Graduate student research

Volunteer work leads to master’s thesis for Brock student

Mar 27, 2013

After finishing her undergraduate degree in psychology and child and youth studies at Brock University, Ashley Hobden spent a good part of a year volunteering in impoverished communities in Brazil.

She worked with families and children living in the mountainside shanty towns known as favelas in Rio de Janeiro. The lifestyle and culture of the favela was quite different than what Hobden experienced growing up in Burlington, Ont. The concept of childhood began to interest Hobden as she continued with her volunteer work, particularly what childhood means and how it’s defined.

“I started to question the ideologies and assumptions about what it means to be a child,” she says. “When we think about children, there’s a tendency to subject our experiences, attitudes and views universally - a one-size-fits-all idea of the childhood experience.”

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Aboriginal students recognized for leadership, achievements

Mar 21, 2013

Until three years ago, Jolene Hill knew nothing about the history of residential schools in Canada.

Life on a reserve was foreign to the master’s student who grew up in Arkansas as the adopted aboriginal daughter of white parents. In fact, just about any issue facing Canada’s First Nations was unknown to her.

Then Hill, whose birth family is from the Osoyoos Indian Band in B.C., came to Brock in 2010 to pursue her master’s degree in psychology. That’s when Hill got an education in being aboriginal in Canada.

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Graduate student’s research aims to help people living with epilepsy

Mar 12, 2013

A Brock MA student in Applied Health Sciences hopes to help people living with epilepsy “remove themselves from the shadows.”

Suzanne McGuire is a young researcher who is trying to understand the essence of what it means for young women, ages 20 to 35, to live with and to disclose their epilepsy in society.

McGuire was diagnosed with epilepsy three years ago while in the midst of completing her undergraduate honours degree at Brock.

“That’s what led me to my graduate studies at Brock,” she says. “For my research, I will be comparing my experiences with epilepsy to that of other young women’s experiences. My research participants will actually be my co-researchers through this study.”

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Three-Minute Thesis proposals sought

Graduate students are invited to take a new challenge during this year’s Mapping the New Knowledges Graduate Student Research Conference on Wednesday, April 10.

The Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition that is growing in popularity internationally and nationally has found its way to Brock and will be added to this year’s conference lineup of oral and poster presentations.

Thesis master’s students and PhD candidates who enter the contest will have three minutes, and not a second more, to talk about their research and why it matters in a way that will inform and captivate a non-specialist audience.