Associate Professor of Israel Studies, Binghamton University, State University of New York Most of my work deals with history, politics, and environment in Israel/Palestine. At Binghamton University, I teach courses on the history of Israel, the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, walking and pilgrimage in the Middle East, the environmental history of Israel/Palestine, and the history of Middle East cartography. All of these things intersect in my research on the history of trails and walking routes. My first book deals with the history and politics of Israel's marked and mapped hiking trail system: how it took shape on the eve of the 1948 war, and how struggles over its growth mirror struggles over Israeli identity and over the boundaries of the country. My current book project builds on a trek I completed around the Dead Sea in November 2022. The walk, which took me through Jordan, Israel, and the West Bank, was the first circumnavigation of the Dead Sea on foot since 1934, and the first to take place since the rise of modern nation-states in the Middle East.
Associate Professor, Registered Dietitian, Department of Applied Human Nutrition, Mount Saint Vincent University Dr. Grant identifies as a Scientist, Registered Dietitian (RD), Dietetic Educator and lifelong learner. The focus of her research program (named GrantLab) is community-based and practice-based research, that can be conceptualized as two pillars: 1) Nutrition Care Process/ Medical Nutrition Therapy and 2) Community Outreach and Program Development Dr. Grant has practiced as a dietitian and wellness professional in several practice settings, including 15-20 years in clinical (including primary, acute care, inpatient and outpatient settings) and community nutrition (including rural, remote, and urban settings). She was core faculty for York University’s Health Coach Program (for five years), an internationally recognized program that trains allied healthcare professionals (including nurses, dietitians, dentists, medical doctors) in contemporary evidence-based counseling, conflict resolution, record keeping and modification communication techniques. A recipient of several awards for her contributions to patient care, communication and education (e.g. The Alumni Early Career Teaching Award [2021], Diabetes Canada Canadian Diabetes in Pregnancy Study Group Award of Excellence [2020]), Dr. Grant is a passionate believer that education activities inform research and practice and vice versa. GrantLab trains highly qualified personnel (HQP) to develop the knowledge and skills needed to become engaged in all parts of the knowledge-to-action process and to support ongoing exchange about nutrition and foods and complementary approaches to prevention and treatment of disease. Current projects centre around the following: Two-Eyed Seeing, Shared Decision Making, Integrative Knowledge Translation, Critical Pedagogy, and Train-the-Trainer Model GrantLab strives to engage in participatory and inclusive approaches, while maintaining academic excellence and scientific rigor.
PhD Candidate in Public Health Nutrition, Deakin University Sarah Dickie is a Public Health Nutritionist currently completing a PhD in Food Policy at Deakin University's Institute for Physical Activity and Nutrition (IPAN). Her PhD analyses the science underpinning the use of nutrition classification schemes in policy actions. Sarah's research to date has focused on evaluating the implementation of Australia’s Health Star Rating front-of-pack labelling system and develping methods to incorporate the NOVA classification system into policy actions. She is a founding member of the advocacy group Healthy Food Systems Australia.
Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering, University of Michigan Dr. Sita M. Syal is an Assistant Professor in Mechanical Engineering and directs EMBERlab at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on studying human influence and embedding equity in sustainable energy and transportation systems. She uses human-centered design methods, builds quantitative models, and engages with communities to co-create a more just and sustainable future. Dr. Syal’s professional experience spans across energy from biofuels development to topsides process engineering in the oil and gas industry. Prior to graduate school, she served as a topsides process engineer and a rotational operations engineer on an offshore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico for BP America. She holds a PhD. in Mechanical Engineering and M.S. in Product Design Engineering (“Design Impact”) from Stanford University. A proud Wolverine alumna, she holds an M.Eng. in Energy Systems Engineering and B.S.E in Chemical Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Senior Research Fellow, Griffith University Dr Susan de Groot Heupner is a cross-disciplinary research scholar aiming to advance current understandings of binary thinking in popular political identities through a perspective of mutual relations between conceptions of self and other. She completed her PhD in Political Sociology in 2022 examining how far right and islamist political parties operate together to construct an irreconcilable Muslim subject. She is a current GCSCR Research Fellow under the Mobilities, Communities and In/Securities theme where she is working on a 12-month project exploring population replacement theories in far right and islamist politics. In her work, Susan draws on psychoanalytic thought to understand the role of fantasies, desires, and affects in mobilising hatred. Susan has recently acquired a book contract with Leiden University Press for an adaption of her dissertation under the working title Manufacturing Division.
Over 25 years experience in front-line healthcare in Australia and in the United Kingdom. LLB (Hons) and an LLM in Legal Aspects of Medical Practice as well as a Graduate Certificate in Academic Practice. PhD graduate focussing on paramedics and children exposed to domestic violence.
