2026 ARIA recipients

Sonya Andrianova: A Survey of Art Integrated into McGill University Buildings, supervised by Gwendolyn Owens, McGill University Libraries, Director of the Visual Arts Collection

Sonya is a second-year McGill University student majoring in Psychology with a double minor in Art History and Behavioral Sciences. This summer, she will be working alongside Gwendolyn Owens with the Visual Arts Collection to conduct research on art integrated into McGill's campus buildings. She is looking forward to being introduced to working in an art-museum setting and examining works up-close to explore their origins and meaning, utilizing the techniques she had previously been taught in class.

Recipient of the Rosalind Goodman Arts Research Internship Award.

Nora Malhi: The Relentless Rise of National Art Indemnification, supervised by Prof. Matthew Hunter, Department of Art History

Nora is a second-year student pursuing Joint Honours in Art History and Political Science. Contributing to Professor Matthew Hunter’s forthcoming book "Anglo-American Art: Moments in the History of Insurance,” her research explores the rise of national art indemnity schemes in the 20th century. She will investigate why these programs emerged, how they support nationalist cultural agendas and welfare-state logics, and how state-backed insurance shapes exhibitions, cultural policy, and conceptions of risk and value.

Recipient of the Bram Garber Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award.

Magnolia Miller: Improving Health Care System Reform: Evaluating Approaches For The Quebec Context, supervised by Prof. Erin Strumpf, Department of Economics

Magnolia is from rural Ontario and is in her third year pursuing an Honours degree in International Development with a major in Economics. Her research interests are in health and labour economics. She is intrigued by questions about physician shortages and access to care, especially in rural areas. This summer, she is excited to work with Dr. Strumpf on understanding the sustainability challenges facing the Quebec healthcare system and to identify potential policy solutions

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by Mr. Mark W. Gallop.

Samuel Strong: Research on Tax Wedge Imposed on Education Decisions in a Life-Cycle Context, supervised by Prof. Fabian Lange, Department of Economics

Samuel Strong is a U2 Honours Economics student at McGill University. He is currently developing two research papers examining agricultural commodity supply shocks and the relationship between housing distance and lecture attendance. Samuel is eager to study the tax wedge in educational decisions over the life cycle with Fabian Lange. He plans to pursue a master’s or PhD in labour economics and competes on McGill’s varsity rowing team, placing sixth at nationals this year recently.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by Mr. Mark W. Gallop.

Salma Galal: Forms of Deep Attention: Bridging Between Literary and Neuroscientific Perspectives, supervised by Prof. Miranda Hickman, Department of English

Salma Galal (she/her) is a U2 undergraduate student majoring in English literature and psychology. She has worked as a literary fiction editor and writer. This summer, she will work under Professor Miranda Hickman on the interdepartmental Poetic Attention project. She will aid the team in the construction of the research reports for the budding branch of neuroaesthetics. She hopes to gain insight into the intricacies of literary deep attention’s framework in this digital age.

Recipient of the Undergraduate Experiential Learning Opportunities Support Fund.

Shayne Turner: Practices Of Care in Montreal’s Urban Night, supervised by Prof. Alanna Thain, Department of English

Shayne (she/her) is an English student in Cultural Studies. She comes from the lands of the Dane-zaa peoples in Treaty 8 territory, shaping her commitment to community engagement. Her interests include visual culture, community engagement, and spatial justice. Shayne is working with Professor Alanna Thain on a research-creation project examining night care, using participatory methodologies to explore equitable support. She looks forward to advancing this work through sustained collaboration and creative inquiry.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by Mrs. Martha Breithaupt.

Rose Berteaux: « Le ̎manuscrit perpétuel ̎ : interpréter la genèse de L’Homme rapaillé de Gaston Miron à partir de ses archives », supervised by Prof. Michel Biron, Department of French Language and Literature

Rose is double-majoring in literature of the French-speaking world, Latin America, and the Caribbean. This summer, Rose is thrilled to be assisting Professor Michel Biron in examining archives at the BAnQ in preparation for the critical edition of one of Quebec’s most important poetry collections, Gaston Miron’s L’homme rapaillé. This project will be the first step toward a career in literary research and creation. Rose also edits for the literary review Lieu commun.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by the Arts Student Employment Fund (ASEF).

Paul-Emile Vallette d'Osia: Ocean-Based New Master-Planned Cities: Assessing Vulnerability To Sea Level Rise and Tsunamis, supervised by Prof. Sarah Moser, Department of Geography

Paul-Emile Vallette d’Osia is a third-year Geography student with double minors in Economics and GIS & Remote Sensing. Building on field research conducted in Singapore and Malaysia with Professor Sarah Moser last summer, Paul’s ARIA-funded project continues to explore themes at the intersection of urban, physical, and geospatial geography. His research focuses on geospatial modeling of newly master-planned cities built on reclaimed land and simulates potential flooding risks under various climate change and natural disaster scenarios.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by Mrs. Martha Breithaupt.

