Fall 2024 - Winter 2025

This ongoing project requires analyzing hundreds of already conducted interviews with C-Suite, Executives and CEOs to gain insights. Comparing the key insights with already existing literature to further broaden the implications for a written component.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Karl Moore, Strategy & Organization Area

Fellow(s): Hanna Sproat (BCom, Major in General Management)

The project is focused on understanding the barriers Gen Zs face when negotiating. The project includes various initiatives, including writing negotiation simulations and helping organize events.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Jean-Nicolas Reyt, Organizational Behaviour Area

Fellow(s): Joud Daoud (BCom, Major in Finance)

This research project has two components: 1) Analyzing the methodology behind international rankings and awards to understand the global ecosystem, current positioning of McGill's Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship, and derive key insights into competitive advantages and opportunity areas for McGill. 2) Diagnosing McGill's Dobson Centre database of start-ups to summarize trends, diversity, growth and inform future international submissions. The Faculty Supervisor and the Fellows will work to landscape the international entrepreneurship scene, identify current trends, inform best practices, and critically assess the current position of the Dobson Centre. The students will work together to produce a final report for future international submissions of the centre. Students will work with the interdisciplinary Dobson team and have the opportunity to learn about our programs and shadow start-ups when appropriate.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Marie-Josée Lamothe, Entrepreneurship Area

Fellow(s): Jules Rousseau (BCom, Major in Finance)

This research project has two components: 1) Analyzing the methodology behind international rankings and awards to understand the global ecosystem in both sustainability and life sciences, current positioning of McGill's Dobson Centre for Entrepreneurship in those two fields and derive key insights into competitive advantages and opportunity areas for McGill. 2) Diagnosing McGill's Dobson Centre new offerings in sustainability and life sciences while summarizing trends, diversity, and growth regarding current and past start-ups in database. The Faculty Supervisor and the Fellows will work to critically assess the new offerings of the Dobson in sustainability (Fall) and life sciences (Winter) at the dawn of renewal from funding partners. Together, they will landscape the international entrepreneurship scene, identify current trends, inform best practices, and future improvements for the programs based on key performance indicators. The students will work together to produce a final report for future international submissions of the centre. Students will work with the interdisciplinary Dobson team and have the opportunity to learn about our programs and shadow start-ups when appropriate.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Marie-Josée Lamothe, Entrepreneurship Area

Fellow(s): Jaiden Bains (BA, Major in Economics)

In an era in which professions are seeing a rupture of their credibility, some have argued that the architectural profession is in a state of crisis, locked in an ongoing struggle to establish professional legitimacy. This research project utilizes archival and ethnographic data sources to detail the threats faced by the Canadian architecture profession, and how the profession has evolved based on perceived threats. Specifically, this project will involve archival data collection, coding and analysis, along with topic focused literature reviews. The ethnographic data for this study is continually being collected, and the fellow may have the opportunity to observe meetings and experience the fieldwork process alongside the lead researcher. Additionally, the fellow will have an opportunity to gain skills in graphic representation, visualization, and system mapping. This research seeks to understand how mature professions evolve, or are deprofessionalized by the changing field that surrounds them.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Samer Faraj, Strategy & Organization Area; Gina Page, Strategy & Organization Area

Fellow(s): Rongrong Luo (BCom, Major in Accounting)

Many inherently spatial questions in the social sciences are hard to answer because of incompatible data sources. Solving said incompatibilities involves solving both the Modifiable Areal Unit Problem and the Zoning Problem; but the processes for doing so are complicated and rarely scalable. Our goal is to leverage the H3 libraries, originally developed by Uber, as a common translation standard between geospatial data sources. We will be developing several libraries for common statistical languages like R, which will speed up this sort of work by several orders of magnitude. This work could potentially drastically lower the barriers to entry for geospatial social science.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Roman Galperin, Organizational Behaviour Area; Prof. John-Paul Ferguson, Organizational Behaviour Area

Fellow(s): Adele Valero (BA&Sc, Major in Sustainability, Science, and Society)

