Students

Edmundo Maza is the Student Caucus Leader for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project. He is a PhD student in Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa. He received his Bachelor’s degree (Honours) in Sociology from the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 2018 and his Master’s Degree (Honours) in Sociology from the Iberoamerican University in 2020. Edmundo’s past work has engaged with the symbolism behind the figure of the Black Christ in the Mexican Religious landscape. Both of his dissertations analyzed the communities behind popular symbols of the Black Christ in two distinct regions of Mexico (Mexico City and Yucatan).

His current research revolves around the study of nonreligious afterlife in Canada and what that means in the face of an ever changing religious landscape. Some of his interests involve the relationship between the nonreligious community and multiculturalism, religious diversity and death.

Agostina Belén Copetti is a member of the Argentine team for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF) project. She earned a law degree from the National University of Córdoba in 2020. Agostina is currently studying for her PhD in Political Science at the National University of Córdoba with a doctoral scholarship granted by Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET).

Agostina’s research seeks to understand the discourses, strategies and actors that are articulated to oppose a broad and inclusive sexual policy, specifically how they are inserted in the spheres of political parties.

Arabella is currently a PhD student at King’s College, London is being supervised by Professor Susannah Ticciati. She is researching the distinctive contribution Palestinian Christian contextual theological viewpoints can make to the contemporary post-supersessionist dialogue between Western Christianity and Judaism, especially with reference to the theology of the land of Israel and the specific historical role that King’s College, London has played in this regard.

Prior to commencing her PhD, Arabella worked as a secondary school Religious Studies teacher for thirty years in a wide variety of different types of schools in the UK. She has a B.A. (Hons) in Theology and Religious Studies from the University of Bristol and a Post Graduate Certificate of Education and an M.A. in Systematic Theology from King’s College, London. She is a member of the Council of Christians and Jews and is Co-Chair of her local inter-faith group, Beyond Difference. She is married to James and has three (almost) grown-up children. She is delighted to be joining the Nonreligion in a Complex Future project.

Dana Gaudette is an undergraduate student at the University of Tampa in Tampa, Florida, currently pursuing a dual degree in Applied Sociology and Biochemistry. Dana’s research focuses on people’s concepts of souls, who believes in souls, and what factors might influence someone’s belief. She is interested in working towards a graduate degree in Biochemistry, and enjoys researching and learning sociology to gain a better understanding of the complex relationship between health, society, and our biology.

Elise Chrisoulakis is a part of the Australian team for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project as a research assistant. She is a third-year undergraduate student at the University of Tasmania, currently studying a Bachelor of Psychological Sciences. As part of this project, she is involved in collection and classification of data from primary sources, investigating religiosity over time. She enjoys the outdoors and travelling.

Geraldine Smith is a PhD Candidate part of the Australian team for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF) project. She received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Sydney in 2018, with a double major in Performance Studies and Studies in Religion. Her PhD thesis explores the multifaith movement in Australia, specifically how multifaith organisations facilitate interreligious relationships and mobilise these relationships for social change.

She has contributed to research on religious freedom in Australia, media depictions of religion during the Covid-19 pandemic, and the experiences of religious migrant communities in Hobart, Australia. She has published on online multifaith third spaces, and young people’s participation in multifaith initiatives, and has written a submission for the World Religions and Spirituality Project (WRSP) on the radical Christian group the Jesus Christians. Her research interests are in performance, embodiment, ethnography, and material religion.

Giovanna Paccillo is a Ph.D. Candidate in Social Anthropology at the University of Campinas (Brazil). She has a Master’s in Social Anthropology (2021) and Bachelor’s in Social Sciences (2018) from the same institution. She integrates the Laboratory of Anthropology of Religion (LAR) and the Group of Studies in Spirituality and Health (NUES), linked to the University of Campinas. Currently, she researches the spread of mindfulness meditation in Brazil. She is interested in the intersections between religion and science, gender and religion, and themes like the relationship between the secular and the religious in the public sphere.

Guadalupe Allione Riba is the former Student Caucus Leader for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project. She is from Argentina and has a degree in Sociology (2019) from the National University of Villa María (Honours). She was granted a doctoral scholarship by Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) and is now pursuing a Ph.D. in Social Studies of Latin America at the National University of Córdoba.

Guadalupe’s doctoral research engages conservative discourses, specifically the activation of moral panics against the expansion of sexual and (non)reproductive rights in Argentina. In this sense, she participates in the Program of Sexual and Reproductive Rights at the National University of Córdoba. She is also a teaching assistant in Epistemology of Social Sciences at the University of Villa María.

Hannah McKillop completed her B.A. (Honours) in Religious Studies at McGill University (2017), and her M.A. in Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa (2020). Hannah is now pursuing her Ph.D. in Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa. Hannah’s doctoral research explores the intersections between religion, nonreligion, and popular culture in North America.

Hannah’s M.A. work explored the ritual use of the “Harry Potter” series on the podcast “Harry Potter and the Sacred Text.” She addressed the ways in which the podcast’s adaptation of traditional Christian and Jewish reading practices into nonreligious spiritual technologies allowed for nonreligious individuals to participate in religious-type action despite their nonreligious affiliation. Hannah’s doctoral research studies nonreligious conceptualizations of the afterlife in North American popular culture, and how they relate to conversations around nonreligious morality and ethics.

