Research in Focus
Spotlight Series
Year in Review
Looking back at 2025, our faculty’s research continues to shape what education is and can become in the face of climate change, social polarization, disability justice, shifting language politics, and the emerging technology of generative AI. Our faculty’s publications do not simply add new topics to education; they invite reflection on what counts as learning, whose experiences anchor research, and which forms of knowledge deserve authority.
Research Impact
In 2025, students in a research project led by Dr. Cher Hill, doctoral student Neva Whintors, and Dr. Ching-Chiu Lin received the Graeme Loader Community Panda Award from WWF Canada. Supported by the Surrey School District, this research engaged children in outdoor learning, digital storytelling, and place-based environmental care, strengthening children's sense of themselves as capable contributors to the world. Featured in WWF Canada’s year-end impact video, Together for Nature: Looking Back on 2025, extending knowledge mobilization beyond academic audiences.
In the Media
In A Vital Bridge Linking Higher Ed to the Downtown Eastside, Dr. Suzanne Smythe (with Dr. Michelle Stack) shares an evidence-informed perspective on the possibilities of sustained university–community partnerships. Drawing on nearly three decades of engagement at the Carnegie Learning Centre, the article clarifies how partnering with communities strengthens research and expands sites of inquiry, how teaching can support communities, and how communities, in turn, strengthen university work.
Faculty Research Highlights
The 2025 Faculty Research Highlights capture the breadth, vitality, and depth of FoE scholarship across diverse disciplines. These works advance innovative approaches to learning and teaching and deepen engagement through conference contributions, creative initiatives, and public-facing work across local and international contexts. Collectively, FoE faculty members continue to shape the future of education.
Recently Awarded Grants
Congratulations to these grant recipients:
- SSHRC Insight Development Grant recipients: Dr. Kevin O’Neill, Dr. Laura D'Amico, Dr. Shawn Bullock, Dr. Cary Campbell, Dr. Yumiko Murai, and Dr. Cristiano Barbosa de Moura,
- SSHRC Connection Grant recipients: Dr. Lynn Fels and Dr. Amy Parent
- Ronald S. Roadburg Foundation Grant recipient: Dr. Lilach Marom
- Michael Smith Health Research BC Grant recipient: Dr. Sharon Hou
- SFU/SSHRC Institutional Grant recipient: Dr. Joel Heng-Hartse
- SFU Community Trust Endowment Fund recipient: Dr. David Zandvliet
- SFU Publication Fund recipients: Dr. Roger Frie, Dr. Cristiano Barbosa de Moura, Dr. Amy Parent, and Dr. Cary Campbell.
2025 Publications
Explore the Faculty of Education’s 2025 publications for scholarly insights, fresh perspectives, and in-depth explorations across a wide range of teaching and learning research.
Video Series
The Digital Café
The Automated Literacies research project is a collaboration among Dr. Suzanne Smythe, Dr. Nathalie Sinclair, Dr. Sheree Rodney, and Rajeeta Samala, literacy outreach coordinator for Burnaby Neighbourhood House. Three videos, developed as key research outcomes, examine the datafication of social rights in algorithmic times, when access to essential resources such as food security and housing is increasingly mediated by automated platforms. By shifting from “click-to-agree” consent to a relational pedagogy of “feeling-with,” the initiative supports seniors and newcomers in navigating digitized services with agency and confidence. The project argues that digital equity is a social right that requires sustained, ethical collaboration, funding, and community-led action.
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