Digital technologies have been taking unprecedented salience in our everyday life but remain nascent in their ability to respond to the needs of the most vulnerable people. This project embraces this opportunity through a multi-stakeholder Living Lab that will generate evidence-based, holistic, community-engaged, and digital-powered solutions for the vulnerable population in Montreal. Through a process of collaboration, co-creation and real-world experimentation, This Living Lab project will generate digital solutions that bridge the human and digital divide between health professionals, public health services, and community organizations, and that tackle the challenges that our partners face in addressing the evolving health and social needs of our most vulnerable population. This Living Lab project will operate within the broader Smart City-Health City initiative co-led by McGill Centre for the Convergence of Health and Economics. The fellows will get a unique chance to work with on-the-ground implementation partners, benefit from close faculty coaching and industry mentorships, and acquire professional skills that will enhance their job readiness. At the same time, the Living Lab will generate a better understanding of the determinants of Smart and Healthy Cities that can be implemented as successful, scalable and enduring solutions to many current and future challenges faced by growing and increasingly complex urban communities.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Laurette Dubé, Marketing Area; Dr. Catherine Paquet, Department of Marketing FSA ULaval; Dr. Raja Sengupta, Bieler School of Environment and Department of Geography

Fellow(s): Miray Wahib (BCom, Major in International Management)

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from developing countries pursue increased sustainability as suppliers in global value chains. However, they encounter major financing barriers to implement sustainable strategies. Impact investors with social and environmental investment goals target investing in firms engaging in sustainable production in developing countries. This project explores the strategies of impact investors from the plural sector. We will examine the impact investing models and strategies that not-for-profit organizations use to support the sustainability strategies of SMEs in value chains.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Paola Perez-Aleman, Strategy Area

Fellow(s): Simone Baida (BCom, Major in Strategic Management)

This research project seeks to examine the unique dynamics of entrepreneurship in the townships of Cape Town, South Africa. Building on unique multi method data that involves GIS, photographic, and survey data and the potential to collect new qualitative data, we will work towards developing a paper for publication. This will be an inductive process that seeks to make sense of the data and iterate to identifying a promising gap in the growing literature on entrepreneurship in contexts of poverty and informality to contribute to. The fellow will play an active role in sense making in the data and beginning to craft a contribution to the field of entrepreneurship.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Robert Nason, Strategy & Organization Area

Fellow(s): Lucas Chrétien (BA, Major in Economics)

Social network analysis (different from social media) is a tool to quantify and analyze relationships among individuals in a social system. It is a powerful tool that goes beyond individual-level analysis students commonly encounter in statistics classes. Most statistics is based on an assumption of independence. Social network analysis embraces interdependence. This tool can help reveal social processes that are overlooked by individual-level analysis. This project uses social network data and network analysis to understand processes that give rise to inequalities (gender, racial/ethnic, disability, and more) in workplaces.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Brian Rubineau, Organizational Behavior Area

Fellow(s): Zhihe Ren (BA, Major in Statistics); Richard Tan (BCom, Major in Business Analytics)

The primary aim of this project is to explore the development of SMEs' online-based internationalization. This examination will research/study to learn about: i) The operation of large international online enterprises, including online platforms (e.g., Alibaba.com, Amazon.com, Shopify.ca, Spotify.com, etc.), ii) Online platforms’ supply chain of smaller enterprises, and iii) The characteristics of digitized small ventures and multi-sided platforms’ mutual interactions, including those as suppliers, buyers and intermediaries that facilitate their supply chain and process of their international relationships for achieving mutually beneficial international growth.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Hamid Etemad, Marketing Area

Fellow(s): Valentin De Lussu (BCom, Major in Finance); Ali Douba (BCom, Major in Finance); Ilia Mehr Bakhsh (BA, Major in Political Science)

This project will research current practices and approaches to entrepreneurship pedagogy at the graduate and undergraduate level. This will involve benchmarking against leading programs, identifying particularly innovative courses, and brainstorming new entrepreneurship and innovation offerings. The ultimate goal will be additions and revisions to McGill's entrepreneurship and innovation course offerings.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Niels Billou, Strategy & Organization Area; Prof. Robert Nason, Strategy & Organization Area

