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Elyse Longair

PhD, Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies

Elyse Longair is an artist, curator, and image theorist currently pursuing her Ph.D. in Screen Cultures and Curatorial Studies at Queen’s University. Longair’s research focuses on collage history, collage as research creation and institutional strategies of collecting and curating collage. Among recent awards, she studied collage in Paris at The Centre Pompidou thanks to the David Edney Research Award and was awarded Exposure Emerging Photographer of the Year Award by Exposure Photography Festival earning her a solo exhibition at Contemporary Calgary. Her Simple Image Theory in collage re-imagines the role of images away from the overt-complexity that dominates our world, opening up new possibilities for imagined futures.

Longair actively participates in the arts community serving as Chair, Chief Curator, for the Services to Artists Committee, College Arts Association, The Local Shorts Programmer for The Kingston Canadian Film Festival and as a member of The University Arts Association Sustainability Committee. At Queen’s, Longair is the curator for The Art and Media lab at The Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts, administers and a contributes to the graduate blog, Gradifying, offering invaluable insights into graduate life and is a Graduate Inclusivity Fellow helping to promote a culture of belonging at Queen's for graduate students.

Graziella Bedenik

PhD, Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Graziella Bedenik is a Brazilian engineer pursuing her PhD with the Mechanical and Materials Engineering department at ³ÉÈË´óƬ, Canada. She's working on automated underwater environmental monitoring using self-deployable robotic swarms with the Novel Engineering and Robotic Devices (NERD) and Robora Labs. Graziella is also a member of the Research Group on Electronic Instrumentation at the Federal University of Sergipe, Brazil, where she received an electronics engineering degree and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering.

Her main research interest is electronic instrumentation, studying and developing innovative measuring devices and sensing systems. She has experience and prefers working with multidisciplinary teams, having participated in projects ranging from leakage current measurements in high-voltage insulators to pain quantification in animal models. She is also interested in team management, engineering education, and female inclusion in STEM. She regularly serves as a mentor and co-founded and led several initiatives dedicated to empowering students, raising belonging, and popularizing science. 

Graziella's decision to join ³ÉÈË´óƬ was driven by her quest for the best resources to advance her academic career. As part of her educational journey, she plans to share her insights and experiences through blogging. Her posts will cover a range of topics, including organization hacks for academic success, leadership and protagonism as a student, and her unique perspective as both an international student and a woman in engineering.

Ahmad Nagib

PhD, Computing

Ahmad Nagib is an international student in the final year of his Ph.D. at Queen’s University. His research addresses the practical challenges of integrating machine learning into next-generation wireless networks. During his Ph.D., he completed two Ph.D. Co-Ops at Ericsson Canada, where he led and participated in projects aligned with his research interests. His work has been widely acclaimed, with multiple publications in top IEEE journals and conferences. Throughout his academic and professional journey, Ahmad has received several accolades, including a recent honourable mention for the Queen’s School of Computing Ph.D. Research Achievement Award.

As a Graduate Research Fellow at the Queen’s Telecommunications Research Lab (TRL), Ahmad has coordinated the activities of an NSERC strategic project in collaboration with Ericsson. He also mentored graduate students and co-hosted a TRL alum panel discussion series. Moreover, he is a reviewer and technical program committee member for IEEE flagship journals and conferences in his field. Ahmad’s leadership and involvement extend beyond academia, enriching Queen’s and Kingston’s cultural and intellectual environment. This includes assisting incoming students in settling into Kingston; continuing the work he began as the Ph.D. Grad Committee Officer of the Graduate Computing Society (GCS), and as the founder and former president of the Egyptian Students Association at Queen’s (ESAQ). Ahmad’s involvement with the local community also includes collaborating with the City of Kingston as part of a Queen’s PhD-Community Initiative (PhD-CI) project.

Özlem Atar

PhD in Cultural Studies

I am an international student from Türkiye. Intercultural communication (PhD) and migration narratives (PhD candidate) are my most recent areas of expertise, and I have a few accolades under my belt! An apt description of me would be a hungry reader and emerging writer. Hans Christian Andersen`s "The Emperor's New Clothes'' is to blame for my addiction to well-crafted, socially committed literature. In my spare time, I am writing my own nonfiction: Future Recollections. I am at Queen`s because my supervisor, Dr. Petra Fachinger, teaches here. My specific interests in Gradifying centre around intercultural communication, international education, and promoting well-being in graduate school, especially if you are maintaining disabilities and overcoming hidden and not-so-hidden barriers.