Harry Casteel: Dramaturging Democracy, supervised by Prof. Lynn Kozak, Department of History and Classical Studies

Harry Casteel is a second-year Joint Honours Classics and History student with a minor in Medieval Studies. Over the summer, he will work with Professor Lynn Kozak on adapting Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War into a stage play. He looks forward to collaborating with the diverse team of graduate students and playwrights that Professor Kozak has assembled to produce this bilingual translation, and he is eager to delve into Thucydides’ notoriously difficult Greek prose.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by the Arts Student Employment Fund (ASEF).

Sophia Eli: A Case Study of the Early Antivaccine Movement against Smallpox in England (1853-1898), supervised by Prof. Thomas Schlich, Department of Social Studies of Medicine

Sophia Eli is a second-year student pursuing a double major in History and Biology. Under the supervision of Dr. Schlich, she will be researching why there was a strong movement against the smallpox vaccine in England, focusing on scientific issues with the vaccine and resistance to mandatory vaccination laws as part of a broader opposition to state control. Sophia looks forward to strengthening her archival research skills and gaining experience in medical history research.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by Mr. Mark W. Gallop.

Athena Kalaganis: Documenting the Abuses of the Allied Armies of the Orient on Civilians in the Macedonian Front (1915-1918)     , supervised by Prof. Tassos Anastassiadis, Department of History and Classical Studies

Athena is a second-year student double-majoring in History and World Islamic & Middle East Studies with  a minor in Religious Studies. This summer, she will be researching through Greek archival material to identify instances of the occupation army’s violence on the Macedonian front during the First World War. This extrapolated data will then be added to Dr. Anastassiadis' digital humanities database, ArmOR GIS. She is looking forward to gaining experience in digitizing historical data.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by Mr. Mark W. Gallop.

Lydia Lepki: Saathi Archive Project Negative Quantifiers and Irrealis Mood in Tlingit, supervised by Prof. James Crippen, Department of Linguistics

Lydia Lepki is an Honours Linguistics student interested in the intersection of syntax and morphology, language variation, and language revitalization. This summer, she will be researching structure and word form in Tlingit (pronounced CLINK-it in English): an Indigenous language spoken in southeastern Alaska and neighbouring parts of British Columbia and Yukon Territory. Her work, overseen by Professor James Crippen, will investigate the relationship between negative quantifiers and the marking of irrealis mood.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by Mrs. Martha Breithaupt.

Daniel Vlasak: Asymptotics of Stochastic Differential Equations, supervised by Prof. Jessica Lin, Department of Mathematics and Statistics

Daniel is a second-year student pursuing an Honours degree in Mathematics and Computer Science. Under the supervision of Professor Jessica Lin, he will study the largescale behavior of stochastic differential equations. He will also work toward producing a self-contained proof of a functional central limit theorem for diffusion in certain periodic environments. Through this work, Daniel will deepen his understanding of probability theory and refine his skills in proof writing.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by Mrs. Martha Breithaupt.

Joey Hurtubise: Double Consciousness and Theory of Mind / Emotional Recognition and Second Sight, supervised by Prof. Ian Gold, Department of Philosophy

Joey Hurtubise is an honors Philosophy student with a Psychology major entering his U3 year. His academic interests lie at the intersection of ethical theory, philosophy of race, and cognitive science. This summer, he will be working under the supervision of Professor Ian Gold to collect cognitive evidence for W.E.B. Du Bois’ concept of second sight. Through this experience, Joey looks forward to honing his research and analytical skills.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by Mrs. Martha Breithaupt.

Zackary Kozak: A New Look At Geometric Diagrams: Althusser's Perspective, supervised by Prof. Dirk Schlimm, Department of Philosophy

Zack Kozak is a second-year student pursuing a Joint Honours degree in English Literature and Philosophy. He is interested in early modern philosophy, the novel, and the evolution of mathematics. This summer, with Professor Dirk Schlimm, Zack will research the use of diagrams in ancient Greek geometry, introducing promising features of Louis Althusser’s philosophy to analyze mathematical practice. Outside of class, Zack plays basketball with the Cookie Dunkers and participates in a weekly game night.

Recipient of the Undergraduate Experiential Learning Opportunities Support Fund.

