MAIS Research Cafe Series

Hang out and recharge with your professors!

MAIS students and faculty are invited to a series of brief talks by MAIS faculty about their research and teaching interests—followed by time to ‘hang out’ in a relaxed, social environment. The cafés take place every two months on Tuesday afternoons from 2 to 3:30 p.m. (Mountain). Those teaching in the MAIS program, as well as program students or anyone taking one or more MAIS courses, are welcome.

November 18, 2025

Dr. Nisha Nath will discuss her forthcoming co-authored book The Letters: Institutional Lives and EDI (Fernwood Press, Spring 2026), and her new SSHRC-funded project with Dr. Willow-Samara Allen exploring how Canadian public sector workers exercise discretionary power in contexts of extreme inequity. This work has led Dr. Nath and her collaborators—Dr. Rita Dhamoon, Dr. Anita Girvan, and Dr. Davina Bhandar—to create the Insurgent Resurgent Knowledges (IRK) Lab, working outside institutional contexts to explore new ways of knowing and learning.

Upcoming Research Café sessions

January 20, 2026 – Dr. Katie MacDonald: Housing Justice and Nonmarket Housing

March 24, 2026 – Dr. Angela Specht: Community-Based Research and Storytelling

May 19, 2026 – Dr. Norin Taj: Leadership Development among Racialized Immigrant Girls