With the support of the Irving Oil Research Mentorship Award, this past summer, six StFX students explored topics in areas ranging from health care, to social justice, to safety in post-secondary sports.
Students Nicolette Basson, Andrea Morrish, Demarquis Ross, Renee Papp, Rodrigo Paradela Guerrero and Alyssa Spridgeon each received the award – which includes an $8,000 research grant and 14 weeks of employment at StFX – expanding their knowledge and skills this summer under the mentorship of a StFX faculty member.
“We’re grateful for the support of Irving Oil and the company’s commitment to supporting students and inspiring the next generation of leaders,” says StFX Director of Development Wendy Langley.
INVESTIGATING HEALTH IN CANADA
“This opportunity means so much to me! It has given me the opportunity to pursue research in my undergraduate degree, which is rare in many schools, and allowed me to advance in my research techniques, and communication skills all while investigating health in Canada. It was an incredible experience, and I am beyond grateful for it,” says Andrea Morrish, a third year honours BASc in Health student from Red Deer, AB.
She worked with her supervisor Dr. Derrick Lee on research related to alcohol consumption and metabolism, our genes, and their potential impact of colorectal cancer risk.
Andrea Moorish
Ms. Morrish says the experience will help her strive in her future career in medicine and as she finishes her degree at StFX. “It also gave me a better understanding of health and illness and the effects that colorectal cancer has on Canadians, especially in Atlantic regions,” she says.
“Overall it was an incredible experience. Research is a fantastic way to learn important transferrable skills and expand your knowledge in whatever field you’re interested in, I would highly recommend it to anyone who is curious about pursuing it!”
GREATLY BENEFIT ACADEMIC JOURNEY
Renee Papp, a third year honours English student from Ottawa, ON, says she is extremely grateful for the opportunity. “To be chosen and recognized for the hard work I have done is a great feeling and has helped me a lot with feeling more confident in my academic capabilities. Also, to be able to work one-on-one with a professor for the whole summer and to build a strong relationship with her has been something I never thought I would be able to do. It means a lot to me to have been given this opportunity this summer.”
Ms. Papp, who is supervised by Dr. Kailin Wright, researched sexual violence in Canadian literature.
“I was interested in looking at how sexual violence is represented in fiction and especially survivors’ responses to sexual violence. I was also interested in considering important factors such as race, class, gender, and sexual orientation to explore how these contribute to an understanding of sexual violence,” she says.
“I think this experience will benefit my academic journey greatly. The time that I have spent on research, reading, and writing will help me moving into my third and fourth years immensely. I have also learnt so much about time management and self-sufficiency that will help me when I’m writing my honours thesis in fourth year.”
What stands out about this experience is how it speaks to the benefits of going to a smaller school, she says. “Many of my friends and family go to larger universities and their professors barely know their names, but I just got the chance to work with my professor for a whole summer. To have the encouragement and support from a faculty advisor is a great feeling and opportunity that I would have never received anywhere else.”
SEXUAL VIOLENCE VICTIMIZATION IN USPORTS ATHLETES
This summer, Alyssa Spridgeon, a second year education student from Whitby, ON, supervised by Dr. Erin Austen, began conducting research examining the prevalence of sexual violence victimization amongst USports athletes.
“I will be surveying USports athletes across Canada to better understand the prevalence of sexual violence victimization within Canadian university athlete populations, alongside USports athletes' perceptions of sexual violence on campus and within a sporting context. In addition to exploring prevalence rates of victimization, I will also be exploring perpetrator profiles, i.e., was the perpetrator a coach, teammate, peer athlete, and the context of experiences of sexual violence, within a sporting context vs. other contexts, to examine the unique contexts in which USports athletes may be experiencing sexual violence,” she says.
Ms. Spridgeon also completed an honours psychology degree from StFX. Dr. Austen was her undergraduate degree supervisor.
