Key themes, Literatures and Methods 

• Sociocultural, relational, dialogical, social constructionist and psychological constructivist theories of self, identity and human change in dialogue with critical social theory
• Sexualities & genders, LGBTQ, queer and trans studies
• Identity and community formation in contexts of globalization, hybrid geographies, mobilities & diaspora
• Narrative Inquiry, dialogical analysis, ethnographic, collaborative and participatory inquiry strategies

Past Research Projects

2004–2006
Queer Women on the Net, Research Assistant with Dr. Mary Bryson, funded by SSHRC

• Investigated themes of identity, mobility, agency and community networks while conducting a Critical Ethnography of LGBTQ women’s quotidian online practices
• Recruited participants, resulting in a diverse sample of queer-identified women
• Conducted interviews, jointly developed coding scheme, and contributed to analysis and writing

2003–2005
Massage Parlour Outreach Pilot Project with Asian Society for Intervention on AIDS

• Established contacts with owners and workers in massage parlours in Vancouver and Burnaby as part of multilingual team (working competency in Thai)
  
• Provided basic health information and facilitated access to healthcare through street nurses
  
• Facilitated evaluation of sites for potential inclusion in an epidemiological study
  
• Conveyed concerns of experiential women to research team and interpreted research concepts into everyday language to facilitate dialogue between researchers and outreach team
  

2001–2005
Clerical Workers' Experiences of Workplace Stress with Drs. Bonita Long & Wendy Hall, SSHRC funded

• Participated in all aspects of a mixed-methods program of research investigating workplace stress: a grounded theory, a critical discourse analysis, and a quantitative daily-diary study
  
• Developed proficiency in grounded theory interviewing and analysis supported by Atlas.ti
• Conducted focus groups using arts-based process to investigate metaphors of stress
• Resulted in many publications including a “top 10 most cited” publication on workplace stress
  

2001–2004
Meanings of disclosure of lesbian sexual orientation with Karen Kranz (Killam Fellow) and Dr. Bonita Long

• Analysed texts guided by Interpretive Interactionism with feedback from Norman Denzin
• Awarded LUMA award by American Psychology of Women Association

2001–2002
Survivors of Downsizing with Drs. Norman Amundson & Bill Borgen, SSHRC funded

• Investigated helpful and hindering aspects of interpersonal and organizational handling of downsizing as reported by survivors of major restructuring
  
• Conducted Critical Incident analysis, reliability checks, and wrote manuscript first draft
• Awarded best research contribution for a top-tier career counselling journal