Research in Focus is designed to spotlight faculty, staff, and student research, spark meaningful dialogue, and strengthen engagement across our campuses. In this session, we were inspired by two insightful and amazing presentations:

The first speaker, Dr. Afarin Rajaei (MACP), presented her SSAF-funded Cinema Therapy Research and Publication Mentorship Program, an innovative model that supports graduate counselling students in developing qualitative research and scholarly writing skills through narrative inquiry. Drawing on her own experience as an academic writer working in an additional language, she designed a structured one-on-one mentorship process that guided students from topic selection to manuscript submission, using films and TV series as rich narrative data. The project resulted in five student-authored papers—three already published and two under review—addressing themes such as intergenerational trauma, masculinity, LGBTQ+ acceptance, identity formation, and cultural healing. Beyond publications, Afarin highlighted the program’s transformational impact on students’ confidence, academic identity, and aspirations for doctoral study.

The second speaker, Dr. Jennifer Long (M.Ed.), shared findings from her ethnographic research on newcomer and host-community disillusionment in Edmonton’s Ukrainian resettlement context following the 2022 Russian invasion. Combining participant observation, focus groups, and life-history interviews with newcomers and third- to fifth-generation Ukrainian Edmontonians, her study revealed contrasting expectations and experiences of resettlement. Newcomers expressed appreciation for safety yet described profound challenges—bureaucratic barriers, financial precarity, credential recognition issues, and social isolation. Meanwhile, long-established diaspora members mobilized extraordinary community support, driven by ethnic pride and transnational ties, but also held assumptions about deservingness, work ethic, and cultural alignment. Through an anthropological lens, Dr. Long illuminated how whiteness, racial capitalism, and Canada’s managed multiculturalism shape resettlement experiences, revealing tensions between national ideals and lived realities of belonging.