I am pleased to inform the 91亚色 community that Beth Herbel-Eisenmann has been appointed dean of the Faculty of Education effective Jan. 1, 2027, following a national and international search process.

Herbel-Eisenmann joins 91亚色 from Michigan State University, a globally top-ranked Faculty of Education, where she is a Red Cedar Distinguished Professor in Teacher Education and director of the Program in Mathematics Education. She also holds a part-time appointment as a professor at the University of South-Eastern Norway.

Herbel-Eisenmann earned a PhD from Michigan State University in curriculum, teaching and educational policy, specializing in mathematics education and teacher education. She held prior faculty appointments at the University of Wyoming, the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto and Iowa State University before returning to Michigan State University in 2008.

Equity, power and voice sit at the centre of Herbel-Eisenmann's scholarship. Her research examines how language and discourse in mathematics classrooms and informal education spaces can reproduce or disrupt systems of privilege and oppression.

A distinctive feature of Herbel-Eisenmann's administrative leadership record is her service as a program officer at the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) from 2019 to 2022, where she managed large portfolios of grants, facilitated U.S. national workshops and contributed to internal policy and process improvements. Among her most notable achievements in this role was collaborating on a small team to co-design and launch the U.S. National Science Foundation's Racial Equity in STEM program, for which the team received the NSF Director's Award for Superior Accomplishment in 2022.

Herbel-Eisenmann is an internationally recognized and active scholar, with more than 100 peer-reviewed publications, including in many leading journals in mathematics education and education research. She has edited multiple books and journal special issues and contributed extensively to international research handbooks and professional resources for educators.

Her research has attracted more than US$12.5 million in funded research, including a prestigious NSF CAREER award, and focuses on equity, strengths-based pedagogies and community-engaged research.

 Through sustained partnerships with school boards and communities across Canada, the United States and Norway, she has led collaborative projects centred on Indigenous and newcomer education and advanced the integration of human rights principles into mathematics teacher education.

Her contributions have been recognized through numerous honours, including the 2023 Distinguished Scholar Award from the American Educational Research Association, the 2016 Journal of Research on Leadership Education Best Article Award and the 2010 Early Career Award from the Association of Mathematics Teacher Educators.

Her record of service reflects deep experience in mentoring and building inclusive cultures and extends to community engagement, including volunteering to facilitate a Youth Voice and Action Council at a local high school and serving on the board of directors and education committee for South Haven LGBTQ+ Advocacy. She has received awards from Michigan State University for her work as a mentor and community-engaged scholar.

I extend my thanks to the members of the search committee for their commitment and guidance throughout this process. I also thank Sarah Barrett for her leadership and service as interim dean of the Faculty of Education during this transition period.

Sincerely,

Lisa Philipps
Interim President and Vice-Chancellor

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鈥淐limate change is rapidly expanding habitats for ticks and mosquitoes across Canada, driving up rates of Lyme disease and introducing newer threats like anaplasmosis into regions where they weren't previously seen,鈥� says Tosato, who works through the Faculty of Science's Laboratory of Industrial and Applied Mathematics (LIAM).

As a result, researchers and public health officials are increasingly looking for ways to reduce tick populations and the diseases they spread.

One approach is the use of prescribed burns, also known as controlled fires. Previous research has shown they can reduce tick numbers, but whether those reductions translate into lower disease risk remains less clear. Researchers know less about how different fire regimes affect disease spread when accounting for the complex interactions between ticks, wildlife hosts and the pathogens they carry.

鈥淚f we want to predict disease risks down the line, we really need to understand how all these moving parts interact,鈥� says Tosato, whose previous work has evaluated different tick-control strategies such as acaricides and repellents.

Tosato and collaborator Kyeongah Nah, from the National Institute for Mathematical Sciences in South Korea, sought to address those questions. They wanted to better understand how controlled burns affect the spread of tick-borne diseases while accounting for factors that have received less attention in previous models, including the role of rodents and whether fire affects young and adult ticks differently.

, the study was supervised by Professor Jianhong Wu through the LIAM lab and used a mathematical model representing ticks, rodents and the diseases that can spread between them. The model simulated how tick populations change over time, how they interact with rodents and how infections move through those populations. It also distinguished between infected and uninfected ticks and rodents, allowing the team to track transmission under different conditions.