Mark Run Lin Xiao: Phenomenology in Practice: Investigating the Enigma of Indonesian Immigration, supervised by Prof. Philip Buckley, Department of Philosophy

Mark Run Lin Xiao is a U2 student majoring in Philosophy and minoring in Education. Professor Buckley and Mark will study the paucity of Indonesian immigrants in Canada. Buckley and Xiao will utilize Phenomenology as a research method through an Interpretive Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) framework to describe, compare, and present the everyday life-worlds and lived experience of the Indonesian and “Chinese” communities in Vancouver, which has the largest Indonesian and “Chinese” populations in Western Canada.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by Mrs. Martha Breithaupt.

Melody Yu: Nature in the History of Feminist Arguments, supervised by Prof. Marguerite Deslauriers, Department of Philosophy

Melody is a third-year student from Montreal pursuing an Honours degree in Philosophy with a major in History. Her academic interests include the history of ideas, ethical theory (with a particular interest in Emmanuel Levinas), and the history of revolutions. This summer, she is working with Professor Marguerite Deslauriers to study how Renaissance and early modern authors who defended the worth of women understood physical and psychological nature of men and women, and its relations to custom.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by Mrs. Martha Breithaupt.

Spencer Clark: Faking Money: Transnational Anti-Counterfeiting Cooperation since the Global Financial Crisis, supervised by Prof. Juliet Johnson, Department of Political Science

Spencer is a fourth-year student majoring in Political Science with a minor in Urban Studies. This summer, he will be working alongside Dr. Juliet Johnson to research transnational anti-counterfeiting cooperation since the Global Financial Crisis. He has a keen interest in international political economy and is looking forward to deepening his understanding of monetary governance, engaging with primary archival research, and applying the theory he learns in the classroom to real-world questions about cross-border financial coordination.

Recipient of the Charles and Betty Maldoff Family Arts Research Internship Award.

Alexander Laurin: Overcoming Insider-Outsider Divides in Social Movements: The 1970s Strike Wave in the United States and Canada, supervised by Prof. Barry Eidlin, Department of Sociology

Alexander is a second-year student pursuing a Joint-Honours degree in Political Science and History. Under the supervision of Professor Eidlin, he is studying the possibilities and limitations of solidarity within social movements through an oral historical analysis of the 1970s strike wave in North America. Given his broader interest in the social, political, and intellectual histories of freedom and collective imaginaries, he looks forward to deepening his understanding of this pivotal historical moment.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by Mrs. Martha Breithaupt.

Olivier Lesage Filippin: Cities and Democratic Comebacks, supervised by Prof. Maria Popova, Department of Political Science

Olivier is a U2 Honours Political Science student with a double minor in International Development and Economics. His academic interests center on political institutions, the EU, and the evolving dynamics of governance in Central and Eastern Europe. This summer, he will work under the supervision of Professor Maria Popova, in a project jointly managed with Professor Nikolay Marinov of the University of Gothenburg. The project investigates whether and how mayors can slow, halt or reverse national level autocratization.

Recipient of the Charles and Betty Maldoff Family Arts Research Internship Award.

Thaïs Lorka-Navaud: The Fall of Toronto’s UNIA Division #21, supervised by Prof. Melissa N. Shaw, Department of History and Classical Studies

Thaïs is a second-year (U2) student majoring in Political Science and African Studies, and she is also deeply interested in religious studies and history. Under the supervision of Prof. Melissa N. Shaw, she will investigate the social, political and contextual mechanisms surrounding the decline and fall of the UNIA Division #21. Thaïs is looking forward to conducting research centering Black Canadian history and activism, and to exploring further the relationship between historical and political processes.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Award funded by the Faculty of Arts Action Plan to Address Anti-Black Racism Fund.

Lea Briglio: French Translation and Cultural Adaptation of ACTaide, a Mobile App for Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, supervised by Prof. Bärbel Knäuper, Department of Psychology

Léa Briglio is a third-year Honours Psychology student minoring in Education, with strong interests in culturally informed research. She volunteers at the McGill Health Psychology Lab and will work under the supervision of Dr. Bärbel Knäuper to culturally adapt ACTaide, a mobile health app designed to support between-session practice of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) for French-speaking clients. Léa is eager to develop skills in adapting evidence-based approaches to improve accessibility across diverse cultural contexts.

Recipient of the Jennifer Ritter Arts Internship Award.

Natasha De Cotiis: The Role of Investment and Commitment in the Acceptance of Dealbreakers, supervised by Prof. John E. Lydon, Department of Psychology

Natasha De Cotiis is a second-year Honours Psychology student with a minor in Sociology. She completed her Honours thesis under Dr. John Lydon, examining how mechanisms such as investment and commitment influence the acceptance of undesirable traits, or “dealbreakers,” in romantic relationships. This summer, she will continue to support research in the Lydon Lab on relationship initiation and maintenance. Natasha is excited to deepen her understanding of interpersonal relationships and expand her research skills.

