt Day, while her mentorship of Indigenous students was sustained through co-leading training and transition sessions for incoming students. Her impact has been cumulative and enduring, marked by selfless service, careful mentorship and a measurable improvement in the Indigenous student experience at Osgoode.

Shivaansh Khanna

Khanna is recognized for leadership that enhanced student life, financial stability and community belonging. Through senior roles in student government and Orientation Week, he combined strategic planning with deep care for students, leading major initiatives that improved accessibility, inclusivity and long-term sustainability.

As a Legal and Literary Society representative, and later treasurer, he played a central role in restoring the society’s finances, eliminating a longstanding deficit through transparent decision-making and difficult but necessary reforms. Across governance, orientation and student programming, nominators describe Khanna as a calm, generous leader who mentors others and someone who takes on complex work without seeking recognition.

Jasmit Mander

Mander has demonstrated exceptional mentorship, principled leadership and a sustained commitment to equity and inclusion. As co-president of the Osgoode Sikh Students Association, he helped build a nationally connected student organization through mentorship programs, career panels, recruitment support and community outreach, while also amplifying student voices through council and strategic planning initiatives.

Through student governance, pro bono work and community leadership, Mander is described as someone who quietly expands access, builds confidence and walks alongside others without seeking recognition, leaving a lasting impact on the Osgoode community.

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The guide builds on the team’s 2025 study of programming and practices at children’s museums in Canada and the United States.

Farley says museum educators are navigating increasingly constrained environments when addressing equity, diversity, accessibility and inclusion with young audiences. Often, the idea of “childhood innocence” is cited as a reason to censor or downplay controversial and challenging ideas.

At the same time, Farley says, "children live within the social and political world, and are themselves subjects of and/or witnesses to injustices, violences and inequities."

She adds that the question then becomes "not how to protect them from difficult knowledge, but what it can mean to facilitate meaningful engagements.”

Farley and her colleagues, including York’s Gillian Parekh, associate professor of education and doctoral candidate Suad Ahmed, conducted the original study in partnership with the Association of Children’s Museums (ACM). Their research found that while many children’s museums focus on exploration, play or self-expression, addressing social and historical issues with young audiences were secondary.

However, they also found that this trend is changing.

“Museum programmers and educators are thinking carefully about how to better address topics that might conventionally be considered difficult for younger audiences,” Farley says. “We found a strong desire among educators for resources that can support their efforts to represent difficult knowledge in truthful ways, while also recognizing the unique considerations involved in working with children.”

The new reflection guide is a collection of resources chosen for their currency, relevance and accessibility. Articles, videos, strategies and frameworks provide questions, issues and/or examples of programming and practices that represent controversial, diverse and/or difficult knowledge.

For example, the Canadian Museum of Human Rights offers frameworks and strategies for addressing such topics as 2SLGBTQIA+ rights, war and genocide, systemic racism and wrongful convictions, while the Museum of Toronto suggests resources to help museums become good allies in learning from Canada’s Indigenous communities.

There are also curricula developed to teach children about topics such as Black history and life, and articles offering guidance about how to broach painful experiences, such as grief and loss, with children in an age-appropriate manner.

Farley hopes the reflection guide will support museum decision-makers, exhibition creators and educators to engage difficult knowledge while also opening possibilities for children to become new people in relation to the legacies they inherit. The content of the guide has been informed by the team’s research along with the participating children’s museums.

Farley, who is also a member of the LaMarsh Centre for Child & Youth Resources at York, says childhood is a theme that runs through all of her research.

The project reflects her broader commitment to research that engages directly with communities, she says, and her drive to understand how scholarly work can support educators traversing complex issues.

“I began my career doing individual research with child psychoanalysis to foreground a productive tension between emotional conflict and transformation. The psychoanalysis part hasn’t changed, but I have branched out to work in collaboration with childhood scholars in Canada and the United States, and in this particular project, expanded my scope to include a community partner,” she says. “I was excited to see where impact can happen in community, and specifically how the scholarly interests of our research team could serve museum educators in thinking about the significance of their work.”