Fellow(s): Kennedy Ryan (BA, Major in Psychology)

Picking up from the first phase in the IMSF 2022-23 cohort, in this exploratory project, we will look to researching, measuring, and defining how to develop an Analytics community for Desautels, McGill, Montreal and Canada. This project will have 3 parts: The 1st being a strategic measurement in developing an ‘Analytics Community CRM’ for those who want to develop their technical acumen over their careers. The 2nd is to quantify community members progression in their careers, and the 3rd is developing a Life-Long-Learning strategies for learning & growth streams. Students will work on elements of the project that complement their strengths and interest and should think about this as Phase 1-2 of a multi-staged project.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Shoeb Hosain, Operations Management Area

Fellow(s): Erik Hunter (BCom, Major in General Management)

Become part of a dynamic team of researchers, community workers and public health actors to advance the labour rights of precarious status (asylum seekers, migrant workers, undocumented) workers. We will be engaged in a combination of data analysis (quant and qual), writing articles, and translating results into action via trainings, advocacy and media.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Jill Hanley, McGill School of Social Work

Fellow(s): Oliver Valencia (BCom, Major in Finance)

This project will conduct research into inclusive curriculum and pedagogical practices at other business schools in Canada. This research will consider decolonial, anti-racist and anti-oppression theories which is informing curriculum development and pedagogy in other institutions. This project will also evaluate and assess current practices within the Desautels Faculty of Management and will put forward a proposal for improvement.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Tatiana Lamoureux-Gauvin, Organizational Behaviour Area; Karrie-Noelle Plohman, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Team.

Fellow(s): Aya Cherkaoui (BCom, Major in Economics); Siya Pandit (BA, Major in Political Science)

This research project seeks to determine the barriers that limit the role younger people and minorities take in the voluntary sector and how the tools of operations management can be used to tackle them. Through a review of archival survey data, the fellows and supervisor will establish hypotheses potential barriers. An interview protocol will then be developed and actors throughout the hierarchy of the voluntary sector in Canada will be interviewed to collect further data. As time and opportunity allows, the project will be extended to include a simulation model of a voluntary organization to directly study changes in policies and their effects on volunteer diversity.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Rob Glew, Operations Management Area

Fellow(s): Elio Rossi (BCom, International Management)

One of the most important decisions a firm faces is if and when it should go public. From a broader macroeconomic perspective, IPOs enable the flow of capital to productive firms. However, given the lack of data on private firms, we know little how this works in North America. In this project we will use regulatory data to analyze the determinants and implications of firms' IPO decisions.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Gregory Weitzner, Finance Area

Fellow(s): Adam Xiao (BCom, Major in Finance); Pierre-Alexandre Larouche (BCom, Major in Finance)

Brand equity is the difference between the value of a branded offering by a firm and the value of a fictitiously named or unnamed version of the same offering by the same firm (Keller 1993). When aggregated across a firm’s offerings, brand equity measures the value that brands create for the firm by influencing customer opinions and behaviors. Indeed, academics have documented that a firm’s brand equity boosts its outcomes in consumer market (Mizik and Jacobson 2009), which in turn improves the firm’s accounting (Barth et al. 1998) and financial performance (Aaker and Jacobson 1994; Rego, Billett, and Morgan 2009). My point of departure is that a brand can impact a firm’s outcomes in the labor market as well. I reason that an individual’s selection of an employer is characterized by the same—if not, a higher—level of perceived risk as their selection of a product (Del-Vecchio et al. 2007). To the extent that individuals’ positive evaluations of a firm can transfer from the product market to the labor market, the firm’s brand equity should attenuate job-applicants’ perceived risk, and thus boost the firm’s outcomes in the labor market. Brand literature has suggested that brands impact consumer choice, price premium, and evaluation. Mimicking these three outcomes in the labor market, I aim to measure the effect of a firm’s brand equity in a year on three firm-year-specific outcomes: (1) the average time to fill the open positions (my measure of choice), (2) the average salary that the firm mentions in its job listings (my proxy for price premium), and (3) average positive sentiment in employee reviews (my measure of evaluation).