Helena de Morais Manfrinato Othman was born in Brazil. She is a PhD student in Social Anthropology at the University of São Paulo (USP). She received her master ‘s degree in social anthropology from the University of São Paulo (USP) and her undergraduate degree in social science from São Paulo State University (UNESP), Araraquara campus. She is a member of the Religions of the Contemporary World Center (PPGAS USP/CEBRAP), the Palestinian/Latin American Center (NEPLA), and the Middle East Center (NEOM, PPGA/UFF). 

Hinna Hussain is a doctoral candidate at the Department of Classics and Religious Studies, University of Ottawa. She has received her graduate degrees in philosophy, social sciences, and lately in Muslim Cultures from the Aga Khan University (International) in the United Kingdom. Her graduate research explored the ideas of ‘integration’ and ‘interfaith’ among Pakistani immigrants in Toronto, Canada.

Hinna’s research focus includes debates on the rights and voice of religious minorities, policies of inclusion and exclusion, and the experiences of people from (non) religious backgrounds. Her PhD project involves a comparative analysis of everyday experiences and interactions of members of a Muslim minority group with people from diverse religious and non-religious backgrounds in two different contexts of Toronto, Canada, and Karachi, Pakistan. Her demographic focus is on segments of youth and women.

Iriana Sartor has a degree in Political Science from the Catholic University of Córdoba, Argentina (2021). She was granted a doctoral scholarship by Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council (CONICET) in 2022. Her doctoral research is framed within the NCF sub-project, The Reception of Nonreligious Refugees, and it focuses on the analysis of the role played by religious and non-religious organizations in the processes of reception and accompaniment of refugees and asylum seekers in Argentina.

Besides being a Research Assistant for the NCF project, she also participates in the research group, Religious and business ethos: transnational experiences and practices in and from Latin America, and in the university social responsibility project, Entrepreneurship in Women as a tool to face Gender Inequality in the local labor market. Both projects are linked to the Catholic University of Córdoba.

Jacob Legault-Leclair is currently a PhD student in sociology at the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. He specializes in quantitative methods, sociology of immigration and sociology of religion. His master’s thesis, carried out in sociology at the University of Ottawa, focused on the cultural factors shaping migration between Ontario and Québec. His doctoral work focuses on the relationship between migration and secularization and how these demographic transformations affect the political regulation of religion in Canada and France.

Jacob Legault-Leclair est actuellement étudiant au doctorat en sociologie à l’Université de Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. Il se spécialise en méthode quantitative, en sociologie des religions et de l’immigration. Sa thèse de maîtrise, effectuée en sociologie à l’Université d’Ottawa, portait sur les déterminants culturels de la migration entre l’Ontario et le Québec. Dans le cadre de ses études doctorales, il s’intéresse au rapport entre la migration et la sécularisation et aux liens qu’ont ces transformations démographiques sur la gestion politique du religieux au Canada et en France.

Katy Johnstone is a Research Assistant for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF) project in Australia. She is currently completing a Bachelor of Social Work with Honours at the University of Tasmania. Her academic interests include social justice, human rights, equity, inclusion, and community advocacy. Katy has previously contributed to research projects focusing on LGBTQI+ inclusion.

She is particularly interested in how nonreligion intersects with professional practice in human services and how worldviews shape everyday experiences of care, inclusion, and identity. After graduating, Katy hopes to pursue further research in the social sciences.

Lucas Ramos da Cunha is an undergraduate student in Social Sciences at the University of São Paulo, Brazil. He is a scientific initiative researcher at the “Nucleus of Religions in the Contemporary World” linked to the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP) and coordinated by Professor Paula Montero. Currently, he is a Visiting Research Student (VRS) at the NCF project and the University of Ottawa, under Dr. Lori Beaman’s supervision.

Mehmet Ali Basak is a member of the Student Caucus for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project. He is originally from Turkey, where he completed his BA with honours at the Middle East Technical University. He then received a full scholarship from the Qatar Foundation to study for a master’s degree in Contemporary Muslim Societies and Thought at Hamad Bin Khalifa University. In order to enhance his academic background and research skills, he chose to undertake a second MA degree in Religious Studies at the Memorial University of Newfoundland. His MA project at Memorial was titled “The Formation of Muslim Identities in Canadian Offline and Online Spaces”. Mehmet is now pursuing a Ph.D. in Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa. Mehmet is also a research member for the Nonreligious Beliefs and Practices in Turkey (NBPT) project.

His main research interest for his work at the University of Ottawa is in ‘Nonreligion in Turkey” with an emphasis on “How is nonreligion constructed in everyday life in Turkey?”  His doctoral project aims to investigate the foundations of nonreligious ideas as well as the extent of their ideological influence in Turkish public life. He particularly focuses on the existence and interaction of nonreligious beliefs and practices with a Muslim Turkish majority context. Drawing upon one year long fieldwork in Turkey, Mehmet attempts to shed light on the transformation of religion in the everyday lives of Turkish people by focusing on nonreligious practices and beliefs within the newly emerging conceptual framework of nonreligion.