With files from Elaine Smith

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Research led by �첥��Ƶ draws attention to inequities in Canada’s public health care system affecting immigrant and racialized families raising children on the autism spectrum.

Conducted by a team at York’s in partnership with the community organization SMILE Canada-Support Services, the research centres on the voices of family caregivers who are often overlooked in autism research or policy discussions despite facing disproportionate barriers to care.

The study, published in , investigates the lived experiences of caregivers from marginalized communities to understand the social determinants affecting access to care and autism-related services.

Findings show that fragmented systems, stigma and structural barriers create long-term strain for individuals and families in caregiving roles, highlighting the need for public health policy reform across Canada.

“Caregiving does not happen in isolation,” says Farah Ahmad, professor in the School of Health Policy and Management. “This research shows how families are navigating multiple systems at once – health care, education, immigration and social services – and how gaps in those systems directly affect family well‑being.”

Autism is a lifelong neurodevelopmental condition affecting approximately one in 50 children and youth, aged one to 17 years. While support needs vary, parents and family members often take on complex and ongoing responsibilities soon after diagnosis, including care coordination, advocacy and emotional, and financial assistance, Ahmad notes.

The researchers argue that when caregivers’ needs go unmet, the effects extend beyond individual families. Chronic stress, burnout and declining mental health among caregivers can influence service use, employment and long‑term health outcomes, making caregiving a pressing public health concern rather than a private challenge.

“When family caregivers are stretched to the limit, the impact shows up across systems,” says Ahmad. “Health and education policies need to recognize caregivers as central partners in care.”

The study collected data using PhotoVoice, a participatory research method that allowed participants to document their experiences through photographs and personal narratives.

Immigrant and racialized family caregivers took part in four in‑person sessions that included guided photo‑taking, group reflection and collaborative analysis. York researchers worked alongside caregivers to identify key themes and refine the findings, positioning participants as knowledge holders rather than research subjects.

“This approach aligns with our commitment to community‑engaged research,” Ahmad says. “It allowed caregivers to show, in concrete ways, what gaps look like in daily life.”

The PhotoVoice study was led by graduate student Jesse Sam, which contributed to his major research paper for his master’s in health policy and equity. The team also included Tareq Khalaf (doctoral student in health) and �����Ჹ�Բ��������ٳ󾱱�� (master's student in critical disability studies). 

The group identified seven interconnected themes that reflect the complexity of caregiving: family and child needs; physical and emotional burden on caregivers; school support gaps; stigma and discrimination; overall journey with barriers; transitions and uncertainty; and “two sides of a coin:” isolation and strength, loneliness and hope.

School systems were flagged as a major pressure point, requiring caregivers to spend significant time advocating for support. For families facing other obstacles, such as language and systemic, these challenges were compounded.

“What stood out was how persistent and layered these barriers were,” says Ahmad. “Families were not dealing with a single obstacle, but a series of interconnected challenges that accumulated over time.”

Participants also described racism and discrimination within health and social service systems, along with financial strain tied to therapy costs, lost work time and administrative burden.

The study calls for policy changes that would improve equity in autism support: coordinated, culturally responsive health and education systems that reduce administrative burden, address stigma and assist families across key transitions.

Those who participated in the PhotoVoice study reported feeling validated and empowered, and expressed interest in sharing the findings with broader audiences.

Ahmad notes that by positioning caregivers’ experiences as evidence, the research challenges policymakers and practitioners to rethink how autism care is delivered and who is included in decision‑making processes.

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The Mercator Fellowship is a competitive award that supports international research collaborations, allowing scholars to work with leading experts and research centres abroad. For Shivener, the fellowship connects him to an international project at the University of Konstanz: a Collaborative Research Centre (CRC) titled “Silence, Noise and Signal in Language.”

