Assistant Professor of Urban Education, American University Kenjus Watson (he/him) is a father, partner, brother, uncle and son who is passionate about reaching back to grounded wisdom, seeding into present challenges, and bridging towards more loving and sustainable futures. As a Assistant Professor in Urban Education at American University, he teaches courses in the EdD Educational Policy and Leadership Program and collaborates across the School of Education. Watson also works alongside community responsive projects as research lead, educator, and co-founder of the Institute for Regenerative Futures in the College of Education at San Jose State University. His interdisciplinary research has focused on the biopsychosocial impact of everyday anti-blackness and colonization (i.e., racial microaggressions) on Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color, as well as the promise of school abolition, re-Indigenization, and apocalyptic education to bring about healing and wellness for people and the planet. Kenjus earned his PhD in Education with an emphasis in Race and Ethnic Studies at UCLA.
Lecturer in Forensic Archaeology, Cranfield University Dr Harrison is the National Forensic Specialist Advisor, within the National Crime Agency’s Major Crime Investigation Support team, where he provides advice to all British police forces for the most challenging of major crime scenes. Prior to this appointment, he was one of the UK’s foremost operational forensic archaeologists, a founder director of Alecto Forensics and a Reader in Forensic Sciences at Cranfield University.
Associate Professor Biology, Western University Kathleen Hill is an Associate Professor in Biology at Western University, London ON Canada. She is a geneticist with research expertise in mutation detection, mutagenesis, mutation signatures and genomic signatures. Her PhD thesis research studied pervasive patterns in DNA sequence composition using Chaos Game Representation. Her postdoctoral training [Biochemistry, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN] investigated the origins of mutations in haemophilia. Her research in Molecular Medicine at City of Hope [Duarte, CA] characterized mutations arising with development, ageing and carcinogenesis. At Western University, her team has expertise in mutation research, environmental mutagenesis, population genetics and genome evolution. Her research uses molecular assays, bioinformatics tools and in silico supervised and unsupervised machine learning approaches to study mutations and genome composition. Her trainees study patterns and associations in mutation data in chromosomal and genome landscapes to gain insight into mutagenesis and selection in models of genetic disorders and carcinogenesis. Kathleen designs and teaches university courses in science communication, genetics, political biology, and bioethics for undergraduate and graduate students.
Assistant Professor, Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of Toronto Dr Jasińska is an assistant professor in the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development and the scientific director of the Brain Organization for Language and Literacy Development (BOLD) Laboratory. She studies the neural mechanisms that support language, cognitive and reading development across the lifespan using a combination of behavioural, genetic and neuroimaging research methods. Her research aims to understand how early life experiences (e.g. language exposure) can change the brain's capacity for language and learning, with a focus on understanding development in environments with poverty-related risk (eg rural communities; low- and middle-income countries). Dr Jasińska's work uses innovative portable neuroimaging techniques to study brain development in understudied, low-resource settings, leveraging the latest tools of cognitive neuroscience to advance our understanding of global child development. Her work develops and evaluates interventions to support children's learning and development, focusing on literacy. Dr Jasinska is the co-creator of Allo Alphabet, a mobile phone ed-tech program that delivers reading lessons to children in rural Cote d'Ivoire.