“The opportunity to conduct research this summer, with the support of an Irving Oil Research Mentorship Award, has been invaluable! I have been granted the amazing opportunity to further hone my research skills under the supervision of my former undergraduate thesis supervisor, while also having the exciting opportunity to extend my own thesis findings,” she says.
Ms. Spridgeon says she is thrilled to further explore a research area she’s passionate about and hopes to contribute valuable knowledge to current literature that can be used to inform safe sport policies across USports.
“One of the findings within my undergraduate thesis was that female varsity athletes felt that they were at a significantly greater risk of experiencing sexual violence compared to non-athlete women. However, to date, there has been no research conducted exploring the prevalence of sexual violence victimization amongst USports athletes and the bulk of research in this area is situated in an American/NCAA context,” she says.
“The Irving Oil Research Mentorship Awards are such a valuable resource for supporting undergraduate researchers in contributing important knowledge to their respective fields under the supervision of dedicated faculty members. Without this opportunity, I would have been unable to dedicate the time required to conduct this study to the best of my abilities, due to the financial limitations that many students face in trying to pay for post-secondary studies and the rising cost of living.
“As a Visible @ X Coordinator who currently works on campus providing sexual violence prevention education and awareness, engaging with this topic in such depth has also been valuable in growing my own knowledge on how to call certain groups, like athletes, into conversations around sexual violence and better attend to their lives experiences and needs.”
MOVE FORWARD IN CAREER
Rodrigo Paradela Guerrero, a third year sociology honours student from Mexico City supervised by Dr. Jonathan Langdon and Dr. Wojciech Tokarz, conducted an autoethnographic exploration of their experience as an undergraduate research assistant to a participant action research (PAR) project. “It goes into the ways in which my transness and my struggle with depression impact my experience of undergraduate research assistantship as well as my understanding of PAR as a research method,” they say.
“This research award meant to me an amazing opportunity to move forward in my career by acquiring knowledge, experience, potentially a publication in my curriculum, more insight into academia, a sense of professional direction, and saving some money for my independence after university. This research project has provided me with a richer perspective of academia as a career path and a stronger sense of direction of where I can go with my degree. I got an opportunity to heal my relationship to academic labour and attained a deeper and more heartfelt appreciation of the work I do as a research assistant.”
They say they took on this project not as part of their thesis work or a subject, but as a personal challenge. “In this research I explored the benefits of mentorship opportunities such as this, so I got to reflect a lot about their value. I am so thankful with my supervisors for giving me the push I needed to take this on, and I’m very proud of myself for following through with it. This is definitely a memorable experience.
SCHOOL FOOD PROGRAM
Nicolette Basson of Red Deer, AB, who completed her studies in the Human Nutrition Department and is now starting the practicum component through StFX to become a registered dietitian, focused her research on the cost of implementing a school food program, specifically a pay-what-you-can program. She is supervised by Dr. Tracy Everitt.
“This is an important topic as nutrition is fundamental to the mental and physical development of children, as well Canada currently does not have a national school food program to support child nutrition,” she says.
Ms. Basson says the Irving Oil Research Mentorship Award allowed her to expand her skill set, increase her knowledge, and has supported her in her goal of becoming a well-rounded dietitian.
“Doing research has prepared me for my internship and my future career by enhancing my collaboration and interpersonal skills. I did this by connecting with other researchers through meetings where we exchanged ideas and provided feedback to one another. These are important skills for me to have as I will be working with a team of health care professionals or members of the community towards the common goal of providing health and nutritional support. When doing a literature review for my paper I also strengthened my ability to critically appraise literature which I will be relying on to identify evidence-based practices when supporting people with nutrition.”
She says building connections with other researchers and seeing the behind the scenes of research has given her a new appreciation of the field. “The experiences I have gained during my summer research will have a lifelong impact on me and my future capabilities as a dietitian.”
Demarquis Moss worked on the project, "Thinking with Jews and Thinking with Women: Intersections of Early Christian Othering" with supervisor Dr. Sara Parks. The project researches the relationship between white supremacism, anti-Judaism, and misogyny past and present.