Olívia Alves Barbosa is a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology at the University of São Paulo (USP) and a researcher at the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP). Her research explores the role of digital media in shaping contemporary political identities, focusing on how Instagram reconfigures dynamics of representation among feminists and anti-feminists in Brazil. Through an ethnographic approach, she examines how the platform’s visuality and algorithmic structures transform political and moral disputes in the digital public sphere, shaping new forms of engagement and belonging.

Beyond her work on political identities, Olívia is also interested in how the public sphere is being reshaped in response to contemporary challenges such as climate change and consumer culture. Her research considers social media not merely as a vehicle for disseminating discourses but as an active force in producing new modes of collective action, morality, and public space.

She is currently a FAPESP fellow and a researcher in the thematic project Religious Pluralism and Diversities in Post-Constitutional Brazil, based at CEBRAP and coordinated by Professor Paula Montero. She is also part of the Death and Dying and Law research streams within the Nonreligion in a Complex Future project.

Patience Otitoju earned her B.A. in Christian Studies from the University of Ilorin in Nigeria and is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa. Her research interests focus on non-religion and secularism within African communities.

Her current master’s research project examines African communities in the Canadian diaspora, exploring perceptions of non-religion and secularism within these communities. Specifically, she investigates how the idea of non-religion may contribute to cultural and social disconnection in African communities, and how this phenomenon may impact the low rate of non-religious individuals within African communities.

Sarah Castle is assisting on the Australian part of the project Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF).  She completed a BA in Sociology and Criminology at the University of Tasmania (2019). After this she completed a Graduate Certificate in Public Health at Griffith University (2021); and is now a Ph.D. student at the University of Tasmania. Her research interests broadly lay in the sociology of health and wellbeing, particularly in relation to working class and rural areas. More specifically, Sarah’s doctoral work explores how body size, weight and fatness are constructed and understood by rural women.

Sofía Armando holds a degree in International Relations and Political Science and is an advanced Law student at the National University of Cordoba. Sofía currently works as a project manager in a civil society organization in her city called the Foundation for the Development of Sustainable Policies (Fundeps), where they work to improve human rights standards and public policies.

Sofía is an undergraduate fellow at the Center for Legal and Social Research (CIJS) of her law school, where she researches issues related to religious freedom, feminism, and neoconservative movements. She is also a member of other research groups on gender, sexual diversity, and sexual education. In 2022, she was an intern at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown University, where she worked as a legal research assistant on sexual and (non) reproductive rights. She was also a Fulbright Scholar under the “Friends of Fulbright” program, through which she specialized in feminist research and comparative judicial policies at the University of Texas at Austin.

Sohini Ganguly received her Bachelor’s degree (Honours) in Political Science and her Master’s degree in Political Science with International Relations from Jadavpur University, West Bengal, India. She completed her Master of Philosophy from the School of Women’s Studies, Jadavpur University, West Bengal, India. Her M.Phil. dissertation focused on Mirabai, a 15^th century popular religious female figure of Rajasthan, India. The study focused on the historical representation of Mirabai, how she is embedded in the contemporary oral narratives of Rajasthani women from different tiers of the society and how Rajasthani women negotiated with the idea of Mirabai in their everyday lives. She has published a chapter titled, “Mirabai in History and in the Contemporary Narratives of Women in Rajasthan” in the book History and Collective Memory from the Margins: A Global Perspective, edited by Sahana Mukherjee and Phia S. Salter.

Her research interests include gender, religion, cultural representation, oral history, memory, oral narrative and performative tradition with specific emphasis on the religious identity creation in the Indian context. She is now working on an article related to research methodology on subject and memory. She has been accepted for the doctoral program in Feminist and Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa.

Sophie Smith is a Sociology undergraduate student at Durham University (graduating in 2026). She is a Mitacs Visiting Research Assistant for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future project at the University of Ottawa, focusing on the impacts of increasing nonreligion in the processes associated with death and dying. Sophie is interested in applying her Sociology degree, and her experience within death and dying research in the field of Social Work, hopefully continuing her studies in this area after graduation.

Syaa Liesch received her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in the Study of Religion from the University of Queensland in 2023, and is currently pursuing a PhD at the University of Tasmania. She has worked on research projects surrounding Islam and science, religious freedom, and LGBT rights.

Her research interests are spirituality, nonreligion, and queer theory, with an emphasis on transgender and gender diverse experiences.

Megan Hollinger is a member of the Student Caucus for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project. She is currently a PhD student at the University of Ottawa, having completed her MA in Religious Studies (2020) and BA in Religious Studies (2018) there as well. Megan’s MA research examined legal responses to antisemitism in contemporary Canada. Her current research moves beyond law and examines community and social-based strategies and initiatives for combating antisemitism in contemporary Canada. Megan’s work emphasizes the importance of moving beyond religious criteria in conceptualizing antisemitism and Jewish identity and considers how people of various ethnic, cultural, religious, and nonreligious backgrounds find common ground in fighting anti-Jewish hate. Her other research interests include sociology of religion and law and religion. Megan is currently the Treasurer and Membership Chair for the Association for Canadian Jewish Studies.

