Professorial Lecturer of Politics, Governance & Economics, American University School of International Service Dr. Wilson-McDonald holds a Ph.D. in political science from the University of Florida with graduate certificates in European studies and gender studies. Her specializations include comparative politics, public policy & administration, European studies, and gender studies. Dr. Wilson-McDonald’s research focuses on the politics of gender in Central Eastern Europe. She examines the gendered elements of democratic backsliding and social movement activism in the region. Specifically, her research examines feminist movements in the region and their discursive strategies. Her current project analyzes the contemporary framing of gender-based violence by gender equality activists across Central Eastern Europe and the relationship between feminist social movement actors, conservative actors, and the state. Her peer-reviewed research has been published in the journals Communist and Post-Communist Studies and Feminist Review. Her recent essays have also been published online in Ms. Magazine. She has conducted extensive field research in Czechia, Slovakia, and Poland, where she was affiliated with the Faculty of Sociology at Masaryk University, Czechia and the American Studies Center at the University of Warsaw, Poland. Dr. Wilson-McDonald has been awarded numerous research grants, including a Fulbright Research Grant, Carrie Chapman Catt Prize for Research on Women and Politics, a Rothman Doctoral Fellowship in the Humanities, and a postdoctoral research grant by the Kosciuszko Foundation. She teaches courses in comparative politics, European politics, identity and politics, and research methods.
Assistant Professor of History, Clemson University Professor Venkatesh's research interests lie at the intersection of South Asian history, oral history, women’s history, and history of medicine. She is currently working on her manuscript, titled Women, Medicine and Nation-building: The ‘Lady Doctor’ and Development in Twentieth Century South India, which examines the role of women doctors in the creation and extension of development initiatives in south India from 1919-1970. Her research has been supported by the American Institute of Indian Studies. Her teaching interests are in Women’s History, History of South Asia, World History, Oral History and Digital History.
President, Colorado State University Amy Parsons is the 16th President of Colorado State University. Prior to being named CSU President in 2023, Parsons served for 17 years in various senior executive leadership roles at CSU and the CSU System. She combines her higher education background with private sector experience, as well as a background in law. Parsons served as executive vice chancellor of the CSU System, vice president for university operations at CSU, deputy general counsel, and associate legal counsel at CSU. She began her career as a litigation attorney for Denver-firm Brownstein, Hyatt, & Farber (now Brownstein, Hyatt, Farber, Schreck). Parsons currently serves on the NCAA Committee for Infractions, the Salazar Center for North American Conservation External Advisory Board, and the Colorado Business Roundtable Board of Directors. Parsons holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from CSU and a Juris Doctorate from the University of Colorado. She was born in Colorado and grew up in Wyoming.
Senior Lecturer in Economics, Sheffield Hallam University Dr Algarhi holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Exeter. He joined Sheffield Hallam University in 2014, and is currently a Senior Lecturer in Economics and the Course Leader of the BSc (Hons) Economics programme at Sheffield Business School. Dr Algarhi is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). His main teaching areas are econometrics, time series analysis, statistics, mathematical economics and macroeconomics. He is also a keen researcher, and his main research interest is econometric theory, time series analysis, semiparametric inference, financial econometrics, macroeconomics, monetary economics, energy economics and international trade. To learn more about Dr Algarhi’s teaching and research profile, please follow the links below or visit his personal website: www.algarhi.com
Research fellow, Queensland University of Technology Dr Adam Hines is a Research Fellow at the QUT Centre for Robotics with Dr Tobias Fischer and Prof. Michael Milford. He received his PhD in neuroscience from The University of Queensland in 2023 with undergraduate degrees in Medical Science with 1st class honours from the University of New South Wales (2013-2016). In 2022, he was the recipient of a prestigious and competitive Fulbright Scholarship where he undertook a 6 month research programme with Prof. Roderic Eckenhoff at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, USA. Dr Hines’ current research focus is on bio-inspired robotics for autonomous navigation and localisation systems, taking a multi-disciplinary approach by combining neuroscience and artificial intelligence. As a part of his research, he has been involved in multiple industry and defence projects including Intel Neuromorphic Research Community (INRC) and the Australia-US Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (AUSMURI) program with the Defence Science and Technology Group (DSTG). Adam has a deep commitment to the broader research community through his work with the Australasian Neuroscience Society’s Student Body Committee as Deputy Chair, the Early-Mid Career Brain Sciences Steering Committee, and as Associate Faculty with H1 Connect. In addition to this, Dr Hines’ has received numerous awards for presentations and communications at national conferences including winning a 3-Minute Thesis (3MT) competition, a Student Presentation award, and a Best Image in Neuroscience competition.
Associate Professor of Cultural and Communication Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University After receiving my PhD in Communication Studies from McGill University in 2006, and prior to joining Laurier, I was a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Religion and Media at New York University (2006-2008). My research and scholarly work falls within the fields of Communication and Cultural Studies. I was on-site chair of the Canadian Association for Cultural Studies from 2012-2016. I am currently book review editor for TOPIA: Canadian Journal for Cultural Studies. I am also currently the president of the Canadian branch of IASPM (International Association for the Study of Popular Music). My research is generally concerned with the intersection of media, technology, and identity within the context of religious, social and cultural movements. I have worked extensively within the field of religion and media with my own work exploring Haitian Vodou in the diaspora, how new media and technology shape diasporic experience, and representations of Vodou and Voodoo in popular culture. Other research focuses on social networking around conceptualizations of the Black diaspora and Black technologized subjectivity. This work takes many forms, most extensively in an examination of hip hop as both alternative media and public discourse in Canada. Recent work on social networking and alternative media explores discourses of alternative health.
