Research

Dr. Ruglis is a professor of (in)human development and has three primary axes of interdisciplinary research at the nexus of public education and public health: 1) contexts and institutions of human development, with a special focus on structures of (in)justice, health promotion, and embodiment, 2) social determinants of health and education, and 3) participatory, community, mixed methods, and arts-based approaches to research and policy (e.g. participatory action research, PAR; youth participatory action research, YPAR; community based participatory research, CBPR; community engaged participatory action research, CEPAR; participatory policymaking).

Current / New Research

Storytelling Schooling

PI: Jessica Ruglis

Storytelling schools is a grant funded project. This mixed method, multi-modal, arts-based, community based participatory action research project will develop educational policy rooted in life experiences. The purpose of this project is to document narratives and experiences of school leaving in Quebec from the perspective of youth and community, in a novel approach to “school dropout” policy and program development in Québec. Young people (ages 16-29), teachers, educators, staff, families (by any/all definitions), counsellors, community workers and members, school administrators, educational leaders, policy makers and activists from a variety of educational settings will participate.

The specific aims of the project are:1) investigate experiences and share stories of schooling and school leaving to best understand factors for improved policy, graduation rates and educational justice; 2) understand the ways in which social determinants of youth development are intertwined with educational trajectories to better create public policy to improve inclusive educational outcomes; 3) create a public dialogue on the experiences of youth in schools and community-driven solutions for policy change.

Stories will be told through words, interviews, drawings and graphical representations, artwork, dance, music, film, embodied, sensory, multimedia/multimodal methods. Stories will be shared in a variety of platforms, themed public storytelling slams and public policy engagement events led by participants.

For more information, including ways to participate, check back soon.

Funding thanks to:

2018 - 2021, $48,000 CAN - “Raconter le décrochage scolaire: Une recherche communutaire participative." Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC), Soutien à la recherche pour la relève professorale, and La Fondation Antoine-Turmel. PI: Dr. Jessica Ruglis.

Emergent Research

During sabbatical I will begin pilot research for a new bioethics project, and resubmit continue working on an innovative public health informed, community based teacher education training program.

On-Going Research

Sampling Youth Development (2016-present)

Co-PIs: Drs. Jessica Ruglis and Naomi Nichols
Community Partners: Chalet Kent and No Bad Sound Studios (aka NBS Studio)
Funding thanks to: Canada Summer Jobs (2016-2018) and SSHRC (N. Nichols)

The purpose of the project is to document and understand the developmental contexts of young people’s (16-29 year olds) lives in Montreal. The aim is to understand how experiences in public institutions and spaces effect and intersect with outcomes in education, health and criminal justice. We are using multimodal qualitative research to understand youth experiences of growing up and navigating public spaces and public institutions. This intergenerational project was developed in collaboration with a team of seven youth researchers (five of whom are youth artists/musicians), four adult community artist-mentor-researchers who are also musicians, eight graduate students, two undergraduate students, and the co-PIs.

The first phase of data collection (2016-2017) included street interviews (n=112), in-depth interviews (n=30), and focus groups (n=2). Other data includes arts-based data collection methods that were used in focus groups and in project development; in-depth interviews with each of the youth researchers; individual and team journals over two years, creative research documents, team meeting documents and files, photos and videos, field notes, and creative research products (including mixtapes rooted in our data and research ethics). We conducted participatory data analysis in 2017 and 2018, during which time the research collective also gave a number of presentations and began production of podcast episodes. 2019-2020 will see the dissemination of writing projects and podcasts of this data, along with a new phase of data collection involving more focus groups of young people and interviews with adults who work with youth.