Saqib Hafiz Khateeb is a Student Caucus Member with the Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF) Project. He is now working towards his PhD in Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa. He graduated from SOAS-University of London with an MA in Islamic Studies majoring in Islamic Law, where his research was on Theory of Priorities from a juristic approach based on Islamic legal objectives. He holds another master’s degree in Islamic Finance from Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), and an undergraduate degree in Islamic Law and Jurisprudence from Islamic University of Madinah. He has worked extensively throughout his academic career as a Research Fellow at HBKU, and as a Graduate Research Assistant at Law Department in SOAS, and earlier at HBKU. His career includes a stint as a Paralegal at a Law firm in London.

During his academic career, Saqib developed a wide range of research interests within the field of Islamic Studies, including Islamophobia, Islamic jurisprudence, family laws, inheritance laws, intersection of religious practices and cultures, Islamic social finance, Women and human rights in Islam.

Aashikaa Srinivasan is an undergraduate student, currently pursuing her second year in BSc. Psychology at M.O.P Vaishnav College in Chennai, India. Having previously worked as a content writer and as a Human Resource Intern for mental health organizations, she joined the NCF Project team as a Research Assistant to explore her research interests which include psychology, religion and how non-religion may influence one’s philosophy. She has a flair for learning languages and can speak Korean at an intermediate level.

Achintya is an undergraduate student of Psychology studying in M.O.P. Vaishnav College for Women, India. Her research interests are in seeing various fields and topics from a psychological perspective (in this case, to understand how nonreligion affects a person’s thought process and ideas). Achintya enjoys content writing, especially “sci-comm” (Scientific-Communication, or “psy-comm”, if you will) and she loves learning new languages. She is interested in pursuing a career as a counselling/clinical psychologist.

Alex McArthur is working as part of the Australian team for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF) project. He received a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from the University of Tasmania in 2013. Alex is currently a UTAS PhD candidate working on conceptualizing the relationships between humans and the more-than-human world.

Alex’s background in wilderness guiding and community garden management lends itself to some of the areas relevant to the NCF. Core interests include the application of ecocentric philosophies, the practices of urban eco-cooperatives and cultural shifts toward symbiosis with the more-than-human world.

Alexander Burton is a member of the Australian team for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF) project. After completing his Bachelor of Social Science as well as Arts (Honours), Alex is now studying as a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania in the Department of Geography, Planning, and Spatial Sciences.

Alex’s research focuses on how the climate crisis is talked about, and how places like the Australian island state of Tasmania are imagined as potential sites of escape. This research engages with how pre-existing narratives like sustainability, apocalypse, and utopia impact how people make sense of the climate crisis today. Its aim is to assist in decolonising the Tasmanian landscape and prepare for changes in the environment and in migration.

Aliyyah is Law Student at the University of Ottawa, Common Law Section. Prior to law school, Aliyyah received her Bachelor of Arts in International Development & Political Science from McGill University (2019).

She joined the NCF project through the uOttawa Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics as a Santéship recipient. Aliyyah is currently focusing on religious and non-religious discourses in legal controversies of public health, specifically in terms of reproductive healthcare in Canada. Her research interests surround the intersections of gender, health, law and religion, both at home in Canada and globally.

Aniqa Sheikh received her BSc. (Honours) in Biology with a minor in psychology from the University of Ottawa in 2019. She has also recently completed her BA (Honours) in Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa. Aniqa is currently a student in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program (UROP) under the supervision of Professor Lori Beaman. Her research focus lies on the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions on end-of-life rituals of minority religious communities in Canada. This focus also falls within the broader health focal area within the Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF) project.

Annegret Märten is assisting on the UK part of the project Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF). They have an MA in Media and Cultural Studies from Düsseldorf University and recently submitted their PhD thesis in the joint programme between King’s College London/Humboldt-University Berlin. Their research focusses on German-language cultural production and its engagement with contemporary crisis moments.

Ariel Remund is a current PhD candidate, research assistant and sociology tutor at the University of Tasmania. Her research topics include; the sociology of emotion, emotional experiences of roadkill, religious diversity and social cohesion. Her research into religious diversity and social cohesion explored religious and community leader’s perceptions of growing diversity in her hometown, Hobart, Tasmania.

Ariel’s doctoral research explores the sociological aspects of human responses to roadkill, particularly our emotional (dis)investment in the problem. As part of her work as a research assistant, Ariel is examining Australian religious freedoms enquiries to observe the changing discourse used to discuss religious freedoms in government policy.

Benjamin Gagné a d’abord obtenu un diplôme d’études collégiales en maintenance d’aéronefs (2009) et pratique dans ce domaine depuis près de dix ans. Il a ensuite obtenu son baccalauréat en théologie avec l’Université Laval (2019) alors qu’il s’intéressait à la missiologie et au dialogue entre l’église et la société québécoise. Il poursuit aujourd’hui une M.A. en sciences des religions à l’Université de Montréal. Ses recherches actuelles se concentrent sur le phénomène de désaffiliation chez les évangéliques de deuxième génération au Québec. Il travaille aussi comme auxiliaire de recherche sur le projet « Besoins spirituels dans les établissements de détention provinciaux du Québec » mené par l’Institut d’études religieuses à l’Université de Montréal.