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Vivek Astvansh, Marketing Area

Fellow(s): Qianhui Liu (BA, Honours in Economics)

Corporate investment has been recognized to be a political process in which divisional managers compete for higher allocations. While acknowledging acquisitions as one of the major corporate investment decisions, extant work has, surprisingly, neglected the effect of divisional managers’ interests on firms’ acquisition decisions. I try to develop a divisional lens through which to look at and explain corporate acquisitions.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Ghahhar Zavosh, Strategy & Organization Area

Fellow(s): Cameron Carlyle (BCom, Major in Finance); Marie Parent (BCom, Major in Finance) ; Julien Theulle (BCom, Major in Finance)

One of the most prominent issues in modern healthcare management is regarding bias and discrimination in medical diagnosis and treatment. This issue occurs when medical practitioners appear to diagnose different groups of patients differently when they are otherwise similar. The proposed research aims to empirically study how the use of artificial intelligence (AI) in medical diagnosis impacts the gender bias issue.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Warut Khern-am-nuai, Information Systems Area

Fellow(s): Harley Eiley, (BSc, Major in Math and Computer Science)

This project explores various aspects of employment in startups. This may include understanding why people come to work in startups, why they leave, how these processes create, maintain or reduce inequality, and how work itself evolves within these fledgling organizations. The primary work would involve analyzing and coding data from over 200 interviews with employees, employers and startup experts. This work will contribute to academic papers that will increase knowledge about working in startups.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Lisa Cohen, Organizational Behavior Area

Fellow(s): Muling Yuan (BCom, Major in Labor-Management Relations and Human Resources)

A colleague at the Darden Business School and I are writing a book. How to slow down game of business for higher performance. We have learned from great athletes and senior executives a fascinating paradox that you have to slow things down in order to handle a sped-up world. We use a sporting analogy to help us understand business. We have developed a model called the “GATES Model to High Performance” that gives practical steps for slowing your game down, whether you are a professional athlete, a young leader or a senior executive facing a new role in your organization. In the description of each step, we will include a sports example, a business scenario and then some key questions to consider. As a leader or manager, if you are able to follow each of the steps below, you should be able to speed up the slowing-down-the-game process for higher performance.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Karl Moore, Strategy & Organization Area

Fellow(s): Zach Gallant (BCom, Major in General Management); Talia Bou Jaoude (BCom, Major in Finance); Jules Vuillemin (BCom, Major in Marketing)

Rebalancing Society, the book and the site, is an attempt to address the major problems of our age, including climate change, income disparities, and more, which are seen as stemming from a major imbalance in our societies, and our globe. (Please see the site.) There is a need for some backup research, especially on how major social changes come to be (such as the Civil Rights Movement, the Quebec Quiet Revolution, and The Reformation itself).

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Henry Mintzberg, Strategy & Organization Area

Fellow(s): Charlotte Chan (BSc, Major in Nutrition); Fauve Julien (BCom, Major in General Management); Joseph Valentin Dubois (BCom, Major in Strategic Management); Atticus Fisher (BCom, Major in Finance)

There are two firms of legal status available to newly created firms in France: SARL (a "rigid" status that entrepreneurs cannot change) and SAS (a "flexible" status that entrepreneurs can customize). We study a 2009 reform that made it easier for entrepreneurs to use the flexible status. Our question is: is it a good thing to offer flexibility to entrepreneurs? Do entrepreneurs take advantage of this flexibility to make their firms grow more, or do they make mistakes when defining their legal status? This project will contribute to an academic paper that will shed light on the real effects of firm legal status, and on the financial literacy of entrepreneurs.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Paul Beaumont, Finance Area

Fellow(s): Héloïse Linet (BCom, Major in Finance)

The fellow student will work closely with Professor Marie-Josée Lamothe to research the latest trends and data available regarding the State of Retail on a global stage. This research will be shared in BCom and MMR courses and used by startups at the Dobson Center to help them build their business plan and go-to-market strategies.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Marie-Josée Lamothe, Marketing and Entrepreneurship Areas

Fellow(s): Théa Sakr (BCom, Major in Economics)

Digital ledger technologies, including blockchain, offer significant value in enhancing record-keeping and commitment through “smart contracts”. These contracts facilitate innovative designs for financing and the tokenization of real assets. This research project is an applied theory project. It will endeavor to answer the following set of questions: what are the optimal financial contracts in this technological environment (especially when it comes to preserving privacy and facilitating financial inclusion)? What are the associated technological standards and possibilities? Should the regulation focus more on claims on technological features rather than regulation of the financial contracting aspects only?