Funded by the German Research Foundation, the CRC brings together more than 25 academics across 17 multi-year projects to explore how silence and disruption impact communication in settings such as gaming, social media and institutional life.

The project is organized around three key concepts. “Noise” refers to anything that interferes with or complicates interactions – such as ambiguity, misunderstanding or conflicting cues. “Silence,” meanwhile, is not just the absence of communication, but can carry meaning depending on context. “Signal” refers to the message that emerges through – and is shaped by – these conditions.

Shivener’s path toward this international and interdisciplinary collaboration began in 2025, when he participated in the Ontario Baden-Württemberg Faculty Research Exchange – a program funded by the Ontario Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security. While conducting a pilot study on virtual reality and social deduction gaming at Konstanz, he was invited to review the CRC proposal.

His involvement was requested due to his ongoing research into how people create and interpret meaning in technologically mediated environments through writing and conversation. He has examined this topic in studies about emotional writing practices, virtual reality and digital games and through books such as Living Digital Media and Digital Literacies for Human Connection.

The Konstanz researchers saw a conceptual fit and went a step further than their invitation to review the proposal; they asked him to join the project as a collaborator, if it was funded.

Shivener, who teaches in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, was intrigued. He had observed in interviews how absence of noise can create space for participants to reflect and respond. In virtual or in-person social deduction games, focused on reading and influencing others, he had also seen how players use noise to redirect blame or build trust.

Shivener was also enthusiastic about the chance to work across disciplines and across countries. “International collaboration is a chance to meld our theories and methods in ways that simply don’t happen when you’re working within a single institution or tradition,” he says.

Now that the CRC has been approved and funded, Shivener has been appointed as a fellow through to 2029. He will contribute to the sub-project “Ambiguous Signals: Exploring Noise and Silence in Gaming.”

“Silence and noise are powerful means of persuasion. They also function differently depending on the context,” explains Shivener. His work will focus on both analog and digital games as sites for exploring how those elements influence communication.

For example, in the video game Among Us, players take hidden roles on a spaceship. They try to identify who is sabotaging the crew while keeping their own role secret. In this kind of game, players use silence, misleading statements and other cues to influence others and interpret intentions, showing how noise and silence carry meaning and affect interactions. Synchronized video recordings and close observation of people playing will be used in the research inquiry to see how these elements emerge, are interpreted and influence the flow of play.

Insights from his work will feed into the broader goals of the CRC, and help researchers understand how silence, noise and signal operate in other social context – from online discussions and social media to workplace and institutional communication. In these settings, ambiguity and interpretation similarly affect human interaction.

Therein lies the impact Shivener hopes his work – and the CRC’s – may have over the next years on a broader level.

“The results of studying social deduction games, for example, have relevance to understanding how we speak and write to each other in times of political and interpersonal conflict,” he says. “I hope that we can call further attention to the problems and affordances of silence and noise across everyday situations.”

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As part of the recent Memorandum of Understanding signed by �첥��Ƶ and the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation (MCFN), the three acknowledgements are considered a meaningful gift to guide how the University recognizes and honours the caretakers of the lands on which its campuses are located.

“These statements reflect the spirit of relationship building that guided this work,” says Audrey Rochette, assistant vice-president of Indigenous Initiatives. “This gift from the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nations centres community voices and the history as they want it reflected. When you hear the phrase 'Nothing about us without us,' this is an example of that."

The new acknowledgements replace previous versions used to open events, meetings and gatherings, as well as those incorporated into written materials, learning environments and University communications. 

The three versions – also available in French – include a statement for Keele and Glendon campuses, a second version for Markham Campus, a third statement representing all York locations across the Greater Toronto Area. 

York community members are encouraged to begin using the new statements in all relevant University contexts, including updating email signatures for faculty and staff. 

To help ensure consistent and appropriate use, Indigenous Initiatives�����Ի����ٳ����Division of Equity, People & Culture have developed protocols and supporting materials that outline the purpose of the statements, identify who should deliver them and offer guidance on their application.

