Speakers

Dr. Andy Perrin (he/him)

Our culture, society, and communities need discoveries that matter, ideas designed for impact, creations that inspire, and innovations that go beyond the imaginable. As Associate Vice President Research, Dr. Andrew Perrin is committed to cultivating a thriving research community at AU, leads research strategy and opportunity development, and oversees the Research Office team. Andrew is an internationally recognized scholar of cultural studies, a past Canada Research Chair, and fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He lives and works in Treaty 7 territory.  

To connect about current and upcoming research opportunities at AU, please connect with Dr. Perrin by email at aperrin@athabascau.caor 587-225-6229.

Throughout their career as a teacher, Skyler (they/them) has been passionate about queering education, which led them to complete a master’s degree focused on 2SLGBTQIA+ inclusivity within elementary school. They continue to develop curriculum and lead workshops across the country aimed at primary and secondary school educators, early childhood educators, and parents. Over the past decade working as an out and proud educator, their focus has shifted to the pervasiveness of gender socialization and the harmful effects it is having on children. Now pursuing a Master of Counselling degree at AU, they are immersed in research about gender affirmative childhoods.

 In 2020, when Skyler and their partner were pregnant with their first child, they knew they had to approach parenting differently. During this time, they stumbled upon a growing movement known as Gender Creative Parenting, wherein parents do not assign a gender to their child at birth. Not only choosing to take up this approach with their own child, Skyler decided to center their thesis research on exploring the lived experiences of other gender creative parents. As if parenting and doing a thesis on gender creative parenting was not enough, Skyler is also directing and producing a documentary on the subject called What are you having? that will debut on Telus’ Optik TV in 2024. They believe gender creative parenting offers new insights towards dismantling the gender/sex binary and has the potential to revolutionize the way we understand children’s gender health. Skyler looks forward to sharing their research findings at the GSRC.

Bailey Sousa, PMP, MA(HEAL) (she/her) is the Associate Vice President, Quality Planning & Assessment for Athabasca University. She is an entrepreneur and workplace effectiveness advocate. Bailey has worked as a Project Manager and team leader, managing complex projects for over a decade in a variety of entrepreneurial ventures and roles in corporate, social enterprise, and academic settings. Her most recent roles have enabled her to connect with academics internationally, giving her a global perspective on effectiveness and the challenges faced universally. Bailey’s interests and contributions relate to workplace and academic effectiveness, leadership, and team­work in complex settings, and she facilitates workshops all over the world in this area. Bailey was also recognized as one of Edmonton’s Avenue Magazine’s ‘Top 40 Under 40’ for her contributions in her work and to her city.

Alexander Clark, PhD (he/him) is the President of Athabasca University, and is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader / Young Scientist. Alex fulfills leadership roles with a number of national research funding bodies across Canada and is a Chair & Scientific Officer for CIHR (2010-) and Chair of peer review panels for Heart & Stroke Foundation Canada (2013-). Alex regularly writes on academic career development, growth and leadership, and has led workshops for a decade for researchers from all career stages on academic effectiveness, writing and research skills. He speaks nationally and internationally to young scientists from across disciplines on academic career issues, including skills, teamwork, and mentorship. Alex’s research on heart disease has been published in some of the world’s most influential journals, including The Lancet, British Medical Journal, Journal of American College of Cardiology and Social Science & Medicine.

Heather Purchase, MA, CIAPP-C, (she/her) is FGS' strategic initiatives manager and designated tri-agency master scholarship liaison officer at Athabasca University. Heather manages FGS’ awards portfolio, supporting both internal and external funding opportunities. She has worked in higher education since 2012, focusing on research and program coordination with expertise in grant and award administration.

Meaghan Sullivan (she/her) manages the GSA office and provides guidance and support to the graduate student leaders of Athabasca University. She is the co-chair of the annual Athabasca University Graduate Student Research Conference. Meaghan joined AUGSA in 2018. Prior to AUGSA, Meaghan’s career path progressed through the private, municipal government, and education sectors. As a former graduate student, Meaghan holds an MBA and post-baccalaureate diploma in management from Athabasca University. 

Dr. Shawn Fraser (he/him) is Dean of the Faculty of Graduate Studies and a Professor of Health Studies at Athabasca University. He has taught online graduate courses as a faculty member at Athabasca University since 2006 and has served as the Program Director for the Master of Health Studies and Master of Nursing program, and as Associate Dean in the Faculty of Health Disciplines. His main area of research involves understanding the health behaviors of cardiac rehabilitation patients. He is also involved with research in teaching and learning for health professionals and belongs to the learning analytics research group at Athabasca University. In his spare time, he maintains a statistics blog which aims to make statistics accessible. He resides in Edmonton, Alberta.