The researchers then introduced fire as a variable, simulating prescribed burns with different frequencies and effectiveness levels. This allowed them to test a wide range of hypothetical scenarios, including how disease spread might change if burns occurred more or less frequently, or removed larger or smaller proportions of tick and rodent populations. By running thousands of simulations, the team could compare different fire-management approaches and their potential effect on disease risk.

Before evaluating the effectiveness of controlled burns, the simulation revealed several factors that play an outsized role in disease spread.

One practical finding was that not all ticks contribute equally to transmission. The researchers found that adult ticks and rodents played especially important roles in driving disease transmission. That suggests control strategies targeting those populations may have the greatest impact on limiting transmission.

The model also highlighted the importance of a lesser-understood transmission pathway known as co-feeding. This occurs when infected and uninfected ticks feed close together on the same animal, allowing disease to spread directly between the ticks even if the host itself is not infected. When the researchers incorporated this process into their modelling approach, disease became considerably harder to control. Infections persisted under conditions where they otherwise would have disappeared.

With those transmission dynamics established, the researchers examined how prescribed burns influence disease risk.

The simulations suggested that prescribed fire can substantially reduce the spread of tick-borne diseases, particularly when carried out regularly. The modelling also highlighted the importance of burn frequency. Relatively modest reductions in tick populations achieved through annual burns produced effects comparable to much more aggressive interventions carried out less often.

At the same time, the model suggested that completely eliminating tick populations would be difficult. Doing so would require highly effective burns at frequent intervals, conditions that may be impractical or potentially harmful to natural ecosystems. Instead, reducing disease risk may be a more realistic goal.

The researchers conclude that prescribed fire could serve as a flexible management tool that supports both ecosystem stewardship and public health goals. However, they caution that its effectiveness depends on factors such as local ecological conditions, the characteristics of the disease being targeted and how frequently burns are conducted.

The team also recommends further research examining how prescribed burns compare with other tick-control strategies, including repellents and acaricides, as well as how longer-term environmental changes caused by burning, such as shifts in vegetation cover and humidity, affect tick survival and disease transmission.

For Tosato, the study demonstrates the importance of understanding the connection between environmental change and disease risk.

鈥淚 hope it highlights how fire dynamics and land management can influence these systems, encouraging a broader perspective on how environmental changes and disease transmission connect,鈥� he says.

The work also underscores the role mathematics can play in addressing emerging public-health challenges. By simulating complex ecological interactions that are difficult to study directly, mathematical models can help researchers anticipate future risks and evaluate potential responses.

鈥淎s changing environmental conditions allow ticks and new pathogens to establish themselves in regions where they previously couldn't survive, a close collaboration between mathematics and public health is essential to generate actionable insights that allow us to stay ahead of emerging threats,鈥� Tosato says.

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For many Indigenous learners, choosing a post-secondary institution involves more than academics. A community of support, culturally responsive spaces and a sense of belonging can influence where students see themselves succeeding.

In partnership with Ontario Federation of Indigenous Friendship Centres, 91亚色's Office of Indigenous Initiatives, the five-day Indigenous Pathways Program helps aspiring Indigenous learners ages 18 and older build meaningful and intentional connections ahead of their academic journeys. The immersive experience introduces participants to 91亚色's academic offerings while connecting them to the University鈥檚 Indigenous-focused spaces, resources, supports, staff and faculty across its three campuses.

By helping learners feel welcomed, supported and able to envision a future at 91亚色, the program fosters belonging and helps build confidence, clarity and purpose leading up to the transition to post-secondary education. It also reflects a broader institutional commitment to Indigenous student success, says Holly LaForme, manager, Indigenous initiatives at 91亚色鈥檚 Division of Equity, People & Culture.

鈥淔or many Indigenous learners, education systems have not always felt safe, welcoming or full of possibility. Arriving at a large urban institution, often far from family, community and familiar supports, can feel overwhelming,鈥� says LaForme, who helped lead the IPP project. 鈥淎t the Centre for Indigenous Student Services, connection and community-building are foundational to the way we support student success. My hope is to bring a sense of care, familiarity and relationality to the university experience so Indigenous learners feel grounded as they adapt to a new environment, explore their identity and define their path forward.鈥�

Throughout the week, participants stayed in residence and engaged with faculty, staff, current students and alumni. In collaboration with the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, programming highlighted a range of academic pathways through experiences that included a session with Indigenous scholar, 91亚色 assistant professor and acclaimed author Jesse Thistle; workshops in creative writing and social work; hands-on engineering and AI activities at the ; career-focused programming at the , including an Indigenous alumni panel; and a visit to 91亚色's Markham Campus for a immersive day that concluded with a sacred fire.

