Throughout March, FGS will showcase short videos offering a glimpse of some of the exciting research taking place at 91��ɫ, welcoming graduate students the opportunity to talk about their journey, research, impact and future endeavours. From Indigenous knowledge, immersive 3D technology, and human rights to environmental sustainability, students address some of the most pressing issues in society and explain how their research contributes to a better understanding and creative solutions.

“The initiative of Knowledge Now has just begun to showcase the incredible diversity, relevance and impact of graduate students’ research and scholarships developed at 91��ɫ in the Faculty of Graduate Studies,” says Thomas Loebel, Dean and Associate Vice-Provost Graduate. “The audience is broadly public, and already we are receiving appreciative comments from prospective students, community members, and alumni about the students’ conversational, explanatory delivery of what has enormous complexity of research behind it.”

Some of the graduate scholars featured this year include Natilie Richer, a Socio-Legal Studies PhD student, who is also earning a diploma in Art History & Visual Culture. Richer’s project aims to decolonize sites of institutional power such as the museum and the gallery. Her research involves collaboration with Indigenous artists and a multimodal investigation including digital art creation, opening new possibilities for what it means to carry out research. “Through a collaborative engagement with Canadian Indigenous visual artists, I hope to gain insight into localized knowledges that will help to contextualize the cultural objects that will be used in our completely digital artistic outcome via SketchUp, a 3D modelling software,” says Richer. “In exploring the potential of the transgressive and emancipatory nature of Indigenous artistic representations, I hope to illustrate the need to draw more than text to demonstrate the ensuing necessity of grappling with the exhibitionary space including as comparable to or directly linked to sociolegal and the academic and their distinct ways of knowing and knowledge production… I hope to bring to my field new possibilities for questioning the ontological status of text and standard research practices to make way for the reimagining of traditional notions of what it means to carry out research.”

Balikisu Osman, an Environmental Studies PhD student, is focusing on food security for farming households in northern Ghana. Her data collected during an extended period of fieldwork reveal seasonal fluctuations in food access among these communities and inform policy responses. “We need proper investments in the rural food systems in ways that we can transform smallholder activities into profitable and productive ventures. My research is actually contributing to knowledge on food security and food security systems. It is also serving as a reference guide for development policy for governmental governance investment and for grassroots level awareness creation on food insecurity,” says Osman.

The 2022 Knowledge Now campaign will host events throughout the year, bringing scholars together to share ideas and perspectives about their research and how it is responding to societal needs. From video-recorded interviews to live panel discussions on pressing social issues and stories highlighting grad students, Knowledge Now presents a collection of new ideas and technologies in development and possibilities for a better future.

For more information about Knowledge Now and to discover more research projects by graduate students, please visit the Knowledge Now webpage, and/or connect with Anesa Albert (Associate Director of Communications, Recruitment & Digital Engagement) in FGS.

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Recent Interviews with our Graduate Scholars (2026)

Live Panels: From Knowledge to Action

Join us for our panel discussions which will bring together scholars tackling a common theme from multi-disciplinary perspectives. For the month of March, we have organized two live discussions; one focusing on the environment and the other social inequalities. Current students will share ideas and perspectives about how graduate research at 91��ɫ can respond to the societal need and the potential of engagement across disciplinary boundaries in generating critical innovative knowledge.

Explore Our Archives

Check out our news features which share research work and accomplishments of graduate faculty members, postdoctoral fellows and students. 

Knowledge Now: Grad Research @ 91��ɫ, presented by the Faculty of Graduate Studies, showcases 91��ɫ’s graduate scholars undertaking cutting-edge and socially engaged research. From video-recorded interviews and live panel discussions on pressing social issues, to stories highlighting 91��ɫ’s grad students, Knowledge Now presents a collection of new ideas and technologies in development and possibilities for a better future.

Watch Discover Grad Research @ 91��ɫ Videos – In short interviews, grad scholars from each of 91��ɫ’s 10 Faculties talk about their journey, research, impact and future plans. Representing diverse subjects including Indigenous knowledge, immersive 3D technology, human rights and environmental sustainability, students address some of the most pressing issues in our society and explain how their research contributes to a better understanding and creative solutions.

Join Live Panel Discussions: From Knowledge to Action – Join panel discussions that will bring together scholars tackling a common theme from multi-disciplinary perspectives. For the month of March, there will be two live discussions: one focusing on the environment and the other on social inequalities. Current students will share ideas and perspectives about how graduate research at 91��ɫ can respond to the societal need and the potential of engagement across disciplinary boundaries in generating critical innovative knowledge.

Wednesday, March 24 – Climate Action: The Roles of Research, 10:30 a.m. to 12 p.m.

Climate change is the greatest threat to life on our planet. This roundtable brings together three emerging researchers from a range of disciplines to discuss what it means to research the ways humans are transforming the planet now. Join in as we explore the difficulties we face along with some of the possible avenues for establishing a sustainable future.

Moderator: Mark Hayward, associate dean academic, Faculty of Graduate Studies

Tuesday, March 30 – Reducing Inequalities: An Urgent Call for Action, 3 to 4:30 p.m.

To advance social justice, graduate students at 91��ɫ are discovering new approaches to dismantling the ideologies which promote progress through disadvantage and the systemic (re)production of inequality. This panel, comprised of an educator, actor and disability advocate, will highlight some of the most pressing issues facing our society, while exploring how our researchers are taking action.

�Ѵǻ������ٴǰ�:��Thomas Loebel, Associate Vice-Provost Graduate, Graduate Studies, 91��ɫ

Visit the Knowledge Now webpage to learn how graduate scholars are creating a positive change today for a better tomorrow.