Research Team
Tristan Hopper
Tristan Hopper is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology and Health Studies at the University of Regina. His federally funded research involves respectfully engaging and mobilizing individuals (i.e., youth) who are often marginalized to address significant societal challenges, such as homelessness, social exclusion/inclusion, and mental health issues. Using a meaning-oriented and strengths-based approach, as a research-practitioner his work primarily draws on the use of community-based participatory research methods (including youth-led participatory action research, YPAR) and aims to build thriving communities and provide an effective support system through co-creating and co-implementing people-centred solutions through a social justice lens. Fun Fact: He enjoys running ultra trail marathons.
Michael Dubnewick
Michael Dubnewick (Ph.D.) is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology & Health Studies at the University of Regina. His areas of expertise are recreation and wellness programming, leadership, Indigenous and non-Indigenous relations, community-based research, and narrative inquiry. He currently works alongside youth within the Growing Young Movers program in North Central Regina as he narratively inquires into how youth compose counter stories as wellness leaders. As a fun fact, Michael has many things that make him smile, some more notable items include his lifelong obsession with the Baltimore Ravens to being in the garden with his dog and wife.
Gordon Asmundson
Gordon J.G. Asmundson, OC, SOM, PhD, is Head of the Department of Psychology and Professor at the University of Regina, and Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada and the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences. He is an internationally recognized expert in anxiety disorders, posttraumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, and the intersection of physical and mental health. His research has influenced clinical practice worldwide and includes leadership in the Psychology of Pandemics Network.
Rylan Graham
Rylan Graham is an Assistant Professor in the School of Planning and Sustainability at the University of Northern British Columbia. His research focuses on issues related to growth management and the transition towards intensification, neighborhood change and downtown revitalization, and with a particular focus on mid-sized Canadian cities. Rylan is a Registered Professional Planner (RPP) with the Planning Institute of British Columbia and a Full Member in the Canadian Institute of Planners (MCIP). Prior to entering academia, he practiced as a planner in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Fun fact: I have been an avid but suffering Vancouver Canucks fan since '94.
Haizhen Mou
Haizhen Mou is a Professor in the Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan. Her primary research interests include fiscal policy, fiscal federalism, health policy, and social policy. Her research often takes a political economy and interdisciplinary perspective. She also received five SSHRC grants and several other awards as the principal investigator. Fun fact: I learned swimming and piano as an adult.
Marina Revelli
Marina Revelli is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Regina. She earned her PhD in Political Science from Concordia University in 2025. Her dissertation explored the financial strategies and strategic actions of NGOs in the criminal justice sector serving older adults. Her broader specialization focuses on population aging, public policy and social gerontology. Marina has collaborated with community organizations, policymakers, and stakeholders to bridge research and practice, including organizing symposia on interactions between justice systems and older adults in Canada. Fun fact: Marina has toured internationally with Cirque du Soleil.
Adrian Buttazzoni
I am currently an SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow in the School of Planning at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada). My research areas have previously included urban design and health, active transportation, child and youth health, health promotion and intervention evaluation, linking public health and urban planning, ecological research methods, and psychometric scale development. More recently I have been working on the topics of housing and homelessness, housing typologies (e.g., densities, designs) and health, community social infrastructure and health, and affective/immersive experiences of place. Outside of my work, I enjoy being active somewhere in the great outdoors.
Mike Rollo
Mike Rollo is an Associate Professor in Film Production. Mike's research explores alternative approaches to non-fiction cinema and curatorial practices in cinema. His films focus on landscape, the natural world, rural industry, and communication cultures, exploring ecological shifts, conflicts, and negotiations through themes of memory, obsolescence, age, and decay. He is a founding member of Montreal's experimental film collective, Double Negative, as well as Independent Visions and Lanterna in Regina, SK. He has curated film programs for national and international festivals. Mike’s films have been screened at the Ann Arbor Film Festival, Edinburgh International Film Festival, International Festival of Documentary and Short Film of Bilbao, International Film Festival Oberhausen, Los Angeles Film Forum, San Francisco Cinematheque, and Rotterdam International Film Festival. Mike’s recent works include Eidolon (2020), P L U M E (2022), La Colle Falls (2025) and Fissures (2025). Eidolon and P L U M E received Golden Sheaf Awards for Best Experimental Film at the Yorkton Film Festival.
Evie Johnny Ruddy
Evie Johnny Ruddy is a trans nonbinary artist, scholar, and settler of Irish, French, and German descent living in Treaty 4 territory. They are an Assistant Professor of Creative Technologies and Design in the Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance at the University of Regina and an award-winning digital storyteller. Their research interests include augmented reality, interactive and locative storytelling, trans studies, queer theory, critical geography, and design justice. Evie Johnny was program coordinator and sound editor for Buffalo Futurism, a collaboratively created Indigenous futuristic augmented reality experience that was exhibited at imagineNATIVE Film and Media Arts Festival in 2025. Their work has also been exhibited at Nuit Blanche and nominated for a Canadian Screen Award in the category of Best Production Interactive. Fun fact: Evie Johnny has the same sun sign, rising sign, and moon sign as Frida Kahlo.
Charity Marsh
Dr. Charity Marsh (she/her) is Director of the Humanities Research Institute (HRI), Professor and Head of the Department of Creative Technologies & Design in the Faculty of Media, Art, & Performance at the University of Regina. A former Tier II Canada Research Chair in Interactive Media and Popular Music, Dr. Marsh is internationally recognized for her research on hip hop cultures, popular music, gender and technology, media arts and performance, and activism in community arts programming. In 2007 Marsh launched the Interactive Media and Performance (IMP) Labs, a space for creative research and community collaboration focusing on hip hop and electronic music cultures and technologies that is still active today. As part of the IMP Labs programming Marsh produces and facilitates workshops on audio and digital technologies, creates collaborative hip hop and interactive media projects with community partners, hosts the GRR (formerly Girls Rock Regina) youth and adult camps, and works to create sustainable supports for remote communities focusing on hip hop and arts programming. Marsh is co-editor of We Still Here: Hip Hop North of the 49th Parallel, co-editor of the forthcoming collection, We Can Dance If We Want To: Canadian DJ Culture Turns Up, producer of the podcast series, Let’s Talk Research, and director of the award-winning documentary I’m Gonna Play Loud: Girls Rock Regina and the Ripple Effect.
Fun fact: Charity learned how to play bass and joined her first rock band in her mid 40s.