For participant Sheena Kitchemokman, meeting other Indigenous students and learning about resources available at 91亚色 were key reasons for joining the program.

"The reason why I signed up for the Indigenous Pathways Program is to see what opportunities are available and to meet other Indigenous students who are going to 91亚色," she says.

That sense of connection is a central focus of the program, says LaForme. By introducing participants to Indigenous faculty, students, alumni and support staff, the program helps learners build relationships and gain a clearer understanding of what life at university can look like.

鈥淩ather than asking students to imagine whether they belong in a post-secondary environment, the program provides a meaningful way for participants to experience that community firsthand,鈥� says LaForme, who notes some learners travelled from northern communities to participate.

Those connections, she adds, extend beyond the classroom. Participants are introduced to Indigenous spaces across 91亚色鈥檚 campuses, including Skennen鈥檏贸:wa Gamig, an Indigenous support centre at 91亚色鈥檚 Keele Campus where Indigenous students can use the space for community and cultural connection. For Kitchemokman, it was a welcoming space that left a lasting impression.

"My favourite space on campus is the native student lounge," she says of Skennen鈥檏贸:wa Gamig. "It really does make me feel at home."

Finding this strong sense of community, as well as a clearer understanding of academic options, strengthened her confidence in choosing 91亚色 for her post-secondary studies. She describes one session she attended as inspiring, noting she had 鈥済oosebumps listening to the panel talk about their life experiences and education stories.鈥�

She says the program would benefit all Indigenous learners 鈥� especially those considering 91亚色.

"Coming to the Indigenous Pathways Program has convinced me that this is the right university for me because of all the love and support you get from faculty and student bodies," she says.

Although the Indigenous Pathways Program spans five days, its impact extends beyond a single week.

鈥淏y helping prospective students explore university life, connect with Indigenous community and experience the care and shared hopes offered by non-Indigenous allies, friends, peers and partners across the 91亚色 U community, the program creates meaningful pathways into post-secondary education,鈥� says LaForme.

鈥淏eing able to physically experience these spaces, build relationships and see oneself at 91亚色 is an important first step in making that future feel real, supported and full of possibility.鈥�

LaForme says the program, which ran July 27 to 31, has already encouraged some of the participants to apply.

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Yet, according to a by 91亚色 Associate Professor Kevin Lande, one of the mind's most familiar experiences remains a scientific mystery.

In a paper published in Psychological Review, Lande and co-author E.J. Green of Johns Hopkins University ask: "What role does mental imagery play in the mind?" They challenge a growing view that imagery is critical to much of perception and cognition.

Some contemporary theories propose that mental imagery is an ingredient of everything from memory and decision-making to perception. One argument, notes Lande, suggests what people perceive is often shaped by mental imagery.

For example, when part of an object is obscured from view, the brain automatically fills in the missing details 鈥� a process that a growing number of philosophers, psychologists and neuroscientists suggest is a form of mental imagery rather than direct perception.

"If most of our visual experiences involve some amount of 'filling in,' then much of what we seem to see is, in fact, imaged," says Lande.

However, as the concept of mental imagery is expanded to include a wider range of neural processes, Lande says it becomes more challenging to define a theory on mental imagery. The authors argue there is very little that connects ordinary experiences of mental imagery to the processes involved in filling in missing details.

鈥淢any want to say that visual imagery, for example, is just perceptual processing that does not depend directly on the light that hits the eye,鈥� Lande says. 鈥淚f that鈥檚 right, then it turns out that all sorts of things seem to require imagery. But when you look at the scientific research on these different processes, you find that they all function very differently.鈥�

To count 鈥渇illing in" as imagery, Lande says, one must adopt a really thin conception of imagery 鈥� which doesn鈥檛 help with making new predictions and explanations.

The study also draws on recent research on people with aphantasia 鈥� a condition in which people report little or no conscious mental imagery 鈥� which shows they often perform as well as people who experience vivid mental imagery. This evidence, notes Lande, challenges assumptions about the role imagery plays in everyday thinking and cognition.

For example, a person can navigate Toronto by vividly imagining a map in their head. But, they can also move across the city by following habits, remembering directions or using a feeling of familiarity without ever forming a clear mental picture. If this task can be achieved with roughly equal success and speed with or without mental imagery, researchers may struggle to understand the role it plays in cognition.