These resources are available on a new webpage that serves as a hub for all land acknowledgement materials. The site provides the full official land acknowledgments, pronunciation examples, usage guidelines, instructions for updating email signatures – also found on York's brand webpage – and additional information to support the community in understanding and incorporating the MCFN-authored wording into daily practice. 

“Land acknowledgements are living documents. By using these new statements with care and intention, our community can now honour the work the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation invested in developing them,” says Parissa Safai, interim vice-president, Equity, People and Culture. “They reflect the partnership at the heart of our renewed MOU and our shared commitment to respectful engagement and stewardship of the territories upon which York is situated.”

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In 2017, Schwartz sat down to write a letter to Cragg, aware that his mentor, colleague and friend’s passing was near.

“I am sending this note to make sure that you are aware of the major impact you have had on my life,” Schwartz began, before telling Cragg – a widely respected scholar of business ethics who served at �첥��Ƶ from 1992 to 2009 – how profoundly that support had changed him.

In his letter, he credited the PhD he completed under Cragg’s supervision, and the ethical approach to business education that still defines his own teaching at �첥��Ƶ today, to the guidance and encouragement he received.

He also shared memories of their time together – from travelling to Northern Ontario for early fieldwork to standing with Cragg atop Masada, the ancient mountaintop site overlooking the Dead Sea, on the day he would have convocated – to underscore the deep personal bond they formed working alongside each other.

Through the note, Schwartz sought to honour the professional and personal difference Cragg made in his life. Nearly a decade later, he has gone a step further by ensuring Cragg’s legacy is also documented through a new book, . "It seemed the most appropriate way to attempt to repay Wes,” says Schwartz, a faculty member at York's Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.

Edited by Schwartz, the book is a collection of influential academic articles and book chapters written or co‑written by Cragg over the course of his prolific career, which included more than 75 journal articles worldwide and 14 authored or edited books.

Those works reflect Cragg’s influential belief that business ethics should prioritize cooperation over competition and encompass not just actions but perception and character. At a time when many business schools embraced shareholder primacy, says Schwartz, Cragg argued that ethical decision‑making must balance people and profits – a perspective that helped establish him as a leading authority in the field.

His scholarship ranged widely – from stakeholder theory and human rights to corruption and environmental ethics – and included important work with Indigenous communities on issues such as informed consent and responsible resource development.

He lent that authority beyond academia, advising federal government departments and private‑sector organizations on complex ethical issues. He served as the inaugural George R. Gardiner Professor in Business Ethics at York's – the first designation of its kind in Canada – and led initiatives such as the Canadian Business Ethics Research Network and the Canadian chapter of Transparency International, helping to advance corporate social responsibility nationally and internationally.

To navigate the breadth of Cragg’s career, Schwartz approached the selection process with some key principles. “The primary criterion was to include the very best of Wes’s articles and ones I believed he himself would have also wanted to include,” he says. Schwartz focused on pieces that addressed core business ethics themes, where Cragg was the sole or lead author, and that together offered a broad representation of the issues explored throughout his career. Several pieces also reflect Cragg’s collaborative work with fellow York scholars, including Alan Greenbaum, Ian Greene, Dirk Matten and Schwartz.

Schwartz’s work on the book was helped too by his own extensive career, having authored seven books on business ethics and earning recognition as the most productive business ethics researcher in Canada – and 14th in the world – in a study published in the Journal of Business Ethics (2010).

Schwartz hopes the book will offer insight into Cragg’s thinking or highlight the scope of his contributions. “Wes was a very deep thinker, and his writings provide distinct perspectives on business ethics,” says Schwartz. “I hope that readers find Wes’s work interesting, intriguing, thought‑provoking, unique, noteworthy and useful.

“Wes always had high standards, which only pushed me to try to work harder,” says Schwartz. "I can only hope that he would have appreciated my efforts to memorialize his academic career."