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Katrin Tinn, Finance Area

Fellow(s): Samuel Ferreira Duran (BCom, Honours in Economics); Lutming Wang (BA, Honours in Economics)

This research project delves into the critical issue of fairness in AI-powered recruitment systems. We aim to uncover and analyze potential biases embedded within these algorithms, exploring how they may disadvantage certain groups of candidates while favoring others. Through rigorous data analysis and ethical considerations, we seek to develop methods for mitigating bias and promoting equal opportunities at every stage of the hiring process. Our findings will contribute to building fairer and more inclusive recruitment practices, ultimately empowering organizations to unlock the full potential of a diverse workforce.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Warut Khern-am-nuai, Information Systems Area

Fellow(s): Daniela Gomez Quinones (BCom, Major in Business Analytics)

In this project, we want students with an interest in sustainability and AI/Analytics to help us build a Sustainability Analytics Hub: The Data Mangrove (data-mangrove.com). Through this project, the students will collaborate with professionals and master-level students in software engineering, sustainability and AI/Analytics, in the creation of a world-leading analytics hub that will be nested at McGill University. The goal of the hub is to bring together sustainability organizations and NGOs and researchers in data analytics.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Juan Serpa, Operations Management Area

Fellow(s): Mia Colaner (BCom, Major in General Management); Kevin Cui (BA, Honours in Economics)

This internship is part of an ongoing multi-year research project (www.xcollaboration.org/research) that uses diverse qualitative and quantitative approaches to exploring and explicating key coordination challenges in the Quebec healthcare system, and translating these challenges into policies for system-wide change. Ongoing studies include but are not limited to how hospitals digitalize data and practices, how technologies like AI are developed and used by hospitals, how such organizations navigate disruption, and how official Quebec ministry of health public data serves to inform (or inadvertently obscure) key challenges in the system.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Samer Faraj, Strategy & Organization Area

Fellow(s): Héloïse Colas (BCom, Major in General Management); Amanda Leloup (BA, Honours in Political Science), Isabel Inés (BA, Major in Environment)

This project will conduct research into best practices related to the development of EDI considerate case inventories held at post-secondary institutions, with a specific interest in business schools. Fellows will also conduct interviews with representatives from various universities in order to better understand the ethical implications of how cases will be selected, by whom and through what theoretical frameworks. This work will lead to a report submitted to the Dean of the Faculty of Management, and will include recommendations as well as a summary of best practices. Fellows will also work alongside the Supervisor in the initial stages of implementation.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Karrie-Noelle Plohman, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Team; Prof. Tatiana Lamoureux-Gauvin, Organizational Behaviour Area

Fellow(s): Brandy Zhang (BCom, Major in Finance), Lashyn Ahmad (BCom, Major in Economics)

Social enterprises aspire to achieve financial sustainability while creating positive social impact. Despite the growing interest in the phenomenon of social entrepreneurship, many social enterprises struggle to survive in the competitive marketplace and have been exposed to various shocks and disturbances (e.g., economic recession, COVID-19 pandemic). The Fellows will participate in an ongoing field study of social enterprises that have been facing significant financial and other forms of challenges. Through an in-depth study of organizations that have ceased to exist, as well as those that continue to operate and thrive, the project aims to offer insights into building resilient and impactful social enterprises.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Anna Kim, Strategy & Organization (Sustainability) Area

Fellow(s): Juliette Elbers (BCom, Major in Managing for Sustainability)

