On May 1st, the SGSPA hosted the first GRADflix showcase, allowing graduate students the opportunity to share their research in the form of short, 1-minute videos. Students from disciplines across Queen’s participated in the inaugural showcase – check out some of their projects below!
Monica Ayachit from Chemistry presented her video on chemotherapy for treatment of cancer and how the chemo process can be improved through the use of polymers to stop the negative side effects of the treatment.
Cassidy Laub from Translational Medicine presented her video on the impact of delays on cancer treatment and how that impacts patient survival. Her research specifically focused on lung cancers, a very common form of disease in Ontario.
Martina Jakubchik-Paloheimo from Geography presented her video on her research with the Shuar, an Indigenous community in Ecuador. The Shuar community highlights the environmental stewardship of the natural world under their care, and how Indigenous ways of knowing can impact the world around us.
Bilen Araya from Rehabilitation Science presented her video on the experiences of infertility for women in Ethiopia. She highlighted how in low income countries like Ethiopia, infertility is considered an insignificant issue, despite the high rate of this problem, and how this can cause social stigma for the women experiencing this problem.
Martha Ortega Santos from Translational Medicine presented her video on seasonal allergies suffered by Canadians, especially Pollen Food Allergy Syndrome that can provoke severe reactions in those affected. Her research looks at how many individuals in Canada have this problem.
Yijun Xu from Psychology presented his video on promoting healthy and eco-friendly food choices. He shared information on how food selections contribute to a massive amount of adult obesity, though instinctive behaviors versus learned behaviors that can make people choose unhealthy food versus healthy food.
Sara Stickley from Biomedical & Molecular Sciences presented her video on how the gut microbiota can inform asthma risk in children. Our gut is filled with trillions of microbes that interact with our immune systems, and her research looks at how looking at these microbes can inform on the level of risk for disease.
Our winner for this year’s GRADflix was Cassidy Laub, who will go on to represent Queen’s at the Ontario GRADflix showcase at Lakehead University on May 7! Congratulations Cassidy!
Our people’s choice winner was Sara Stickley! Congratulations to Sara!
Alongside this year’s submissions, we also saw videos from previous GRADflix submissions from Alyssa Grocutt & Francesco Marrato, and additional video presentations from Michalina Woznowski, Laura Killam, Madison Robertson from the SSHRC competition & Gabriel Ramirez Garcia from the Art of Research.
Thank you to all the students who participated in GRADFlix and shared their research – stay tuned for next year’s competition!
You can learn more about GRADflix here!