Conversations on Interdisciplinary Collaboration

April 14, 2026, 5:00pm in Studio 1L10 and streaming online

Featuring:

• Dr. Sheila Cote-Meek, Interim Vice-Provost, Indigenous Engagement, Brock University
• Dr. Lilach Marom, Assistant Professor, Education, Simon Fraser University
• Dr. Malinda Smith, Associate Vice-President (Research-EDI), University of Calgary

As society becomes increasingly polarized and equity, diversity, and inclusion initiatives are under threat, universities have been forced to reexamine their role in public dialogue and debate, including their role in liberal democracy and civic engagement. How do we engage critically and respectfully across difference, whether that be identity, discipline, or ways of knowing? How do we move from safe spaces to brave spaces with the potential for constructive dialogue and debate? How do we work towards shared goals to transform universities and society for the better? This first panel in the series of Conversations on Interdisciplinary Collaboration will explore these questions from diverse perspectives and provide opportunities for the audience to engage with the panelists.

Register here. Note: There is limited in-person capacity for this event, so registration is required. 

Panelist Bios

Dr. Sheila Cote-Meek is Anishinaabe from the Teme-Augama Anishnabai. She is currently Interim Vice-Provost, Indigenous Engagement at Brock University. She was the inaugural Vice-President, Equity, People and Culture at York University where she led the development of the Decolonizing, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (DEDI) strategy and York’s Black Inclusion Strategy. She was the inaugural Associate-Vice-President, Indigenous and Academic Programs at Laurentian University where she also led key initiatives. Dr. Cote-Meek is author of Colonized Classrooms – Racism, Trauma and Resistance in Post-Secondary Education (2014) and three co-edited books: Decolonizing and Indigenizing Education in Canada (2020), Critical Reflections and Politics on Advancing Women in the Academy (2020) and Perspectives on Indigenous Pedagogy in Education: Learning from One Another (2023). 

Dr. Lilach Marom is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at Simon Fraser University. She has worked as an educator with diverse students and communities across multiple national and institutional contexts. Her research draws on critical theories to examine issues of equity, anti-racism, and inclusion in education. Her scholarship addresses the experiences of racialized, Indigenous, disabled, and internationally educated teachers and students in higher and teacher education, with particular attention to the structural conditions shaping professional recognition and inclusion. Her work engages frameworks including critical discourse analysis, critical race theory, recognition and stigmatization, and EDI, and spans qualitative, quantitative, and mixed-methods designs.

Her current research examines EDI policies, discourses, and action plans in Canadian higher education, asking what is included and what is left unaddressed in pursuit of a more robust understanding and implementation of EDI. Her recent project focused on Jewish identity and antisemitism in Canadian higher education, exploring how Jewish faculty and staff navigate institutional spaces within current campus environments. She recently received a SSHRC Insight Grant to extend these questions into the K-12 system. Her research has appeared in multiple publications and has been supported by SSHRC and external funding.

Dr. Malinda S. Smith is an Associate Vice-President (Research) and Full Professor of Political Science at the University of Calgary, where she serves on the Senior Leadership Team and advances inclusive research excellence across the institution and nationally. She co-led the Presidential Task Force on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Accessibility, chairs the Dimensions EDI team, and leads the CFREF One Child Every Child Equitable Pathways Accelerator and Council.

Her current research examines inclusive leadership and social justice in higher education. Across eight collaborative books, she has helped shape debates on fairness and equity in Canadian universities, African and diaspora studies, and public policy. She is co-author of The Equity Myth: Racialization and Indigeneity at Canadian Universities and co-editor of Nuances of Blackness in the Canadian Academy. Her edited and co-edited volumes, including Globalizing Africa, Securing Africa, States of Race, and Critical Concepts, extend these debates.

Dr. Smith has published in Policy Options, University Affairs, University World News, The Globe and Mail, The Calgary Herald, and The Hill Times, and has reached broader audiences through CBC Ideas and The Fifth Estate. Her public scholarship examines contested questions in higher education, including viewpoint diversity, ‘anti-woke’ politics, epistemic pluralism, and the human rights foundations of inclusive societies. Her concept of the pluralism dividend advances how diversity and inclusion both underwrite excellence, and generate measurable returns across research, institutional governance, and democratic renewal.

Nationally, Dr. Smith serves on the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, Statistics Canada’s Immigration and Ethnocultural Statistics Advisory Committee, and the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada’s External EDI Advisory Board. She is Vice-Chair of the Scarborough Charter Steering Committee. As a former Vice President (Equity Issues) she Chaired the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences’ Advisory Committee that developed the “Igniting Change” Report on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonization. 

Dr. Smith’s contributions have been recognized with the 2025 Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Alberta, a Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) from Simon Fraser University, the ISA–Canada Distinguished Scholar Award, and a Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Fellowship.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

To be announced.

To be announced.