Indigenous enterprises, often deeply rooted in community values and distinct ways of relating to nature, have the potential to contribute to the sustainable development of Indigenous communities and the broader societies in which they are embedded. At the same time, Indigenous entrepreneurs face the intense challenge of navigating between different worldviews and practices with limited resources and inadequate support. The Fellows will participate in a field study of Indigenous enterprises in the Kanien’kéha:ka (Mohawk) territories of Kahnawake and Kanesatake (close to Montreal), as well as their collaborations with Indigenous and non-Indigenous stakeholders across local and global scales (e.g., inter-American Indigenous partnerships). By investigating how Indigenous enterprises survive and thrive under adversity while producing outcomes for sustainable development, the project aims to offer insights into building sustainable Indigenous enterprises.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Anna Kim, Strategy & Organization (Sustainability) Area

Fellow(s): Jordan Caron (BCom, Major in Managing for Sustainability)

The project involves using computer vision tools from AI to images of modern art to create measures of creativity/differentiation etc.. The resulting measures are used to develop and test theories of evaluation of creative production.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Mitali Banerjee, Strategy & Organization Area

Fellow(s): Georgia Fishteyn (BCom, Major in Strategic Management)

The evaluation of creative producers in another unique empirical context, the 1950s jazz market. We examine how reputational signals (in the form of votes) shape the extent to which a producer represents her field in mainstream discourse.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Mitali Banerjee, Strategy & Organization Area

Fellow(s): Reza Rehman (BCom, Major in Math and Statistics for Management)

The ICU Minder is an integrated system for monitoring an ICU patient, incorporating all current measures (i.e., patient monitor data, ventilator, etc.) but also adding other facets such as treatments and also patient facial and body status. The system also allows physicians to visualize data in novel ways, so as to help them with better diagnosis and care.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Reza Farivar, Health Sciences

Fellow(s): Jinny Yang (BA, Major in Geography)

We have a novel device that promises to allow us to probe brain health causally--we will be able to stimulate specific parts of the brain and monitor activity over the whole brain, comparing this activity to that of a healthy subject. As this project is in its infancy, we need to better understand what it needs to do and look like (what sorts of reports are needed, who would prescribe tests, etc.) so that we can target the development appropriately.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Reza Farivar, Health Sciences

Fellow(s): Jade Trifaud (BCom, Major in Finance)

The project investigates why professionals choose to become entrepreneurs and how their race and ethnicity influence that decision. Past research has largely assumed that external barriers like funding and licensing are the main obstacles for minority entrepreneurs. However, this project will delve into whether personal perceptions of potential discrimination and success play a role. By interviewing a diverse group tax accounting practitioners in the U.S., the study seeks to compare those who started their own businesses with those who didn't but might have under different circumstances. The aim is to generate new insights that could inform policies to promote equality in entrepreneurial opportunities, thus addressing economic and social inequality. This study is crucial for understanding and improving the dynamics of labor markets and entrepreneurship among minority groups.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Roman Galperin, Organizational Behavior Area

Fellow(s): Inayyat Seth (BCom, Major in Business Analytics); Sebastian Triana (BCom, Major in Strategic Management)

This research project investigates whether increasing exposure to partisan news promoting conservative ideology—typically associated with small government, fiscal responsibility, and tax cuts—affects corporate tax planning. The empirical strategy utilizes the expansion of Sinclair Broadcast Group, a right-leaning media company, into local TV markets in the United States. This work aims to fill a critical gap in understanding the interplay among media influence, public perception, and corporate behaviors. Specifically, it will expand our knowledge of the media's role in shaping corporate tax policies and inform regulators and the general public about the consequences of consuming partisan news.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Jingjing Zhang, Accounting Area; Prof. Brian Wenzel, Accounting Area

Fellow(s): Sihan Qian (BCom, Major in Finance)

Personalized medicine, also referred to as precision medicine, is an emerging medical approach for disease treatment and prevention of each person. Instead of the current focus on the average patient, precision medicine takes into account individual variability in genes, environment, and lifestyle. This research project takes a stakeholder’s approach to better understand the challenges faced in the field of precision medicine (PM) and pharmacogenomics (PGx). Through literature review, market research, and interviewing of different stakeholders, the goal is to better understand the landscape and discuss future directions, taking into consideration recent developments in genomics, digitalization of health and artificial intelligence (AI).