Lande and Green suggest that imagery is not a critical component of perception, but argue there is a deeper issue: science lacks a clear account of what exactly imagery is.

"As researchers attribute an ever-growing range of mental activities to imagery, the concept risks becoming too broad to explain anything clearly,鈥� says Lande, a philosopher at the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. 鈥淚f we define mental imagery so as to encompass a diverse range of experiences and cognitive processes, researchers may find it increasingly difficult to test theories about its role in the mind.

"However, if we try to tie our theory of imagery more close to our familiar conscious experiences, the puzzle of aphantasia suggest that it plays very little role in perception and cognition."

The study highlights the value of interdisciplinary approaches to studying the mind. Drawing on philosophy, psychology and cognitive science, the authors contend that questioning basic assumptions can lead to new insights into how the mind works.

Lande, who is a Connected Minds 91亚色 Research Chair in Philosophy of Representation, says the work is closely aligned with 91亚色鈥檚 Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA) program, and the $318-million Connected Minds research initiative led by 91亚色 and Queen鈥檚 universities which focuses on bridging intelligence, technology and society. He is also affiliated with 91亚色's Centre for Vision Research and the Centre for Integrative and Applied Neuroscience.

The paper concludes that researchers may need to rethink the concept of mental imagery to get a "better picture" of how perception, memory and cognition interact.

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Razieh (Neda) Salahandish, an assistant professor at the , is developing a wearable biosensor that uses sweat to track physiological changes in real time. The tool aims to redefine preventative health care, supporting earlier detection of health conditions.

To do this, the device uses technology that combines microfluidic systems with AI to analyze biomarkers found in sweat 鈥� a body fluid Salahandish says contains valuable information about human health. A small patch collects sweat from the skin, analyzes it for disease biomarkers, and sends results to health care practitioners anytime a patient scans the device with a specific app. 

"We believe sweat has the potential to become an important source of health data," says Salahandish. "Because it contains valuable biological information, our goal is to use that data to provide health insights in a way that is continuous, accessible and non-invasive." 

Unlike traditional diagnostic methods that often require blood samples or laboratory testing, wearable sweat-sensing technology offers a non-invasive approach to monitoring physiological changes as they occur. 

To advance the technology, Salahandish worked with 91亚色's YSpace and the IP Innovation Clinic to launch WearDOXX, a health technology company focused on developing biotechnology and AI-enabled health care devices. Through WearDOXX, Salahandish and her collaborators are working to translate years of research into commercially viable health technologies.聽

The project has attracted support from investors, industry partners and funding agencies as researchers work to bring the technology from the lab to everyday use. In 2025, the initiative received a $300,000 Ontario Centre of Innovation Collaborate 2 Commercialize grant and a $345,000 Mitacs Business Strategy Internship grant. 

The recent $5-million infusion from investors allows the work to move toward clinical validation and support continued technology development, testing and commercialization efforts. 

"The support we've received reflects growing interest in technologies that make health monitoring more accessible and proactive," says Salahandish. "Our focus now is to continue to build the evidence and infrastructure needed to for broader adoption." 

Over the next two years, Salahandish and her team will refine and test the technology, with plans to bring it to market soon after. While no launch date has been set, she is enthusiastic about its potential impact. 

鈥淭his is about giving people control over their health in ways we haven鈥檛 seen before,鈥� she says. 

Salahandish is also earning recognition for her work. She was recently named one of five finalists for the Ontario Centre of Innovation's 2026 Baylis Ontario Life Sciences Innovator Award, with the recipient to be announced in September. She is also the recipient the 2026 Young Woman Researcher in Biomedical Devices award from the Venus International Women Awards. 

With files from Deirdre Kelly

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Jean-Pierre, a faculty member in 91亚色's Department of Sociology, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, received the award for her article "Overlooked and underserved: How inclusive education oversights exclude Black students."

Published in the , the study investigates how the intersection of race and disability shapes educational experiences and access to support in Canadian schools.

The award recognizes the impact of research emerging from 91亚色 that advances understanding of equity, inclusion and educational access. By identifying barriers that can remain hidden within existing systems, the study offers evidence to inform policy and practice aimed at creating more equitable learning environments.

鈥淭his award highlights the importance of studying how race and disability intersect in educational settings,鈥� says Jean-Pierre. 鈥淏y drawing on the perspectives of students, caregivers and community members, we were able to identify ways that disability-related procedures can inadvertently limit access to learning opportunities for some Black students."

