Our team is comprised of leading specialists in education, psychology, and refugee studies.
Professor Ratna Ghosh is the Principal Investigator for this project. Dr. Ghosh is Distinguished James McGill Professor and William C. Macdonald Professor of Education at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. She was Dean of Education from July 1998 to December 2003. Over her 40-year career, Dr. Ghosh has written numerous articles, books, and has been invited as keynote speaker to many conferences on the topics of multicultural education, race relations, human rights and education, teacher education in cross-cultural perspective and the education of minority groups in a comparative perspective.
Her contributions to the general area of diversity and education have been the most significant over the course of her career. Her research has focused on the impact of ‘difference’ on identity development and the educational achievements of youth who are ‘different’ from the norm in society and societal institutions such as schools. Refugee youth are in a particularly vulnerable position. The 2nd and 3rd editions of her two books on education and difference (co-authored with students), a jointly edited special issue of the Teachers College Record on youth, and articles and chapters in various books have had a considerable impact on the field of inclusion of refugees and immigrants in Canada.
Srividya Iyer is a leading expert in youth mental health and early intervention. Her well-funded research seeks to ensure that more young people in Canada and beyond, including India, have timely access to appropriate, youth-friendly services, including mental healthcare, and enjoy well-being and social participation. Along with exceptional research and clinical accomplishments, Dr. Iyer’s outstanding contributions include the engagement of diverse stakeholders, particularly youth, families, service providers and decision-makers, to increase capacity in community contexts to serve diverse youth populations better. She is the Scientific-Clinical Director of ACCESS Open Minds, a pan-Canadian CIHR-funded project that is transforming mental health care for young people aged 11 to 25 in six provinces and one territory. ACCESS’s 14 sites target urban, rural, Indigenous, visible minority, immigrant, refugee, university, homeless and looked-after youths.
Srividya is also a licensed clinical psychologist who continues to contribute to meaningful community-oriented mental health initiatives. For her accomplishments, Iyer has received numerous awards and recognition and was inducted into the Royal Society of Canada’s College of New Scholars, Artists, and Scientists.
Domenique Sherab is an independent researcher with a focus on forced migration, refugees, integration, and education issues. She completed her Masters of Science in Refugees and Forced Migration from Oxford University where she wrote her thesis on the Jordanian government's efforts to integrate Syrian refugees into the Jordanian labour market. She has worked and consulted for universities and NGOs in Australia, Canada and the Middle East. She worked with UNHCRs legal aid implementing partner in Jordan where she gained in-depth insight into the Syrian refugee community. Continuing her interest in the Middle East and refugees, she is currently working as Development and Research Manager with the International Community Action Network based out of the School of Social Work at McGill and is a team member of the Tajribati Research Project (SSHRC)
Milagros Calderón Moya is a doctoral candidate in Educational Studies at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, where she also earned her master’s degree in Educational Leadership. Her thesis investigated the perceptions of adult Latin Americans on their secondary school experiences in the city of Montreal. Funded by FRQSC, she is researching the economic integration experiences of skilled Latin American immigrants and the issues related to interprovincial migration in Quebec.
Arianne Maraj is a doctoral student in Educational Studies at McGill University, Montreal, Canada, where she also earned her master’s degree in Administration and Policy Studies in Education. Her doctoral thesis focuses on supporting Syrian refugee parents’ integrate their children in schools in Montreal. She has 25 years' experience as a teacher, and in establishing educational support programs for disadvantaged students, in France, China, Hong Kong, Thailand, Lebanon, and Madagascar.