Camille works with the Canadian team on the topic of Death & Dying. A joint interest in eastern metaphysics and ontological anthropology have inspired her to pursue and complete a BA in Philosophy at McGill University, an undergraduate diploma in Japanese Language and Culture, as well as an honours master’s degree in Anthropology at the University of Montreal. Her thesis, entitled A Grave Affair: On the Possibilities of Loneliness Among the Dead and the Dying, examined the influence of hegemonic forces such as Christianity and Capitalism on the experience and value of death in Western societies, from the Early Middle Ages to the 21st century. A most agreeable portion of the research consisted in an experiential ethnography of silence, in which she explored the sepulchral spaces of cemeteries.

More broadly, Camille is driven by the notion of Enchantment, particularly so in forests and in places where memory resides. Through the poetics of presence, she seeks to listen to, translate, conserve and transmit the tangible and intangible heritage of the human and nonhuman expressions that inhabit these landscapes. She is currently exploring options as to how and where this passion can best be harnessed and expressed through doctoral work. Enthusiastic about the NCF Project’s research ambitions, she is delighted to help examine the contours of what makes us human as well as how we find meaning in the changing tides of our time.

Charlotte Hobson is assisting on the British portion of the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project. She completed a BA in Theology at the University of Durham (2016) followed by an MA in Religious Studies at Lancaster University (2017). After this she worked as a Research Assistant Intern with the religion and society think tank, Theos, and is now a Ph.D. student at the University of Lancaster. Her research interests surround the rise of British nonreligion, particularly in relation to young people, and her doctoral work explores how inter-generational belief transmission – or the apparent lack thereof – has contributed to this.

Christina Pasca is an undergraduate honors student at the University of Tampa studying Sociology and Political Science. Her research interests include a broad range of topics from police militarization to technology to religion and nonreligion. She has a knack for quantitative research and enjoy data analysis. She plans to pursue graduate school after her time at University of Tampa to acquire a PhD in Political Science.

Dejia Zhang is an undergraduate student of Sociology at Zhejiang University, China. She is a Visiting Research Assistant from June to September 2024, at the University of Ottawa. Her prior research topics include value-adding and valuation of items in Buddhism Consecration Rituals, and affective negotiation in the cremation and outdoor columbarium under developmentism. Dejia is now interested in body, ritual and materiality. She will potentially continue her study in Cultural Anthropology.

Deniz is a member of the Australian team for the Nonreligion in a Complex (NFC) project. After completing her master’s degree in Environmental Management at the University of New South Wales, Deniz currently is a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania.

Deniz’s research explores the relationships between human and nature in fire prone areas through communication about bushfire risk. Specifically, she is interested in how communication about bushfire risk coproduce the relationships between human and nature. This PhD is aimed at advancing inclusive and just understandings about how to communicate bushfire risk as part of living well with bushfire in Australian landscapes. Central to this aim is the need for bushfire communication to be decolonizing, tuned to cultural and biophysical diversity and informed by natureculture forms of knowledge that attend to the relations that bind humanity and nature.

Elin Grytten Sandnes is a research assistant on the Norwegian part of the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project. She received her bachelor’s degree in Development Studies from the University of Oslo in 2019, with a focus on the use of renewable energy in climate adaptation in Nepal. After graduating, Elin interned for the Norwegian Embassy in Seoul, working primarily with trade cooperation and culture promotion.

Elin is now pursuing her MA in human geography, with a focus on electrification with renewable energy in developing countries. Some of her other main academic interests are corporate social responsibility, energy policy, climate change adaptation, renewable energy production, and consumption.

Emilybeth Enriquez is an incoming student member of the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project. In 2019 she received her B.A. (Honors) as a double major in Philosophy and Religion and Culture from Wilfrid Laurier University and is currently at the start of her academic year as a Master’s student at the University of Ottawa. Her research interest focuses on toxic inequality for religious minorities in a contemporary Canadian context. She is researching how housing, education and legislation put religious minorities at a disadvantage and further the wealth gap. During her undergraduate career Emilybeth has organized two academic colloquiums for Wilfrid Laurier University and worked alongside non-profit organizations like John Howard Society and Extend a Family.

Emma Corbett received her B.Sc (Honours) in Urban and Regional Planning from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (2011). After graduating, Emma worked as a local government town planner in Melbourne, with her most recent experience being in State-significant projects involving complex and conflicting land use matters.

Emma has recently moved to Oslo, Norway to pursue her M.Sc in Human Geography at the University of Oslo. As part of her thesis work, Emma is currently exploring alternative food networks and the scale and dynamics of share-based food initiatives. Her other academic interest areas include the psychology of consumption, sustainable innovations and economic geographies.

Hafsa Fatima is a third-year student at Macaulay Honors at Brooklyn College pursuing a B.S in Psychology and a B.A in Art whilst being on the Pre-Dental track. Hafsa is a Fulbright-Mitacs Globalink Research Intern and is currently assisting on the USA portion of the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project.

Hafsa’s research interests surround the overlap of science and religion when it comes to nontraditional forms of healing, specifically applications of spiritual healing. This interest was developed upon traveling to Indonesia to research Balinese attitudes towards spirituality. Hafsa hopes to explore the dichotomy between religion and non-religion in regards to law and migration.

Hallie Robinson is an undergraduate student in an Environmental Studies program with a minor in Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa in Ontario, Canada. She was awarded the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Undergraduate Research Fellowship to work on the Experiencing Nature During Physical Activities project. In the future, she intends to pursue a Master of Arts degree in Environmental Sustainability to examine the social dimensions of environmental challenges.

