Contact Information

Research Information

Research Description

I continue to explore links between Place, Identity, Aesthetics and Epistemology. I have completed two studies funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada; one examined how space is used in public secondary schools and implications for policies and practice regarding equitable use of school space; another explored approaches to mapping place so that links between people and places are more evident. Both studies explored how where we are influences who we are.
I am currently conducting a study on the UVic campus, titled "Constructing Sights" that is exploring how an attention to aesthetics influences how we "think and do" in places, particularly in places of work, and particularly during a construction project.

Interdisciplinary Research

My research calls on geography, aesthetics, and curricular studies/epistemology, with photography playing a major role in my approach to research.

Research Keywords

Community Interaction

Community Projects

Currently conducting research related to aesthetics and the workplace, including a study on UVic campus where a seismic upgrade is underway.

As one component of the study, participants are gathering photographs of what they consider to be aesthetic about construction in the workplace. The study is exploring how paying attention to aesthetics in a place influences how people think and work in their workplace.

Community Collaborations

Completed a mapwork study in 2010; one component of this study involved working with a group of Seniors and Youth from the Victoria Intercultural Association to create a series of postcards that linked the participants to their communities. The postcards were part of an art exhibition that focused on how people and places are linked.