Lara Aysal
Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Studies (PhD)
Research Topic
Bringing together Western and Indigenous ways of knowing through theatre for co-creation of knowledge on climate change adaptation strategies.
Derek Gladwin
Associate Professor
Research Classification
Research Interests
environmental and ecological literacy
energy literacy and transition
systems literacy and complexity education
transdisciplinary and collaborative education
philosophy and theory of education (ontology, environmental, Asian, phenomenology)
textual literacies (through media, literary, and visual culture)
narrative inquiry and storytelling
Arts-based research
Relevant Thesis-Based Degree Programs
Research Options
I am available and interested in collaborations (e.g. clusters, grants).
I am interested in and conduct interdisciplinary research.
Ìý
Ìý
Research Methodology
Approaches to education that create societal impact
Building literacy for energy transition
Fostering literacy for socio-ecological awareness and action
Prototyping regenerative learning models in higher education
Cultivating conditions for arts-based education and philosophical inquiry
Recruitment
Master's students
Doctoral students
Postdoctoral Fellows
Any time / year round
Complete these steps before you reach out to a faculty member!
Check requirements
- Familiarize yourself with program requirements. You want to learn as much as possible from the information available to you before you reach out to a faculty member. Be sure to visit the graduate degree program listing and program-specific websites.
- Check whether the program requires you to seek commitment from a supervisor prior to submitting an application. For some programs this is an essential step while others match successful applicants with faculty members within the first year of study. This is either indicated in the program profile under "Admission Information & Requirements" - "Prepare Application" - "Supervision" or on the program website.
Focus your search
- Identify specific faculty members who are conducting research in your specific area of interest.
- Establish that your research interests align with the faculty member’s research interests.
- Read up on the faculty members in the program and the research being conducted in the department.
- Familiarize yourself with their work, read their recent publications and past theses/dissertations that they supervised. Be certain that their research is indeed what you are hoping to study.
Make a good impression
- Compose an error-free and grammatically correct email addressed to your specifically targeted faculty member, and remember to use their correct titles.
- Do not send non-specific, mass emails to everyone in the department hoping for a match.
- Address the faculty members by name. Your contact should be genuine rather than generic.
- Include a brief outline of your academic background, why you are interested in working with the faculty member, and what experience you could bring to the department. The supervision enquiry form guides you with targeted questions. Ensure to craft compelling answers to these questions.
- Highlight your achievements and why you are a top student. Faculty members receive dozens of requests from prospective students and you may have less than 30 seconds to pique someone’s interest.
- Demonstrate that you are familiar with their research:
- Convey the specific ways you are a good fit for the program.
- Convey the specific ways the program/lab/faculty member is a good fit for the research you are interested in/already conducting.
- Be enthusiastic, but don’t overdo it.
Attend an information session
G+PS regularly provides virtual sessions that focus on admission requirements and procedures and tips how to improve your application.
Ìý
ADVICE AND INSIGHTS FROM ÑÇÖÞÌìÌà FACULTY ON REACHING OUT TO SUPERVISORS
These videos contain some general advice from faculty across ÑÇÖÞÌìÌà on finding and reaching out to a potential thesis supervisor.
Graduate Student Supervision
Doctoral Student Supervision
Dissertations completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest dissertations.
Poetic inquiry: current approaches and future applications (2021)
This study identifies and describes facets of poetic inquiry (Prendergast, 2009), a research method/methodology that creates or uses poetry in the research process (data gathering, analysis or dissemination). Specifically, there is attention paid to how and why it is in use, revelations around its unparalleled function(s) in research, and an exemplification of a close reading approach, trialed in this study, that can draw further knowledge from the products of poetic inquiry studies. Poetic inquiry studies are somewhat established, and their findings are being published in academic journals and books (James, 2017; Vincent, 2018), however, poetic inquiry is currently undertheorized and noticeably missing from notable research methods textbooks (e.g., Creswell, 2013) and publications that discuss the merits of arts-based research (e.g., Slattery, 2003). This may have the negative result of knowledge being lost or overlooked that could hold answers to previously unanswered questions that exist across the disciplines. In response to this problem, this study explores poetic inquiry’s theoretical underpinnings and pragmatic uses in research and scholarship. This is done by way of an in-depth literature review and interviews with four notable poetic inquiry scholars in education in Canada. Detailed profiles for each participant have been created to analyze and emphasize their distinctive poetics and approaches to scholarship. Lastly, this study considers ways that poetic inquiry can inform teaching practices, as poetry is seen to permeate the participants’ lives and influence their approaches to teaching at the post-secondary level.
Pray where waters meet: land-based metissage, ethical relationality and reconciliation (2021)
The full abstract for this thesis is available in the body of the thesis, and will be available when the embargo expires.
Master's Student Supervision
Theses completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest theses.
The veil between worlds : examining the present by exploring the fantastic in a secondary classroom (2023)
This action research study was conducted to examine the ways that speculative fiction texts, fantasy literature in particular, can establish and expand students’ critical literacy skills, and to argue that fantasy has a place in the classroom. The study focused on students’ connections between fantasy texts and the contemporary world and their ability to identify and critique the role that power plays in a fantasy novel. English Studies 12 students in a high school in British Columbia, Canada, chose a fantasy novel and then read, discussed, and responded to their chosen book in literature circles. The students applied critical literary theories to their texts as a tool for critical literacy as they engaged with and analyzed the power structures and relations within their texts. This study contends that fantasy literature is a ideal vehicle for teaching and practicing critical literacy—the act and art of reading the world (Freire, 1987). Fantasy and critical literacy make an excellent pair because each requires and values a multiplicity of perspectives and truths. By its very nature, fantasy provides a portal to different worlds and perspectives that, when approached critically, provides students with points of commonality between the fantastic world and their own. Fantasy’s liminality can support students’ own abilities to break down borders between themselves and the world. Indeed, by applying the combined tools of critical literary theory and critical literacy to fantasy literature, students were able to demonstrate more complex readings of their texts than they had been able to before.
Current Students & Alumni
This is a small sample of students and/or alumni that have been supervised by this researcher. It is not meant as a comprehensive list.
Ìý
Ìý
If this is your researcher profile you can log in to the portal to update your details and provide recruitment preferences.
Ìý
Ìý