Hugo Martinez is a Research Assistant for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project (NCF). He received a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture from the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH, 2011). He relocated to Norway in 2018, to pursue a MSc in Urban Ecological Planning at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU, Trondheim). During this time, he worked as a Teacher’s Assistant for the program, and as an intern with the UN-Habitat office in Delhi, India. His MSc project (2020) focused on a case study in Delhi, discussing the physical and non-physical attributes of informal street markets that can define them as public spaces.

He now pursues a MA in Human Geography with focus on Urban Studies at the University of Oslo (UiO) where he is involved with the NCF project. His interests include the social construction of spaces, urban lifestyle practices, transformations to sustainability and spatial justice.

Isabela Venturoza is a research assistant for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project in Brazil. She is a Ph.D. student in Social Anthropology at the University of Campinas (Brazil), associated with the Center for Gender Studies Pagu (Núcleo de Estudos de Gênero Pagu/UNICAMP). She has a degree in Social Sciences from São Paulo State University (Brazil, 2012) and a Master’s in Social Anthropology from the University of São Paulo (Brazil, 2016).

She participates in the project Religion, Law, and Secularism from the Nucleus of Religions in the Contemporary World, at the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning (Centro Brasileiro de Análise e Planejamento – CEBRAP). In recent years, Isabela has been teaching courses at different institutions on topics such as masculinities, feminist theory, violence, and public policies and she has been also collaborating with the Brazilian NGO Feminist Collective for Sexuality and Health (Coletivo Feminista Sexualidade e Saúde), where she works with men who commit violence against women.

Jameela Kassam is a Research Assistant for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project (NCF). She is currently pursuing her B.Soc.Sc. (Honours) in International Development and Globalization with a minor in Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa.

In the past she has volunteered as a Religious Education Teacher where she developed lesson plans connecting current events to national Islamic Civilizations and Societies curriculum, incorporating themes such as systemic racism, colonialism, and intersectionality. She is particularly interested in social relations, including how one’s position in relation to diverse social hierarchies, such as those of race, gender, and religion, shapes their worldview and the ways in which they interact with others.

Upon receiving his mechanical engineering bachelor in 2014, Joseph took a year off to think about the meaning he was giving to his life. At the end of his discernment, he decided to shift his career and pursued theological studies at Saint Joseph University (USJ) in Beirut, Lebanon. This step was the result of his answer to God’s calling: to be present among youth and to accompany them so they can be able to develop the spiritual dimension of their being.

A recent graduate of a master’s degree in practical theology – pastoral management (with distinction), Joseph is currently enrolled in a PhD program in practical theology at the University of Montreal (UdeM). The starting point of his research will be the meaning young adults give to their life, highlighting the possibility of accepting the Christian faith and living it or, conversely, choosing a path without religion.

Julia Itel is a Ph.D. Candidate in Sociology at Paris Nanterre University under the supervision of Professor Raphaël Liogier. She received her B.A. in Psychology from McGill University (2016) and her M.A. in Religious Studies from University of Montreal (2018). In her master’s thesis, Julia studied the role of non-religious spirituality in the embodiment of ecological, ethical and sustainable behaviors. Her research has recently been published: Spiritualité et société durable. L’engagement éthique des “créatifs culturels”, Gap: Yves Michel, 2019. She is now focusing on the alternative discourse that frames the ecological transition in France.

In this context, Julia seeks to discover the underlying beliefs, ideologies, myths and meta-narratives that constitute the emergence of a possible transmodernity. Julia is also interested in the new eco-feminist rituals, such as the moon rituals. But more generally, she is passionate about all the unconscious collective myths that shape both individuals and societies.

Luma Góes is a 5th-year law student at the Federal University of Uberlândia (Brazil) and a Visiting Student Researcher at the University of Ottawa. She is also a Research Assistant at the Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF) concerning the project “Legal Constructions of Religion and Nonreligion” and an undergraduate fellow researcher at the Brazilian Centre of Studies in Law and Religion (CEDIRE) and the Human Rights Lab (LABDH). She was also, for three years, the student coordinator at the Translation Centre of CEDIRE. Her research focuses on international human rights, often concerning religious freedoms. Additionally, she is fluent in both English and Portuguese and possesses an advanced level of proficiency in German and Spanish.

Madison Hogg is currently a first law year student at the University of Ottawa, Common Law Section. Before starting law school, Madison graduated from the University of Ottawa in 2021 with a Bachelor of Social Science degree in Political Science and Public Administration. Her main areas of interest are public policy and public law issues in Canada.

Madison has joined the NCF project in collaboration with the uOttawa Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics. The project she is currently working on is about how religious and non-religious discourses have shaped post-Carter debates surrounding medical assisted dying in Canada.

Marziyeh Riazi is a PhD Candidate and part of the Australian team for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF) project. She received a 2019 Tasmania Graduate Research Scholarship and moved to Tasmania from Iran. Marzi is currently a PhD researcher in the School of Social Sciences, University of Tasmania.

Her PhD thesis explores the experiences and narratives of Farsi-speaking women in Tasmania. Her research interests are urban sociology and community studies, sociology of migration, and gender equality. Marzi has been working at Migrant Resource Centre Tasmania (MRC Tas) since 2019 as a Bicultural Worker and Program Officer of Phoenix Centre which provides therapeutic and individual mental health and wellbeing support and capacity-building activities to people from a Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) background.

