#doingjustice at OISE's Department of Social Justice Education
In this video series, we spoke with five students based in the Department of Social Justice Education (SJE) about their research, and the role of the department in their academic and personal growth.
Devonnia Miller
Devonnia Miller (she/her) is an SJE doctoral candidate. With over 15 years of experience in higher education administration, she has worked in various roles, including residence services, student life, academic and events coordination, and executive assistance. She was the president of the departmental student association for the 2024-25 academic year.
Harny Chan Lim
A Registered Early Childhood Educator, Harny Chan Lim (he/they) is a doctoral candidate at SJE. He has completed an Early Childhood Education (ECE) Diploma and Honours Bachelor's Child Development (BCD) Degree at Seneca College, and a Master of Arts in Early Childhood Studies (MA ECS) at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).
Kim Auger
Kimberly Auger is a doctoral candidate at SJE. She previously graduated with a Master of Teaching from OISE.
Willis Opondo
Willis Akala Opondo (he/him) is a Research Associate at the Toronto District School Board and a Ph.D. Candidate at the Department of Social Justice Education, OISE, at the University of Toronto. He has taught undergraduate sociology courses at Machakos University, Kenya and worked as a consultant urban sociologist for urban planning firms.
Heather Watts
Heather Watts (she/her) is Mohawk & Anishinaabe from Six Nations of the Grand River Territory. She graduated from Syracuse University with a degree in Inclusive Education, at Columbia University Teachers College with a degree in Literacy Coaching, and working as an elementary school teacher in New York City and in Rochester, NY.
Student Research Interests
Leanne Toshiko Simpson
EdD Student
Leanne鈥檚 work is inspired by a rich tradition of Japanese Canadian literary resistance and her longstanding teaching practice within disability arts. Her SSHRC-supported dissertation-in-practice explores how community-based, arts-informed spaces can contribute to building knowledge around the impact of the internment on Japanese Canadian wellbeing and identity. In offering intergenerational writing workshops through which the memory of internment is revisited and reshaped, Leanne鈥檚 project will develop knowledge through both the collaborative writing produced and the act of gathering itself. Through this work, wellbeing will be situated as a community endeavor amidst shifting histories of racial discrimination and settler colonialism in Canada and imperial legacies in Japan.
Keywords: Race & Citizenship Studies, Disability Arts, Creative Writing, Research Creation, Mental Health
Tshweu Moleme
PhD Student
His research work is focused on areas such as labour, education, technology and the future of work, social change/justice, young workers, youth activism, and unions, in both Canada and the African continent, specifically Southern Africa. His work seeks to understand workplace dynamics, from knowledges and the transfer of knowledges within the workplace, generational and otherwise, to the power of work and workers, as well as ways in which change takes place within the workplace. His work also looks at young workers, their role and space-making (self-determination) within the area of work; the power of and challenges for young workers. Tshweu is also not only a labour activist and leader, but a keen researcher of unions, to see how they have or are evolving and their role in society.
Keywords: Education, Labour, Unions, Social Change/Justice, Young Workers/Activism
Mayson Broccoli-Romanowska
MA student
Mayson鈥檚 research explores how undergraduate social justice education can catalyze social change by linking critical reflection with action. Grounded in Critical Whiteness Studies and Critical Pedagogy Studies, her work examines how dominant oppressive systems鈥攑articularly white supremacy鈥攁re reproduced in institutions, and how they might be challenged through strategic, justice-oriented teaching and learning. Mayson is interested in the synergy between critical awareness and action, the pedagogical conditions that nurture accountability and solidarity, and how educators can design learning experiences that foster sustained anti-racist and anti-colonial commitments beyond the classroom. Mayson brings experience in Canadian federal policy analysis supporting equity-seeking private businesses.
Keywords: Critical Pedagogy Studies, Critical Whiteness Studies, Allyship, Praxis, Social Change
Jose Miguel (Miggy) Esteban
PhD Student
Miggy engages with dance practices and methods of research-creation to rethink the relations between disability studies and educational praxis. His work considers the obvious and not so obvious ways we are introduced to certain 鈥渙rdinary鈥 expectations of embodiment through narratives of normalcy that construct an ideal dancing body. Encountering these narratives as choreographic, he engages with the inspiration and repetition of gestures to reveal new possibilities for interpreting a return to our bodies, to our belonging within space, and to our movement in relation with one another. Centring the work of disabled dance/movement artists and practitioners, he hopes to discover new orientations to a critical and creative pedagogy of dance.
Keywords: Disability Studies, Dance Studies, Embodiment, Interpretive Methods, Research Creation
Harina Baheta
MEd Student
Harina鈥檚 research examines how emerging technologies, specifically artificial intelligence, are reshaping learning opportunities and transforming the landscape of educational development. She is interested in how sustainable, community-driven approaches to AI can support overburdened teachers, address structural shortages, and imagine more equitable futures for African education. Harina brings experience working in the East African region, where she collaborated with educators to explore, develop and pilot AI-powered solutions responsive to local needs and grounded in community empowerment.
Keywords: Decolonial Technology Studies, Gender Equity in Education, AI & Educational Justice, Critical Development Studies
Becky (Ying) Gu
MEd Student
Becky explores how narratives of citizenship, exile, and belonging shape the experiences of international students and displaced learners in higher education. Her research examines the visible and invisible pedagogical forces that influence social belonging within universities, investigating how cultural assumptions are reproduced in educational settings and how lived experiences can open new possibilities for understanding movement across borders. As Vice President of the International Student Association at OISE, she translates research into advocacy, working to foster genuine belonging for international students in Canada while developing a critical pedagogy that centres marginalized voices and values diverse forms of knowledge.
Keywords: Migration Studies, International Students, Higher Education, Community Building, Critical Pedagogy
Jei Mikhail Bacuetes
MEd Student
