PhD Candidate in Film & Moving Image Studies, Concordia University Jake Pitre is a PhD student in Film and Moving Image Studies at Concordia University. He received his master’s degree in Film Studies from Carleton University in 2018. His research areas include platform/digital studies, media industry studies, and queer theory. He has been published in New Media & Society, Transformative Works and Cultures, and FLOW. He is also coordinator at the Platform Lab, a Concordia-based research group.
PhD Candidate, Department of Music, University of Pittsburgh Josh Brew is an African and African diasporic music and sound scholar. His theoretical and practical approach to research focuses on how music and sound sustain humans and how humans, in turn, sustain music, the natural environment, and non-humans. Thus, his research is located within the discourses of music sustainability, sound studies, and economic ethnomusicology. His other areas of interest include music industries, Black studies, African indigenous knowledge systems, popular music fandom, and ecomusicology. Josh is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Pittsburgh. His project, “Gifts from Nature,” is at the nexus of palmwine music, indigenous knowledge, economies, and ecological sustainability in Ghana. His project is a response to the Anthropocene, the current geological epoch characterised by human dominance over the planet and resulting in climate change and other environmental crises. His project aims to critically localise this global problem by examining the intersection of musical and ecological sustainability. As an applied ethnomusicologist, he is interested in extending his research to benefit the communities with whom he works. He has hosted workshops, worked with young musicians and bands in Ghana to explore music career strategies like contemporary music business models, and assisted in establishing their digital presence. He is currently collaborating with the Legon Palmwine Band In using music as a tool for ecological sustainability in Ghana. Josh is also a composer and performer of Afrobeats, highlife, jazz, and classical guitar.
Professor of Biological Sciences, Boise State University Animals are faced with the daily challenge of processing large quantities of toxins present in their environment. However, the way animals respond and deal with these toxins is poorly understood. I am interested in understanding the behavioral and physiological consequences of exposure to plant secondary metabolites (i.e. toxins) and the mechanisms that herbivores employ to mitigate the negative effects of exposure to plant toxins.
Adjunct Senior Lecturer, University of Adelaide Joy McEntee writes on Stanley Kubrick, American Film, and Literature to Film Adaptation. She is affiliated with the Department of English, Creative Writing, and Film at the University of Adelaide.
Clinical Professor, Psychiatry, McMaster University I have a fellowship in Psychiatry and have practised as a child psychiatrist and knowledge translator for many years. My special interest lies in brain development, and the crucial role relationships and connectedness play therein. I have also worked on research with many colleagues over these many years. I have authored a book, canadian best seller called Love Builds brains.
Senior Fellow, Health Services Management Centre, School of Social Policy, University of Birmingham Jo Ellins is Senior Fellow at the Health Services Management Centre, at the University of Birmingham. She is a sociologist by background, but these days most of her work involves evaluating new services and ways of working in healthcare. Over the years Jo has done research in many different fields of healthcare, including cancer services and general practice. Now, she is most interested in children's mental health and, in particular, in the role of schools in promoting emotional wellbeing and in helping children to access mental health support when they need it. She led an early national evaluation of mental health support teams in schools and colleges, and is now co-leading a second study to assess the impact and cost-effectiveness of the government's investment in schools-based mental health. Jo is strongly committed to working in partnership with people who have lived experience of ill-health and using health services. She's worked extensively in research collaborations with service users and carers, including currently with a group of young people with personal experience of, or interests in, mental health. When not at work, Jo works at a local foodbank in Birmingham, is a school governor, and tries (and usually fails) to paddle board without getting wet.