Recipient of the Undergraduate Experiential Learning Opportunities Support Fund.

Ariella Morgan: From Substitution to Participation: Recognizing Persons With Dementia As Social Citizens, supervised by Prof. Tamara Sussman, Department of Social Work

Ariella is a U2 student at McGill University, majoring in Psychology and minoring in Behavioural Science and Jewish Studies. This summer, she will be working with Professor Tamara Sussman on a project focused on recognizing persons with dementia as social citizens, which she will conduct through interviewing people living with dementia and their care partners. Her academic interests span developmental and clinical psychology, with a particular focus on how social environments shape identity and well-being across the lifespan. She looks forward to learning from their experiences and contributing to more inclusive approaches to dementia care.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by Mrs. Martha Breithaupt.

Diep Nguyen: Cultural Influences on Emotion Regulation and Mental Health of Montréal Youth, supervised by Prof. Manuela Ferrari, Department of Psychiatry

Diep Nguyen is a U2 Honours Psychology student at McGill University, with a minor in Science for Arts Students. Originally from Vietnam, she moved to Montreal at 17 to pursue her studies. At the Ludic Mind Studio, under the supervision of Dr. Manuela Ferrari and Dr.Ian Raugh, her research explores how cultural and individual differences shape mental health, with the goal of advancing more inclusive and culturally responsive care. Diep plans to pursue graduate studies in Clinical Psychology or Psychiatry. In her free time, she enjoys films, cooking, baking, and reading with her cat.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by the Arts Student Employment Fund (ASEF).

Abby Zhu: A Longitudinal Investigation of Reward Processing Contributions to Eating Disorders, supervised by Prof. Sarah Racine, Department of Psychology

Abby Zhu is a U2 Psychology student minoring in behavioral science and cognitive science. She has always been fascinated by various psychopathologies and the different proposed underlying mechanisms. Abby aspires to pursue graduate studies in the future in the hope of better understanding maladaptive human behaviors. This summer, she is delighted to be working under the supervision of Professor Sarah Racine, contributing to a longitudinal project investigating reward processing in binge eating.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by the Arts Student Employment Fund (ASEF).

Misha Wakefield: Socialist World Literature, supervised by Prof. Daniel Pratt, Department of Russian Studies

Misha Wakefield is a second-year student studying English Literature and Russian. He will work with Professor Daniel Pratt to examine how the Soviet Union’s use of literature to promote the Bolshevik Revolution around the world can offer solutions to contemporary critiques of World Literature. The project focuses on the journal, International Literature, published in the Soviet Union in Russian and abroad in four languages. Misha will read through the journal, one text at a time.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by the Arts Student Employment Fund (ASEF).

Sarah Evans: Geographic Variation in Requests for Telehealth Abortion Medication in the United States, supervised by Prof. Shelley Clark, Department of Sociology

Sarah is a third-year student pursuing a joint honors degree in Sociology and English Literature, with a minor in Political Science. Her focus in Sociology surrounds social demography and population dynamics. This summer, Sarah will work with Dr. Shelley Clark to clean and analyze a dataset containing requests made to one online medication abortion provider. The results of the analysis will be used to explore the geographic variation of telehealth abortion medication requests across America.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by the Arts Student Employment Fund (ASEF).

Hannah Thompson: It is All About Networking: The Effect of Family Background on Networking Strategies Among College Students, supervised by Prof. Elena Obukhova, Desautels Faculty of Management

Hannah Thompson is an Honours Sociology student at McGill University, with a minor in Communication Studies. This summer, she will be working with Professor Obukhova and colleague Professor Mackey at the Desautels Faculty of Management on a study exploring how students build networks and secure internships and jobs. Hannah is interested in law, research, and leadership, and is particularly excited to deepen her understanding of social networking and career access.

Recipient of the Undergraduate Experiential Learning Opportunities Support Fund.

Anya Valimahomed: Recovering the Histories of Khoja Ismailis as Melancholic Migrants from East Africa to Canada, supervised by Prof. Pasha Khan, Department of Islamic Studies

Anya is a third-year psychology student minoring in South Asian Studies and Behavioural Science. Her project explores the migration and cultural networks of Khoja Ismailis from East Africa to Canada. By analysing rare books and archival materials at McGill’s Islamic Studies Library, she aims to reconstruct histories of displacement and intergenerational loss. Her research will culminate in an exhibition highlighting these under-documented diasporic identities. She is excited to work with Prof. Pasha Khan on this project.

Recipient of the Arts Undergraduate Research Internship Award funded by Mrs. Martha Breithaupt.