CACS award committee members noted in the announcement that Jean-Pierre's work "advances research in the field and will continue to be a meaningful reference point for curriculum scholars for years to come."

The study finds that policies intended to promote inclusion and equity do not always lead to equitable experiences for Black students, and participants described three recurring issues: incorrect use of Individual Program Plans (IPPs), limited support for mental health needs and inconsistent identification of learning disabilities and related accommodations.

Jean-Pierre suggests that school processes can unintentionally create barriers when racism and ableism are addressed separately, such as failing to follow-up with Black students' caregivers after an assessment to facilitate a student-family-school discussion to plan and implement accommodations.

This, she says, points to the need for closer alignment across inclusivity and equity resources.

The study calls for closer partnerships among schools and Black families, students and caregivers, along with more consistent identification of learning disabilities and implementation of accommodations. It also points to the need for teacher education and professional development that address how racism and ableism can shape educational experiences.

The award follows recognition from the Canadian Sociological Association, which awarded Jean-Pierre the 2025 Outstanding Service Award for her 鈥渆fforts to engage Black and/or Francophone faculty and students鈥� leading to the growth of the CSA.

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More than 1.5 billion people worldwide live with a hearing disability, a number projected to rise significantly in the coming decades as the workforce ages. Yet many workplaces remain poorly equipped to understand or address the challenges employees with hearing disabilities face every day.

Lyons of the researches hearing diversity and workplace inclusion. He also has lived experience with hearing disabilities and says many organizations continue to overlook an important reality.

"Hearing disabilities are often misunderstood and treated as a single, uniform experience. In fact, they are quite diverse," says Lyons.

When employers fail to recognize that variation, well-intentioned efforts to support workers can fall short.

"Without recognizing this diversity, this can lead to ineffective accommodations, communication barriers, stigma and missed opportunities for employees with hearing disabilities to contribute their skills and expertise."

Lyons wanted to draw attention to the reality that these workers do not all experience the workplace in the same way. To that end, he partnered with David Baldridge of Oregon State University, another researcher with lived experience of hearing disability and years of experience studying its effects on employment. Together, they authored a paper, now published in Organizational Dynamics, that explores hearing diversity in the workplace and outlines practical, research-informed strategies for creating more inclusive work environments.

To inform the paper, Lyons and Baldridge reviewed research from a range of disciplines, including hearing science, audiology, disability studies and human resource management. They combined those findings with their own work and lived experience to identify common themes across the literature, including workplace obstacles, barriers to inclusion and strategies shown to support communication.

The scholars identified a range of recurring obstacles, from difficult-to-follow meetings and noisy work environments to conversation breakdowns and reluctance to seek accommodations. They also found that hearing experiences are far more diverse than many people realize, with employees differing in their hearing experiences as well as the communication tools and strategies they rely on.

The review further highlighted how everyday activities can become hurdles. Meetings, telephone calls, conferences, social events, work travel and even hiring processes can present obstacles for employees with hearing disabilities. Hybrid meetings can be particularly difficult because participants may struggle to see and hear everyone clearly, while social gatherings often take place in noisy environments that make conversations harder to follow.

One finding that Lyons believes receives too little attention was feels does not receive enough attention: how much mental energy people with hearing disabilities often devote to following everyday conversations, and how frequently that burden is underestimated by both others and the individuals experiencing it.

"The extensive effort that goes into keeping up with everyday conversations can be invisible to others," Lyons says.

The researchers also drew a distinction between hearing and understanding. Employees with hearing disabilities may catch parts of a conversation while missing others, particularly in noisy settings. That can make it difficult for staff to know when important information has been missed or misunderstood, helping explain why everyday interactions can require so much mental effort.

But documenting those challenges was only part of what the researchers set out to do. Recognizing the diversity of hearing experiences, Lyons and Baldridge sought to provide practical, evidence-based guidance that organizations can adapt to individual workers鈥� needs and create more inclusive workplaces.

Among their recommendations is making accessibility part of everyday practice rather than treating it as a special accommodation. Simple measures such as enabling captions, sharing written agendas and meeting summaries, encouraging one person to speak at a time and reducing background noise can make interactions easier for many employees. The authors also stress the importance of regular conversations between managers and team members about communication needs, recognizing that hearing experiences can vary widely from person to person and even from day to day.