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A led by health studies undergraduate student Nastaran Ghanbari and Professor Dennis Raphael explores how historical political art can deepen learning about health equity and social justice, and highlights why addressing these systems matter.

To do this, Ghanbari and Raphael presented drawings by German artist George Grosz to �첥��Ƶ health studies students and alumni and recorded their responses. The art, created during the Weimar Republic in the 1920s, strongly criticizes poverty, inequality and capitalism by depicting exploitation and hardship.

Participants were asked to consider whether the scenes and messages felt relevant to contemporary Canadian society. Many found that they did, says Ghanbari.

“Participants described the images as engaging but also unsettling,” says Ghanbari, first author for the study published in Medical Humanities. “More importantly, they said the drawing reflected realities they recognize in their own lives and communities including rising inequality, insecure work, barriers to accessing basic needs and the sharp contrast of hardships experienced across social classes.”

Several themes emerged repeatedly from students’ interpretations of the art: class relations, health effects of poor living and working conditions, the limitations of charity and the difficulty of achieving meaningful social change.

“For students, seeing these issues portrayed visually helped reinforce ideas they encounter in coursework, but in a more immediate and emotional way,” says Raphael. “The drawings made abstract concepts such as ‘social determinants of health’ feel concrete and personal.”

Raphael says although Grosz’s art was created in response to economic and political conditions of Weimar-era Germany, the drawings raised questions that students felt were still unresolved.

Grosz’s art shows how inequality, power and class structure daily life and how those structures can influence health outcomes over time, say Raphael. Low wages and housing insecurity, for instance, limit people’s ability to stay healthy.

The research project helped students consider how policies, labour conditions and wealth distribution are factors influencing health outcomes.

Students also reported potential for arts-based approaches as a tool for mobilizing students, health care workers and the public to advocate for action that addresses inequities.

This, he says, is an example of how arts and humanities play a crucial role in health education. Through images, stories, history and discussion, students see how well-being is not just about personal behaviour, but is a result of larger systemic forces.

“The findings from this research reinforce the idea that understanding health inequities requires more than data and policy analysis alone,” says Raphael. “For York students preparing to work in policy and community settings, the ability to recognize these patterns is essential.”

The study follows up on from Raphael and health policy MA alumna Eberechukwu Akadinma, which also examined the relevance of Grosz’s work for promoting social justice and health equity in contemporary society.

Together, the two studies contribute to a growing body of research showing how humanities‑based approaches can strengthen health education.

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Launched following the COVID‑19 pandemic through �첥��Ƶ’s Catalyzing Interdisciplinary Research Clusters program, the group brought together Black scholars from five Faculties to study structural inequalities that influence how Black communities experience and recover from epidemics.

From the outset, members knew the work would require a differently approach to fulfill a key goal: collaborating and centring the lived experiences and resilience strategies of Black populations.

“We were clear from the start that we had to depart from traditional means of doing research that tend to be extractive,” says Sylvia Bawa, associate professor of sociology and co‑principal investigator. Research in marginalized communities, she explains, often involves collecting data without collaboration or returning findings in accessible ways.

Jeffrey Squire, an instructor in the Department of Social Science and co-principal investigator, notes this top‑down approach is common in academia. “We undertake research that affects the lives of a community, but often their input is limited,” he says. “We wanted to incorporate those voices.”

Cluster members began by meeting with local organizations, including Toronto’s Black Creek Community Health Centre, to discuss research opportunities. Rather than arriving with a fixed agenda, researchers outlined their goals transparently and asked, “What would make sense for you as a partner in knowledge creation?” Those discussions led to more in-depth engagement through town halls with the broader communities, ensuring priorities reflected lived concerns.

At a public town hall in the Jane and Finch neighbourhood, residents spoke candidly about challenges – from vaccine hesitancy to unequal access to care – and emphasized that inquiry should reflect real, everyday priorities. This reinforced that meaningful research requires listening first and allowing community concerns to shape questions, methods and outcomes.