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Yannis Trakadis, Department of Human Genetics in Medicine

Fellow(s): Gabriel Maillot (BCom, Major in Finance); Joao Amorim (BCom, Major in Strategic Management)

Patients’ engagement with other patients facing similar medical issues can have clear medical benefits. Mental health peer support groups (e.g. alcoholic anonymous) constitute a well-known example. Similarly, caregivers of children with rare genetic conditions getting in contact with other individuals/families affected with the same rare disease can find support, better understand the day-to-day implications of the disease, but also increase the overall knowledge about such rare diseases that may not be adequately-characterized in the literature. This research project aims to increase our understanding of existing patient-networking opportunities and challenges in North America: what drives patients/families to be engaged, barriers to engagement, opportunities to overcome those barriers, and metrics of measuring success. Through literature review and interviewing of different stakeholders, this project will lead to partnership development and outreach strategies, along with recommendations for better integrating patient networking in medical care, taking advantage of novel technologies.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Yannis Trakadis, Department of Human Genetics in Medicine

Fellow(s): Victoire Piot (BCom, Major in General Management); Raine Yan Tse (BCom, Major in Strategic Management)

The Schulich School of Music possesses a performance simulator, including a stage-like space with black curtains and spotlights, in which musicians (and others such as public speakers) may simulate performances in front of a large screen that displays a pre-recorded video of a jury or audience. Through a computer it is possible to control the reactions of the jury/audience presented to the performer (by selecting different sections of the videos). This training facility also allows the study of various parameters associated to performance. We plan to conduct a study measuring eye-gaze and heart rate variability to assess how they vary at various levels of perceived anxiety during simulations in an adult music student population. Measures will also include video and audio recordings of the performance as well as their Music Performance Anxiety perception (K-MPAI inventory, Kenny, 2004). The proposed study will shed light on the correlation between attention, physiological parameters and performance anxiety which may contribute to the development of student-centered learning strategies and pedagogies targeting the needs identified during the study.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Isabelle Cossette, Schulich School of Music

Fellow(s): Christy Abou Jaoude (BCom, Major in Finance); Maya Schlesinger (BSc, Major in Psychology)

This project focuses on the experience of meaningfulness at work and in organizations. It delves into the question of how meaning is accomplished in contemporary organizational settings, characterized by unpredictability, lack of job security and technological complexity. It works on an interdisciplinary knowledge base, with a focus on philosophy and sociology. The project is a part of the Desautels Chair on Philosophy in Management.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Saku Mantere, Strategy & Organization Area

Fellow(s): Roman Segalowitch (BCom, Major in Finance); Ava Farivar (BA, Major in Political Science)

The candidate will join a task force in exploring international growth opportunities for one of the segments of McGill’s executive education offerings. As a member of the task force, the candidate will support the group in identifying risks and opportunities, collecting market statistics, preparing marketing/information material, and contribute to the design of optimal program structures. The geographical focus is Europe, the market segment is graduate education, the subject field is finance. This project lies at the intersection of strategy, entrepreneurship, and marketing. While the goal is to develop graduate education in finance, a detailed knowledge of finance is not required.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Patrick Augustin, Finance Area

Fellow(s): Peyton MacLeod (BCom, Major in Finance)

Climate change has adverse effects not only on the planet, but on human health and well being as well Increased floods, droughts, heat waves and disruptions in agriculture, water and sanitation have far reaching implications on quality of life, longevity and long-term mental health. Communities in precarious or vulnerable environments are especially at risk. The Fellows will contribute to better understanding the human health implications of the changing climate by investigating better, more climate resilient and environmentally sustainable health systems, and assessing health vulnerabilities and developing health plans.

Faculty Supervisor(s): Prof. Sabine Dhir, Strategy & Organization Area

Fellow(s): Sophie Blumstein (BCom, Major in Managing for Sustainability); Noah Haineault (BCom, Major in Finance); Nandini Mukherjee (BA, Major in International Development Studies); Alina Shimizu-Jozi (BSc, Honours in Computer Science and Biology)