More broadly, the researchers advocate a layered approach that combines accessible workplace design, supportive management practices and appropriate technologies, including captioning services, remote microphones and sign-language interpretation where needed. While emerging tools such as AI-powered captioning and speech-to-text services offer new opportunities to improve accessibility, Lyons and Baldridge say technology alone is not enough. Meaningful progress, they argue, comes from recognizing hearing diversity and building accessibility into everyday workplace interactions.

"We hope this work helps organizations move beyond generic accommodations toward more individualized, inclusive practices, while empowering people with hearing disabilities to share their own experiences and advocate for their communication needs," Lyons says.

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Growing up in a small rural town in Quebec, Rivest was surrounded by French. Her parents were unilingual francophones and while she learned some English in school, she was far from fluent.

When she moved to Toronto to pursue graduate studies at 91亚色, Rivest immersed herself in English while working in a research lab and taking language classes. Although she eventually became bilingual, she remembers the challenges of studying and writing in a second language, an experience that now shapes her work as a neuropsychologist.

Those experiences now inform Rivest's efforts to ensure French-speaking Canadians have access to cognitive evaluations designed and validated for their language and cultural context.

One focus of that work is the Toronto Cognitive Assessment (TorCA), a tool used in specialized clinics across the Greater Toronto Area and elsewhere in English-speaking Canada to assess memory, language, attention and other cognitive functions.

Designed to bridge the gap between quick screening tests and lengthy neuropsychological evaluations, it can provide a detailed cognitive profile in less than an hour. The assessment also offers a more accessible alternative to comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations, which can take several hours, cost thousands of dollars and are often not covered by provincial health insurance plans.

Originally developed in English, the TorCA reflects a broader reality in cognitive assessment. Many widely used tools were created and standardized for predominantly English-language populations, leaving comparatively fewer options tailored to people whose first language is not English, including French-speaking Canadians.

For Rivest, who teaches at Glendon College, the issue goes beyond convenience. Many cognitive testing tools rely on verbal tasks, such as asking participants to name as many animals as possible or come up with words beginning with a particular letter within a limited period of time.

Even among people who speak English well, performance can differ depending on whether they are being assessed in their first or second language.

"I consider myself bilingual now," says Rivest. "But I'm definitely much better in French than in English to come up with words."

Determined to help address that imbalance, Rivest is leading an effort to adapt and validate a French Canadian version of the TorCA.

"It became obvious to me that, for fairness, francophone Canadians who have concerns about their cognitive state deserve to be measured with culturally and linguistically appropriate tools that are easily accessible," says Rivest.

Working with collaborators including former Glendon student Sara Raquel Ribeiro Manique and neuropsychologist M茅lanie Cohn, Rivest's team aims not simply to translate the testing tool, but to ensure it can be used reliably with francophone populations while maintaining the scientific rigour of the original English version.

Cognitive assessments must be carefully standardized to ensure they measure the same abilities regardless of who administers them. In many cases, a direct translation can inadvertently change the complexity of a task or introduce bias into the results.

One example involved a reading task that asks participants to pronounce words that are spelled differently than they sound aloud, such as colonel in English. Rather than translating the words directly, Rivest and her collaborators had to identify French equivalents with comparable familiarity, frequency of use and level of challenge.

Another challenge emerged in a picture-naming task. A melon in the English version could not simply be translated because French speakers are more likely to name specific types of melons rather than using the broader term. Researchers ultimately replaced the item with a different fruit that better preserved the intent of the evaluation.

After completing the French Canadian version, the team sought feedback from francophone neuropsychologists and made a series of refinements. While minor adjustments continue, Rivest says the assessment is now largely complete.

The project has now entered its next phase: collecting norms for the French Canadian version.

Rivest is recruiting French-speaking adults across Canada to build the reference dataset needed for future clinical use. To help ensure the sample reflects the diversity of Canada's francophone population, she has trained research assistants from Northern Ontario, Algeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to reach different communities across the country. The goal is to recruit approximately 300 participants.

Although the project has not yet reached the validation stage, Rivest says the early feedback has reinforced the need for language-appropriate assessment tools.

After testing about 30 Franco-Ontarians, she has heard a recurring observation from participants who had previously completed cognitive tests in English.

"Many of them have said, 'My family doctor gave me a similar test, but it was in English. I thought I had trouble, but now I see I'm fine,'" says Rivest. "It's very encouraging."

Rivest believes part of that response may be tied to familiarity and comfort.

"As people age and they have Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, everything from their earlier past becomes more comforting. They remember it better," says Rivest.