(Mathieu Colin is currently a postdoctoral fellow with the project.)

Mathieu Colin received his B.A (Honors) from Toulouse’s prestigious « classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles » (CPGE) in History (2016), his M.A. (with distinction) in Religious Studies from the École Pratique des Hautes Études of Paris (2018) and he’s now pursuing a Ph.D. in Religious Studies at the University of Montreal. Mathieu’s doctoral research focuses on the rise and on the politicization of new atheist and secularist groups in the US. He’s also interested in contemporary Satanism, Western Esotericism and Alt-Right/Right-wing ideologies.

Michael Elliott is a JD Candidate at the University of Ottawa Faculty of Law, Common Law Section. Before pursuing legal studies, he completed his MA in the EURUS program at Carleton University (2018). His MA thesis topic discussed the comparative development of French and German constitutional courts in the emergence of the EU legal order. He received his BA in Philosophy and Communication Studies from Carleton University (2015).

Michael joined the NCF project as part of the Faculty of Law’s Santéship program, affiliated with the uOttawa Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics. His focus in this context is the confrontation of religious and non-religious discourses in legal controversies of public health, such as in the articulation of constitutional challenges to COVID-19 regulations on the premise of freedom of religion. Michael is excited to launch his legal research career in the areas of constitutional and public law.

Michael Rundle is a Chaplain in the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), and is currently a post-graduate student at the University of Ottawa. Michael received his BA from Saint Thomas University in 2006, a Bachelor of Theology (BTh) from McGill University in 2008, and a Master of Divinity from the Montreal School of Theology in 2009. In August of 2009 Michael was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church in Canada until becoming a Chaplain with the CAF in 2011. In 2020 the Royal Canadian Chaplaincy Service (RCChS) appointed Michael to a Post Grad Training position to conduct graduate level training in the field of Mult-faith studies.

Michael has focused his studies on examining the CAF’s policy on spiritual and religious accommodation. His interest is examining the value and potential harm of accommodation within the CAF. He intends to further explore the impact of the religious and spiritual accommodation policy upon CAF members who would consider themselves non-Religious or a minority voice. Michael’s aim is to assist the military in building a culture of change which goes beyond accommodation and difference; recognizing that true change needs to be built upon equality, respect, and mutual understanding.

Misha Hoo is a PhD candidate at the University of Tasmania and member of the Australian team for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF) project. Her doctoral research investigates human relationships with wilderness environments and nonreligious experiences amongst hikers on Tasmania’s Three Capes Track. This feeds into a broader consideration of how nonreligious individuals orient themselves with respect to other-than-human subjectivities ontologically, morally, and experientially.

Misha completed her Bachelor of Arts (Honours) with a double major in Studies in Religion and English Literature at the University of New England in 2018. For her Master of Philosophy in Studies in Religion (2020), she researched New Age spirituality in Australia and has published on New Age beliefs and practices, Neopaganism, and Western esotericism.

Muhammedh Jabirali is a Mitacs Globalink Research Intern associated with the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project (NCF) at the University of Ottawa. He is a Development Studies major in the Integrated MA programme with a minor in International Relations at the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. Jabirali’s research interests lie at the intersection of globalization theory, religious studies, international relations, human rights and immigration. He has previously worked as a research assistant at IITM China Studies Center. During his tenure as a political intern to a member of Rajya Sabha (the Upper House of the Indian Parliament), he has been ardently engaged in addressing social issues. In 2021, Jabirali was chosen as a United Nations Millennium Fellow for his efforts in studying and remedying the mental health epidemic at IIT Madras.

(Netta Marie Rønningen is currently a contributor with the project.)

Netta Marie Rønningen is a researcher from Norway. She received her B.A. in Sociology and Political Science from Luwdig-Maximilians-Universität München in Germany, and her M.A. in Sociology from the University of Oslo. Her master theses was in the sociology of religion and was about conversion from Protestantism to the Catholic Church in Norway. She is interested in nonreligion in different nonreligious and religious institutions. Netta organized the conference NCSR 2018: The 24th Nordic Conference in the Sociology of Religion in Oslo. She is working as a researcher at KIFO, Institute for Church, Religion, and Worldview Research, which involves different research projects relating to the Church of Norway, other worldviews, and religions.

Rafael Quintanilha is a Ph.D. Candidate in Social Anthropology at the University of São Paulo (Brazil). He has a Master’s in Social Anthropology (2021) and Bachelor’s in Social Sciences (2018) from the same institution. He is a member of the “Nucleus of Religions in the Contemporary World” linked to the Brazilian Center for Analysis and Planning (CEBRAP); and a member of the research group “Atheisms, religious disbeliefs, and secularisms: history, trends, and behaviors” (UFMS/MS). Currently, he researches how atheists deal with death and dying, their interactions on social media and public speeches.

Remy Ling is a second-year student pursuing her LLB in Law with Business at the University of Exeter. She joined the NCF project this summer through the Mitacs Globalink Research Internship and will primarily assist the UK team with their research.

Her research interests include the intersection of law and religion, having been motivated to learn about Islamic Law and the Sharia after seeing widespread misinformation about Sharia councils reported by the UK media. Remy hopes to use her knowledge of both law and international business to better understand how different legal systems operate in, and interact with, their cultural context.

