Meet The Team

Sitong Wang is a PhD student in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education. Her research focuses on exploring linguistic prejudice against multilingual writers in the academic writing context.

Renee Davy is a PhD student in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University. Her doctoral research explores how marginalised youth’s engagement with community writing and grassroots publishing can shape their social and academic identities.

Haiyi Yan, a dedicated Master's student specializing in Second Language Education at McGill University's Faculty of Education, holds an Hons. B.A. degree in Second Language Education from the University of Ottawa. His research interests span various dimensions, including Canadian English-French bilingual policy, the experiences of international students and new immigrants, higher education dynamics, language rights, and cultural inclusion. With a solid teaching background in elementary and secondary schools in the Ottawa area, Haiyi currently serves as a teaching assistant in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education (DISE). Simultaneously, he collaborates as a research assistant at Beijing Normal University in China, focusing on international comparative education and exploring the employment challenges faced by PhDs returning to China from overseas. In addition to these roles, Haiyi actively contributes to the academic community as the Senior Copyeditor for the Canadian Journal for New Scholars in Education (CJNSE / RCJCÉ) and serves as a reviewer for several reputable academic journals. His multifaceted involvement underscores his commitment to advancing scholarship and enriching the academic landscape.

Michelle Ly (she/her) is a Vietnamese first-gen immigrant and settler in the Turtles Islands. She is currently pursuing an MA in Counselling Psychology in pediatric sleep, and parents-child interactions and attachment. She has been awarded the J.A De Sève bourse and other academic scholarships, recognizing her passion for the field. Michelle is passionate about supporting vulnerable populations, (ie., older adults, children, and parents) especially in sleep and mental well-being. Her undergraduate thesis focused on older adults' neural oscillations during sleep and their relationship with memory performance. Community involvement is crucial to Michelle. She was a volunteer and training coordinator at a Sexual Violence support center. She also worked at the Vietnamese association in PEI, where she translated documents and supported immigrants in understanding their rights. Michelle is also a full-spectrum doula, and a reproductive rights advocate for People of the Global Majority. Finally, Michelle is a tutor in Psychology, and English for both high school students and undergraduate students in both Canada, and Vietnam.

Nicolas Poulin (He/Him), is a queer man, born in Montreal. He is a second-year master's student pursuing his degree in Educational Psychology. He previously studied at Concordia University, where he received a bachelor's degree in psychology, becoming a first-generation college graduate. His research interests center on gender socialization, suicide, disability accessibility, and the inclusion of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities into academia and educational settings. Thus far, his research experience has focused on masculinity, specifically how it is reinforced and the problematic manners in which it is categorized in research. He presented his work at both McGill’s “Out Loud Queer Voices in Research Symposium 2023” where he won the “Best Research Talk” award for the second day of presentations, and the Canadian Psychological Association’s “Preaching to the Choir: An International LGBTQ+ Psychology & Related Social Sciences Conference 2023”. Nicolas is passionate about accessibility and equality and recently completed work on his first film, which examined his experience living with disabilities as a graduate student. Outside of his work, he is an avid sports fan, passionately supporting his beloved Montreal Canadiens, Newcastle United, and All Elite Wrestling.

Azam is a graduate student in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education. Her education at McGill builds upon more than ten years of research, teaching and lecturing. From her master’s thesis in a top-ranking university in her country, Iran, to her graduate experience here at McGill, her research has traced the question of how effective knowledge is produced, validated, and communicated. Moreover, she explores the transformative potential of participatory, interactive learning in generating social capital, peace, and sustainable development, fostering connections across diverse cultures and ethnicities globally. With a commitment to scholarly excellence, she has successfully published and presented her work in peer-reviewed journals and conferences. As a participatory cultural lab fellow, she actively contributes as a research assistant to the SSHRC-funded participatory research initiative on Global Children’s Well-being, Ethics and Agency. Through her endeavours, she continues to make significant contributions to the intersection of education, cultural understanding, and global sustainable development and Ethics.

With an academic and work background in social work and education, Karen Andrews (she/her) is now a master’s student in the Education and Society program at the Department of Integrated Studies in Education (DISE) at McGill University. Karen has been a teacher in Ontario Public Schools for 18 years as an “ESL” and Special Education Teacher, a Student Support Teacher, and a classroom teacher for newcomers with emerging print literacy in their mother tongues in an English Literacy Development (ELD) classroom. She is fascinated with imagining how policies in Language Education in Ontario can support educators to engage in plurilingual pedagogies and remove barriers to the flow of learning and feelings of belonging for newcomer students from refugee backgrounds. Karen is currently a research assistant with the iMPACTS project, looking at how the media in Canada engages with best practices and guidelines for reporting on gendered violence, and in particular, sexual violence. She is also a research assistant in a participatory action research project, facilitating an editorial team of pre-service teachers and grad students engaging in a community publishing project to create a critical food pedagogy textbook for educators of plurilingual learners. She loves canoeing, reading, writing short stories, and spending with friends and family.