The cluster extended its approach internationally, connecting with think tanks, advocacy organizations and local health groups across six African countries, including Sierra Leone, Ghana, Nigeria and Uganda. These partnerships were central to its transnational mandate: to link Black communities in Canada and Africa for knowledge sharing on how epidemics are experienced and managed in different social and health contexts.

Early conversations revealed a common concern that partners valued collaboration on data collection but wanted supporting research. “Many of those groups talked about the fact that conducting research was important because the data was helpful for them, but they also wanted research that would be helpful for their work – not necessarily research questions that would be helpful only to us,” Bawa recalls. In response, the cluster created small internal grants for co‑developed projects and committed to shared authorship, ensuring collaborators were involved in producing publications and other knowledge outputs.

Three years into its efforts, the initiative has now entered what Bawa describes as its “research dissemination phase.”

Findings will be published, such as a forthcoming open‑access paper co‑written with Black women leaders in the Greater Toronto Area about guiding communities through the pandemic. It has also contributed to other research examining how the pandemic intersected with gender‑based violence in ways relevant to advocacy and intervention.

Impact on the community remains central, and Bawa stresses the importance of providing accessibility through open‑access venues and plain-language reporting. Published findings are structured so community partners can provide feedback, engage with findings and see their voices reflected.

Research is also shared through interactive forums to foster dialogue and bring together scholars and community partners to exchange insights and reflect on findings. Last fall, the Community Research Showcase and Gathering at York’s Keele Campus featured presentations of funded projects alongside community‑led reflections, with panels deliberately weighted toward community voices. African collaborators joined via Zoom, while local organizations, including Toronto Public Health and grassroots health groups, participated in person.

During the event, Bawa and Squire observed how meaningful the work – and the international engagement – has become. “There’s a real appetite for this kind of work,” Squire says, noting one participant in Africa logged in by generator after losing electricy and another found the session so valuable they stayed up until 2 a.m. local time.

The cluster plans to continue meeting that appetite. Members are translating findings into practical recommendations, organizing an academic-community panel for an upcoming Canadian Association of African Studies conference and planning public showcases focused on Canadian and African contexts to ensure ongoing transnational knowledge exchange.

These efforts of the cluster have real‑world stakes; since SARS in the early 2000s, major epidemics have emerged every few years, says Squire.

Now, with networks firmly in place across Canada and Africa, lessons learned through the cluster's work can travel faster and reach the contexts where they matter most when health crises emerge. “Through our research, through talking to people, through observing what is going on in communities and overseas, we are able to disseminate information that now will be very useful in addressing responses,” Squire says.

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Genomic Evidence for Precision Medicine for Selected Chronic Diseases Among Black Peoples in Canada – developed through collaboration with the Centre for Applied Genomics, at SickKids Hospital and McGill Genome Centre – is an effort to sequence the genomes of 10,000 Black Canadians to ensure equitable health care for an often-understudied population.

By sequencing the nucleotides that make up the participants’ DNA and RNA, researchers will gain a better understanding of how diseases affect Canada’s Black population and develop better precision medicines to target their conditions.

“We need to encourage these approaches for research, since medical studies often miss the racial diversity of health care recipients,” says James, a renowned sociologist with a research focus on race and ethnic relations. “In fact, we need to understand differences in all populations.”

The study is led by four prominent medical researchers: Upton Allen, division head at SickKids Hospital’s Infectious Diseases and professor at the University of Toronto; Loydie Jerome-Majewska, McGill University Department of Pediatrics professor and co-founder/program lead for the Canadian Black Scientists’ Network (CSBN); Juliet Daniel, McMaster University cell biologist and cancer researcher; and OmiSoore Dryden, professor in the Faculty of Medicine, Dalhousie University.