Saivaishnavi Suresh is pursuing an Integrated M.A. in Development Studies with an Economics minor from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras. She joined the NCF project through the MITACS Globalink Research Internship and is primarily involved in the focal area of law. She has previously engaged with various dimensions of gender, poverty, labour and health in her research internships at IIM Bangalore and Outline India and is passionate about tangible ground-level impact.

Her research interests surround the discourse on marginalized communities, inequalities and discrimination and how the paradigms of development and diversity manifest within and challenge social institutions. She enjoys exploring these diverse perspectives through the lens of gender, health, intersectionality and other alternative angles.

Sana Patel is a Research Assistant for the Nonreligion in a Complex Future Project. She received her BA (Honours) in Political Science from York University (2014), MA in Religious Studies from Carleton University, (2016) and is currently working towards her PhD in Religious Studies at the University of Ottawa. Her research interests include religion and media, particularly religion on social media, religious authority online, and construction of religious identity among North American young adults. She is also a Research Assistant for the Muslim Canadians Online Project (UQAM), and the Graduate Student Member-at-Large for the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion.

Sarah Nour Bouali is currently a third year co-op student studying International Development and Globalization at the University of Ottawa. Her interests include gender, human rights, international relations, and sustainable development. She is also interested in issues surrounding aid dependency in developing countries and post-colonial institutions. She is currently working as a research assistant under Professor Lori Beaman, primarily involved in research projects related to the environment focal area within the larger Nonreligion in a Complex Future (NCF) project.

Somunachi Okee-Aguguo is currently a fourth year co-op student studying Political Science and Gender Studies at the University of Ottawa. Her research interests include gender, black feminist thought, race studies and colonialism particularly settler colonialism in Canada and neo-colonialism in West Africa. She is also interested in how various systems of oppression impact individuals’ experiences in multiple areas in society such as religion, policing, and academia. She believes in making academia more accessible and diverse through various epistemologies and pedagogies that centre the experiences and voices of marginalised groups. She is currently working as a research assistant under Professor Lori Beaman. Somunachi hopes to pursue a master’s degree in Political Science or Gender Studies.

Stian Alexander Skandsen received his Bachelor’s in Humanities and Social Sciences in 2004 from the University of Oslo. Since then he has worked for many years in marketing, before he decided to return to academia.

His academic interests include history of ideas and sociology of religion. Many of his interests relate to religion. For example how its authority was questioned for the first time in the public sphere or how people practice (or do not practice) religion today.

He is currently working on finishing his master’s degree in Sociology where his focus is on non-religion and migration. He is also working as a research assistant on the NCF project.

Ted Malcolmson received his B.A. (Honours) in Religious Studies and Philosophy from the University of Manitoba (2013) as well as his M.A. (2016).  He is currently pursuing a Ph.D. in Religious Studies with a specialization in Canadian Studies at the University of Ottawa.  His doctoral research looks at the implementation of medical assistance in dying in Canada, looking at how values of patients, medical practitioners, and institutions interact. He is also interested in other cases where law, medicine, and religion intersect like brain death.  Ted is the editor of the University of Ottawa religious studies student journal, the Ottawa Journal of Religon, as well as serving as the treasurer of the CSSR.

Vanessa Warren is a PhD candidate in Law at the University of Tasmania, Australia. She holds an undergraduate degree in Sociology from the University of Queensland, and postgraduate qualifications in Information Management from the University of Tasmania. Prior to engaging in her doctoral research she worked as an academic librarian and educational developer, with a particular focus on the development of information literacies and the policies and practices surrounding digital spaces and resources.

Vanessa’s doctoral research examines the intersection of public trust in genomic data sharing and the normative regulatory context governing data sharing practices in Australia. Her research is interdisciplinary, involving both empirical social methodologies and doctrinal legal analysis. In addition to the NCF Project she is a research assistant for the Australia Research Council project Genomic Data Sharing: Issues in Law, Research Ethics and Society, and facilitates animation workshops for schools and cultural institutions in lutruwita Tasmania.

Varsha Sindhu Viji is currently pursuing an integrated master’s programme in development studies with a minor in economics at the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. She joined the NCF project as a MITACS Globalink Research Intern at the University of Ottawa. She was also a part of the concept note team of the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences Annual Academic Conference held at IIT Madras.

Her research interests lie at the intersection of religious studies and urban studies. She has explored these diverse domains through her research and analysis internships in urban rehabilitation and heritage conservation. Varsha is specifically interested in exploring the cultural aspect of urban phenomena, including migration and territorial stigmatization, and how they play out in the identity formation of the people involved and furthermore, how they resort to respond to the discrimination they face as urban marginals.

Zach Munro received his B.A. (Honours) and M.A. in Religion & Culture from Wilfrid Laurier University and is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in the department of Sociology & Legal Studies at the University of Waterloo. Zach’s doctoral research is on the Secular AA movement within Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), specifically looking at how the nonreligious engage in modes of translation when navigating the theistic-spirituality of the Twelve-Step model. His work also engages affect theory with a concentration on religious/secular interactions. He is an assistant editor to the Nonreligion and Secularity Research Network’s official blog.