Shuya is an MA student in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education. Her research centers on language learning and teaching within multilingual settings. As both a language teacher and researcher, she strives to enhance the connection between research and teaching by adopting a developmental perspective.

Yunijia is pursuing a masters in Second Language Education in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education. Her research focuses on how English as a foreign language (EFL) teachers in non-western contexts perceive plurilingual approaches.

Martin Ako (He/Him) holds a B.Ed. and MPhil in Elementary Education from the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana and is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Educational Studies (Science & Mathematics Education) at the Department of Integrated Studies in Education (DISE), McGill University. His research focuses on Pedagogy, PLCs, Teacher Curriculum Knowledge, and STE(A)M Education. His current research in STE(A)M education explores the potential of supporting teachers to use gender-inclusive instructional strategies to enhance Girls' Participation in STEM Education. Martin is currently involved in several research projects related to teacher and student agency, interdisciplinary teaching and learning, and secondary mathematics pre-service teachers’ experiences in their teacher education programs. In his leisure time, Martin likes listening to music, working in the garden, or playing soccer.

Melissa-Ann Pereira Ledo (she/her/they) is of azorean settler background, is a proud queer mother, and is an educator/artist/researcher. She has over a decade of teaching and leadership experience in the Educational system, is a former Pedagogical Consultant for the English Montreal School Board, and co-founded the social enterprise and non-profit inPath. She has worked as part-time faculty for the Art Education department of Concordia University, consultant for Equitas’s Young Leaders for Equality LGBTI project in Haiti, and Consultant/ Director for the La Cabane. Her Masters work followed elementary teachers' creation and implementation of age-appropriate arts curriculum focused on Queering Curriculum, and she blossomed this work into a community initiative called Rainbow Story Hour. As a researcher her work focuses on curriculum development, queering curriculum, ideas of representation, community building amongst educators, and facilitating through the arts with a focus on how to best support marginalized youth. She has more recently held roles at McGill University as Research Assistant on Walking Alongside: Responsibilities and Redress in Quebec Teacher Education, Course Lecturer, and Teaching Assistant. She is currently a SSHRC funded PhD student in the DISE department, and the current title of her work is Representation Matters: Informing Schools on Becoming Human Rights Leaders Through the Transformative Power of Queer Teaching Artists. Ledo is also the Program Manager for exChange: An Intergenerational 2SLGBTQI+ Daring Dialogue Arts Project, Social Media Coordinator for QSEC, a mentor for Concordia’s Art Volt, and the Exhibition Coordinator for the EGSS’s 2024 Conference.

Wellysanè is a doctoral student in Educational Studies here at McGill University. Her research focuses on bettering teacher education programs so that they best prepare pre-service teachers to facilitate the culturally diverse classrooms here in Montreal and worldwide. As an advocate for critical cultural awareness in learning environments, she has led and is involved with various initiatives and committees geared towards EDI and anti-racism here in the university, consistently seeking to center and empower student voices in conversations they are too often excluded from.

Maria Stergiou is both a Greek (EU) and Canadian citizen. Born in Montreal, she speaks Greek, English, and French BADLY. She is in her 4th year of her Ph.D. in DISE after she had worked on a previous Ph.D. in Educational Psychology at McGill University, where her research was on parental alienation syndrome (PAS) where she worked on parental rights and examined trends on Canadian court judgments for over five years under Senator Ann C. Cools, the first female black Senator in North America) at Parliament Hill. Maria finished a Ph.D. Minor in Family Life Education (FLE). Her current research uses a qualitative approach, where looks at pre-service teachers’ reactions to childrens’ literature on diverse family structures using collage. She has also completed her M.A. at Concordia University in Educational Studies, and during that time had published 3 articles on literacy. She has completed her B.A. at McGill University in Psychology and also has a CELTA from Cambridge University where she teaches English as a second language. Maria has been teaching for over twenty years at elementary, high schools, CEGEPS, private colleges, language school, and for the federal government (The Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces, as well as the Foreign division). Maria has a certificate in Swedish Massage and taught ethics and psychology at IKRA school. She was also an education advisor at New Oriental School and Lasalle College. She has extensive experience in learning & teaching, curriculum design and development, course planning, and teaching a diverse population. An avid reader, she loves reading books whose authors are of Greek descent which brings a mirror to her own life experiences as an ethnic minority. She also cooks, horseback rides, travels, and volunteers extensively for Autism Society Canada (Autism Speaks), Pink in the City, and the Children’s Wish Foundation through Strangers in the Night, as well as for the Hellenic Community of Greater Montreal.