James’ contributions are rooted in his strengths in public education and work on the diversity of Black communities in Canada. He will work toward strengthening community outreach and participant recruitment, helping to ensure that diversity among Black community members is reflected in the project. Additionally, he will help disseminate findings to Black communities and assist in developing education programs based on those findings.

The invitiation to join the project aligns closely with James’ work, as he is finalizing the fifth edition of his seminal textbook, Seeing Ourselves: Exploring Race, Ethnicity and Culture, due out in October 2026.

In the textbook, he reminds students that reporting one’s race as Black or white, for example, does not tell us about their genetic makeup, because race as a social construct materializes in individuals’ lives in different ways. Researchers have found that race as “a biological marker” – and related experiences with stress based on trauma, discrimination and economic hardship – contribute to higher levels of inflammation and poor health, he writes.

At the project launch on Jan. 27, Jean Augustine volunteered to enrol in the study and expressed appreciation for James’ involvement, noting that programs like these advance community education and health, which speak to her vision for the holder of the endowed Chair in her name.

As the project unfolds, James says, “I want to make sure we pay attention to the heterogeneity within the Black community in Canada. For example, third-plus-generation Black Canadians are most likely to be of Caribbean descent, while most first- and second-generation Black Canadians are likely continental Africans. There are cultural and environmental differences that likely account for genetic differences.”

Once the 10,000 genomes are sequenced and the results analyzed, researchers will be able to offer medical professionals, researchers and Black community members more information on disease patterns. The new data can be used to inform health education programs, as well as health screening and treatment.

“The ultimate goal is to address some of the social disparities and gain cultural understanding and treatment and to improve Black health,” says James.

With files from Elaine Smith

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The certificate is designed to help grad students apply DEDIA principles to academic work, research, teaching and professional settings.

Co-created by the Centre for Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion (CHREI), the Faculty of Graduate Studies and the Teaching Commons, the program uses a mix of self-guided learning, workshops and applied practice.

The goal, says Cheryl van Daalen-Smith, associate dean academic, Faculty of Graduate Studies, is to strengthen students’ abilities to foster inclusive learning and working environments and to develop equity-focused leadership skills within higher education and beyond.

“This certificate will encourage graduate students and postdoctoral researchers to strengthen their scholarship while at York and provide career-ready insights for reflective and justice-oriented work,” says van Daalen-Smith.

Titled Graduate Student Certificate in Decolonization, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility, the certificate program is now accepting registrations. Oliver Martin, director of workplace restoration and culture at CHREI, says the learning opportunity reflects the University’s ongoing commitment to embed DEDIA principles into the everyday work of York graduate students. He also notes its timely launch, which takes place during the University’s Inclusion Week.

Structured to be flexible, students can earn the certificate in as little as one semester or spread out over three years. All required and optional learning activities are tracked through YU Learn and students who complete the requirements will earn a digital certificate.

Requirements include: a five-module self-paced DEDIA Self-Reflective Toolkit; the Do the Work: Dialogue Across Differences workshop; and two additional self-selected workshops focused on research, teaching, bystander intervention or responding to disclosures. The programming builds on core competencies in critical self-reflection, inclusive communication, trauma-informed practice, equity-focused research and community building.

Focusing on hands-on learning, the curriculum is designed to help graduate students stay grounded, communicate effectively and act with care during moments of conflict, tension and create opportunity for an equity-based approach. Participants, says van Daalen-Smith, will practice real-world skills that go beyond theory and apply across sectors and can equip students with career-ready insights and practices.

She notes the certificate was inspired by the FGS Council 2023 Nothing Less Than Justice roundtables, where members of the graduate community shared candid insights and recommendations to advance DEDIA within the graduate community.

Martin adds that earning this certification will help participants build confidence, accountability and develop people-centred skills – and engage at a pace that fits their needs.

“By offering flexibility and combining independent learning with applied, skill-based training, we are setting our graduate students up for success in integrating decolonizing, equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility into day-to-day practice,” says Martin.

Learn more about the DEDIA Graduate Certificate.

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