LHAE Student Research Spotlight - Emily Dobrich, AECD Doctoral Candidate
Emily Dobrich is a PhD Candidate in the Adult Education and Community Development (AECD) Program. What initially attracted Emily to the AECD program was the program’s unique combination of possibilities that emerge from exploring the nexus of adult education and community work alongside the emphasis on learning and engagement in global contexts. These dimensions speak to the importance of adult education for preparing individuals and communities to deal with local and global challenges and change.
As part of the AECD program, Emily is continually inspired by the work of the faculty and her fellow students that takes place in many different contexts and communities. Moreover, one of the strengths of the AECD program she finds exceedingly meaningful is deepening the impact of research and scholarship for on-the-ground impact and social change. In conjunction with her PhD program, Emily has enjoyed participating in some of the collaborative specialization programs offered by OISE and the University of Toronto, including the Comparative, International and Development Education (CIDE) Collaborative Specialization, the Comparative Specialization in Women and Gender Studies (CWGS) and the Collaborative Doctoral Program in Diaspora and Transnational Studies (DTS), which have all been helpful for expanding the depth and rigour of her PhD research.
Emily’s current research interests include embodied learning theories and practices; decolonizing research methodologies; sustainability; diaspora and transnational studies; and gender studies. Her doctoral research explores how embodied learning – which considers learning as a whole-person-centered pedagogical approach bringing together all parts of oneself – can support intercultural community building and solidarity between women from different cultural and diasporic backgrounds while encouraging critical reflection and discussion on the praxis of reconciliation. A key contribution of this research is to support the development of more diverse, engaged and culturally respectful community-oriented learning opportunities for migrant women. As part of this research, Emily is fortunate to be working under the supervision of Dr. Jennifer Wemigwans, which means her research has been greatly enriched and expanded by respectfully learning from Indigenous research methodologies and perspectives on embodied learning.
Beyond her doctoral research, since coming to OISE Emily has been involved in research at OISE pertaining to adult education and sustainability. This research has resulted in several individual and co-authored conference presentations and peer-reviewed publications on sustainability education and climate change leadership. In 2022, Emily received a Congress Graduate Merit Award from the Federation of Social Sciences and Humanities for her research on the role of women in transitioning towards a just and sustainable food system. She went on to research this area with a focus on the challenges and opportunities for women’s environmental leadership, which was presented at the Oxford Women’s Leadership Symposium in July 2023. One of her upcoming contributions to the area of adult education and sustainability includes a forthcoming special issue for the Canadian Journal for Studies in Adult Education (CJSAE), scheduled for publication in 2026, for which she and Dr. Jennifer Sumner are co-editors.
Emily currently holds the position of Ontario Representative on the Board of the Canadian Association for the Study of Adult Education (CASAE), supporting the launch of CASAE’s Adult Literacy Special Interest Group in 2024, and is a Co-Chair for the annual CASAE conference taking place in Toronto in June 2025.