For many francophones, she explains, that means returning to the language they learned and used throughout childhood.

While researchers and clinicians, including collaborators at McGill University, are already expressing interest in the French Canadian version of the TorCA, Rivest hopes its impact will extend beyond major urban centres.

She thinks often of the small rural communities she grew up in, where many residents are unilingual francophones and access to specialized care can be limited.

"People in those little towns don't reach out for health care necessarily," says Rivest. "For me, it's making the tests available free, inexpensive to all francophone, including rural people, people that are far away."

"For me, it's helping the francophone community, particularly the people who would not normally reach out for those types of services, nor be offered them because it's just too complicated for them," she says.

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Remmel did not set out to be the co-author of a paper tracing more than three decades of forest fragmentation research.

Even when Sanjana Dutt, a PhD candidate at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Poland, first reached out seeking advice on her dissertation, co-authoring a paper was never part of the plan.

Dutt had come across Remmel's work on forest change analysis, landscape metrics and forest fragmentation, areas he has spent much of his career studying while developing new ways to map, quantify and compare changes in forest landscapes.

Seeking guidance for a section of her dissertation, she contacted him because of his expertise in the field and his extensive experience measuring and analyzing changes in forest landscapes. Dutt was looking for advice on how to organize and synthesize a large and growing body of research focused on forest fragmentation and the various techniques scientists use to analyze it.

The phenomenon occurs when large, continuous forests are broken into smaller, isolated patches, often because of roads, farming, resource extraction and development. As forests are divided, fewer areas remain deep within the forest, creating conditions that can affect wildlife habitat, biodiversity and ecosystem health. Because scientists and conservation planners rely on fragmentation research to understand those impacts and guide conservation efforts, accurately measuring fragmentation has become increasingly important.

Advances in satellite imaging potential, remote sensing algorithms, computing power and cloud-based analytical platforms have transformed how scientists study forests. Those developments have given scientists more ways than ever to assess fragmentation and track changes across landscapes, leading to a rapidly expanding body of research and analytical approaches.

Making sense of that increasingly complex landscape of methods was one of the reasons Dutt sought Remmel's advice. She wanted to better understand how the field's analytical techniques had developed over time, where they overlapped and how researchers could meaningfully evaluate their findings.

Remmel, meanwhile, saw value in how Dutt's aspirations would benefit not just her, but others.

鈥淟arge review and synthesis papers are useful ways to build visibility and benchmarks for burgeoning academics,鈥� he says.

Remmel, who teaches in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, says they exchanged numerous messages, worked together to refine the study's methodology and identified areas where additional research and context were needed. As the collaboration developed, so too did the scope of the project, eventually leading to Dutt asking Remmel to be co-author on a comprehensive review of how forest fragmentation research has evolved over the past three decades.

The resulting paper, , examines how scientists have measured and analyzed forest fragmentation over the past 35 years while identifying opportunities to make future research more consistent and useful for conservation decision-making.

Dutt conducted a systematic analysis of 138 studies published between 1990 and 2025, grouping them into 12 methodological categories ranging from traditional measures of forest patch size and shape to more recent approaches involving connectivity modelling, remote sensing, time-series analysis and three-dimensional forest mapping.

鈥淭he work identifies a long history of metric development that has evolved to consider many parameters that influence the quantification of forest fragmentation,鈥� says Remmel.

The review found that research has expanded dramatically over time as advances in satellite imagery, remote sensing and computing created new ways of studying forests. Yet scholars have not abandoned older approaches in favour of a single better method, instead continuing to build an increasingly complex toolbox of techniques.

This has created challenges, the authors say. Differences in scale, data, methodology and reporting can make fragmentation studies difficult to evaluate side by side, making it harder to tell whether results reflect genuine differences in forest conditions or simply different ways of measuring them.

鈥淭his is an important reminder that just inventing new tools does not necessarily solve problems,鈥� Remmel says, 鈥渂ut that figuring out how to apply and compare results consistently carries tremendous weight and benefit.鈥�

Consistent results matter because forest fragmentation research is not only theoretical. Investigators, conservation planners and policymakers use it to monitor environmental change, assess ecosystem health and guide management decisions. If methods are not clearly documented or results cannot be compared, it becomes harder to translate research into repeatable and actionable results.

As a result, the authors argue that future progress will depend less on developing new metrics and more on improving consistency and transparency through clearer reporting of how studies are conducted.

