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Graduate Students

Submit your profiles to be featured on the GSWS website and SFU Graduate Studies.

PhD Students

Arthur, Mathew

he/him

Mathew is editor-in-chief of  and director of . He works across feminist technoscience and affect studies to explore ordinary multispecies practices like composting and fermenting.

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Boulay, Nadine

they/them

Reserach areas: History of lesbian-feminism in the Lower Mainland in the 1970s and 80s, with a particular focus on rural and island experiences, intentional women’s communities, and the ‘back to the land’ movement.

Michels, Cameron

she/her

Cameron is interested in exploring the intersection of sports, gender, sexuality, and bodies. Her research focuses on queerness and trans athlete inclusion and exclusion in women’s rugby. 

Rann, Shanny

she/her

Shanny Rann is a gold-medallist Taijiquan artist and dance anthropologist. Originally from Penang, Malaysia, she grounds her artistry in the island way of living and intercultural collaborations. She has competed and performed internationally, and teaches at the unceded territories of Coast Salish peoples in Vancouver, Canada. Shanny completed her Bachelor of General Studies at ÓÈÎïÊÓÆµ and went on to obtain a Master of Arts in Dance Studies from York University and Erasmus Mundus Masters in Dance Knowledge, Practice, and Heritage (Choreomundus). Her previous research on ‘cham, a Tibetan Buddhist dance ritual, was conducted in the Himalayas with refugee monks and was published in ausDance and Recherches en Danse. She is happy to be back at ÓÈÎïÊÓÆµ and is completing her PhD dissertation on women and Taiji.

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Reed, KJ

they/them

KJ's SSHRC-funded doctoral work explores privacy and disclosure decisions in the lives of trans, non-binary, two spirit, and other gender non-conforming youth.

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MA Students

David-McIsaac, Jamie

she/her

Jamie’s inspiration to join this program came from her work within the field of women’s health care. In this program, Jamie hopes to explore health inequity through a feminist lens, while expanding her knowledge and engagement in women’s health care and reproductive health. Jamie hopes to contribute to a more informed and compassionate health care system.

Gutierrez Heredia, Ana Paola

she/her

Ana is a historian, an avid reader of historical drama, and an advocate of feminism. She graduated top of her class from the UNAM and later worked as an English teacher in an elementary school in Mexico, where she taught a feminist version of history, constantly encouraging her students to be autonomous and to question gender stereotypes. She is recognized as the favorite teacher of her students, who remember her when hearing Taylor Swift.

Her field of research focuses on the study of women in Mexico and Regency England, especially through the literature of the period, emphasis on Jane Austen.

Qadeer, Asra

she/her

Asra is a writer and social media strategist with over a decade of experience, blending research, audits, and strategy to understand how audiences engage with content. A chaotic storyteller at heart, she reviews books, analyzes narratives, and explores how stories shape public perception and activism. Her marketing background fuels her curiosity about how storytelling impacts communities and policy. This led her to ÓÈÎïÊÓÆµ in 2024, where she joined the Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies department as a graduate student. Her key focus is bridging the gap between well-meaning policies—especially around gender-based violence—and their real-world implementation in society.

Sherbafi, Sohila

she/her

Sohila Sherbafi is a feminist and human rights activist with extensive experience in both the private and public sectors, as well as a strong background in advocacy and community engagement. As an active member of Amnesty International Tri-Cities BC, she continues to champion human rights through advocacy campaigns and public awareness initiatives. In 2024, as an Iranian women’s rights activist, she chose to further her commitment to gender justice by pursuing a Master of Arts in Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies (GSWS) at ÓÈÎïÊÓÆµ. Her research focuses on the complexities of gender-based violence affecting women and gender-diverse individuals through an intersectional lens, deepening her understanding of systemic barriers and feminist intervention strategies.