Remmel's hopes for what impact the work will have are rooted, in part, from the way it helped Dutt make sense of a complex and rapidly growing field.

鈥淪he was forced to think about broad timelines, developments and contributions, and how they fit into the bigger picture,鈥� he says, resulting in a structured starting point for researchers looking to understand the forest fragmentation literature. 鈥淭his certainly benefitted her but also makes some of this foundational literature review work less strenuous for others who will read this work later.鈥�

Remmel says that value extends beyond this particular project. As academic literature continues to grow, he believes there is benefit in periodically stepping back to assess the state of a field, identify key developments and help researchers understand how current knowledge has evolved. Reviews such as this one can help clarify where a field has come from, where it stands today and where opportunities for future research may exist.

There was also personal value in the project for Remmel. Looking back over the review, he realized that the earliest period it covers coincided with his own graduate training. Over the decades that followed, he built a career studying forest change, spatial metrics and landscape pattern dynamics, adapting alongside the field as new methods and technologies emerged.

鈥淭his is a paper that I could have written based on my experiences,鈥� he says.

Instead, Remmel says he is grateful to have contributed to a project that brought together decades of study while helping a new generation of scholars navigate the field.

鈥淚 am thrilled that not only did someone else take on this responsibility but that they reached out to me for involvement too,鈥� he says. 鈥淭his is the circle of academic life in action and that makes me tremendously humble and thankful.鈥�

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Patrick Abure (MA鈥�26), who graduated from the Development Studies (DVST) program, received the Canadian Association for the Study of International Development (CASID)  Institutional Membership Prize for his student essay Institutionalising Legitimacy: Gendered Gatekeeping, Women Refugee-Led Organisations, and the Limits of Localisation in Uganda.

The paper explores why women refugee-led organizations in Uganda are trusted by the communities they serve while continuing to face barriers to direct funding, partnerships and participation in decision-making processes.

Abure drew on interviews with leaders and community members served by three women refugee-led organizations in the Bidibidi and Imvepi refugee settlements, located in northwestern Uganda. His research examines how factors such as registration requirements, audits, reporting expectations, budgets, infrastructure, networks and gendered expectations can affect the recognition and support women refugee-led organizations receive.

鈥淩eceiving the CASID Institutional Membership Prize for my paper is a deeply meaningful honour,鈥� says Abure. 鈥淭his recognition affirms the importance of research that centres refugee knowledge, leadership, and lived experience, especially the work of women refugee leaders serving communities affected by humanitarian crises.鈥�

He hopes that more refugee-led research like his can help challenge assumptions about 鈥渨ho is seen as an expert, a leader and a legitimate actor in humanitarian response.鈥�

Valerie Lawson (MA鈥�25), also a graduate of DVST, received the 2026 Fraser Taylor Prize from the Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS), which recognizes the best graduate student paper presented at the previous CAAS conference and supports publication of the winning paper in the Canadian Journal of African Studies.

Lawson was awarded for her research, Health Care Access: An Analysis of the National Health Insurance Scheme in Accra, Ghana, which investigates how people enrolled in Ghana鈥檚 public health insurance program can still face out-of-pocket health-care costs and how those expenses affect health-care-seeking behaviour and financial well-being.

Through interviews with National Health Insurance Scheme subscribers, Lawson examines how systemic inefficiencies, coverage gaps and socioeconomic factors influence access to care and public trust in health-care systems. By situating these challenges within broader policy and political-economic contexts, her research contributes to discussions on universal health coverage and the impacts of health reforms across Africa.

Lawson鈥檚 work was supported by 91亚色 through the Dahdaleh Global Health Graduate Scholarship from the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research and the Greta Coger Travel Fund from the Harriet Tubman Institute. She also credits the Development Studies program for how it 鈥減layed a central role in shaping my academic foundation and professional direction.鈥�

鈥淭he program equipped me with a strong interdisciplinary understanding of global development grounded in equity, critical analysis and policy informed thinking,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hrough DVST, I developed essential skills in research, communication, coordination and stakeholder engagement.鈥�

Both Abure and Lawson were supervised by Associate Professor Mohamed Sesay from the Department of Social Science, who praises their recent recognitions, which will see their award-winning papers considered for publication in their respective associations' journals.

鈥淭heir achievements reflect the strength of graduate education and mentorship within the Development Studies program while demonstrating how 91亚色 researchers are contributing to conversations on refugee leadership, health equity and social justice鈥� says Sesay.

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