Dr. Dionisio Nyaga, BSW, MSW, PhD
Assistant Professor
School of Social Work, Timmins Campus

Email: [email protected]

Dr. Dionisio Nyaga has a Ph.D from Social Justice Education/SESE/University of Toronto. He is an Assistant Professor at Algoma University-School of Social Work-Timmins campus. His research practice and teaching interests are in the areas of ethical and moral philosophy in research, critical reflexive methodologies, Afro-pessimism, gender studies, anti-oppressive practice and teaching, psychic methodologies of care, textual analysis , African studies ,Black and Blackness, Black masculinities, spiritualities, transnational and transcultural studies. He has co-edited a book on ethical responsibilities and duties of researcher dubbed Critical research methodologies: Ethics and responsibilities. In 2023 he co-Edited a research based book project dubbed “ Critical Reflexive Research Methodologies. He is also a co-editor for 3 volumes with Springer publishing titled :

• Reimagining Mental Health and Addiction Under the Covid-19 Pandemic, Volume 1, The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mental Health, and Ethnicity
• Reimagining Mental Health and Addiction Under the Covid-19 Pandemic, Volume 2, The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mental Health, and Black/Afro Identity
• Reimagining Mental Health and Addiction Under the Covid-19 Pandemic, Volume 3, The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mental Health, and Colonialism

He has been the proponent and chair of the International Conference on Mental Health and Addictions. He served as the master of social work development committee member. He is currently the chair for Curriculum Committee (CURCOM) as well as senate member at large. He has been a Board of Governor at Algoma University.

Research projects

• Principal investigator: Principal investigator: Effects of Covid-19 on Black African homeless Youth in Toronto. Co-Investigator -Marginalized Homeless Youth during COVID-19. Funded by FCS COVID-19 rapid response research grants, Onishenko D, Nyaga, D & Torres R.
• Co-investigator: “Effects of Covid-19 on Teaching, and Learning: Stories of Indigenous and Racialized Faculty Members and Students at Algoma University”, Funded by SSHRC Institutional Grant-Nyaga D & Torres R.
• Co-investigator, (insight grant applied). People of African Descent and the Recommendation for Afrocentric Education in Canada: A path towards inviting an exploration of Afrocentric Paradigm into social work education and practice in Canada. (Samnoma, V. Nyaga, D., M, King, R, Notish, M, Duhaney, P)

Publications
Books:

• Nyaga, D, & Torres, R. (2021). Critical research methodologies: Ethics and Responsibilities. Brill.
• Wane, N.., Torres, R. & Nyaga, D. (Eds.) (2019). Transversing and Translocating Spiritualities: An Epistemological, Theoretical, and Pedagogical Conversations. Nsemia Publishers. Nyaga, D (2015). Disturbing masculinity. Lap Lambert Academic publishing.

Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles:

• Torres, & Nyaga, D. (2016). Discussion of Power through the Eyes of the Margins: Praxis of Post-colonial Aeta Indigenous Women Healers in the Philippines. International Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, 12(2), 31–56. https://doi.org/10.21315/ijaps2016.12.2.2
• Torres, R. & Nyaga, D. (2015). The Politics of Cultural Representation. Sociology Study Journal, vol. 5, no.9. doi: 10.17265/2159-5526/2015.09. Peer reviewed book chapters
• Torres, R., Nyaga, D. (2021). Critical Reflexivity Framework on Theorizing Asian Canada. In Torres, R., Leung, K., Soepriatna, V. (Eds.), Outside and In-Between: Theorizing Asian Canadian Exclusion and the Challenges of Identity Formation. Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. 9-20 PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
• Torres, R. Nyaga, D. (2021). Un-mapping Diasporic Filipina Geographies. In Torres, R., Leung, K., Soepriatna, V. (Eds.), Outside and In-Between: Theorizing Asian Canadian Exclusion and the Challenges of Identity Formation. Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. 72-83. PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
• Nyaga, D. (2021). Black Afrocentric Methodologies: Beyond colour coated investigation. In Nyaga, D & Torres, R. (2021). Critical research methodologies: Ethics and Responsibilities. Brill publishers. Leiden/Netherlands.
• Torres, R & Nyaga, D (2021) Introduction: Critical Research methodologies.1-4 In Nyaga, D & Torres, R. (2021). Critical research methodologies: Ethics and Responsibilities. Brill
  publishers. Leiden/Netherlands.
• Nyaga, D (2021). My Blackness is African: Looking at Kenyan Man through an Afrocentric Methodology. In Nyaga, D & Torres, R. (2021). Critical research methodologies: Ethics and Responsibilities. 160-181.Brill publishers. Leiden/Netherlands.
• Nyaga, D & Torres, R (2021). Critical Research as Inconsolable Mourning. In Nyaga, D & Torres, R. (forthcoming). Critical research methodologies: Ethics and Responsibilities. Brill publishers. 89-104. Leiden/Netherlands.
• Nyaga, D (2021). Critical Research Methodologies: Positionality, ethics, power. In Nyaga, D & Torres, R. (2021). Critical research methodologies: Ethics and Responsibilities.7-23. Brill publishers. Leiden/Netherlands.
• Torres R & Nyaga D (2021). Afterward: Using Critical Research methodologies: The significance of reflexivity, resistance, and response. In Nyaga, D & Torres, R. (2021). Critical research methodologies: Ethics and Responsibilities.182-185. Brill publishers. Leiden/Netherlands
• Nyaga, D. 2017. “New Possibilities for School Curriculum: Praxis of Indigenous Peoples in Kenya.” In Inclusive Education in African Contexts, edited by N. Phasha, D. Mahlo, and G. S. Dei, 139–149. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
• Nyaga, D. & Torres, R. (2019). Education, Neoliberalism, and humanizing Curriculum. In Decolonization/Decolonial/Anti-Colonial Theory: Shared lineages and contestations, Zainub, A. (Ed.). 153–162. Sense Publisher. Nyaga, D. (2019)
• Wane N., Torres R.A., Nyaga D. (2019) African Indigenous Governance from a Spiritual Lens. In: McKinley E., Smith L. (eds) Handbook of Indigenous Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3899-0_45
• Nyaga, D. (2019) Archeology of Black Hurricanes and White teardrops. In Wane, N.., Torres, R. & Nyaga, D. (Eds.) (2019). Transversing and Translocating Spiritualities: An Epistemological, Theoretical, and Pedagogical Conversations.331-340 Nsemia Publishers.
• Wane, N., Torres, R, & Nyaga, D. (2019). Community care as a praxis. Wane, N.., Torres, R. & Nyaga, D. (Eds.) (2019). Transversing and Translocating Spiritualities: An Epistemological, Theoretical, and Pedagogical Conversations. 253-265.Nsemia Publishers.
• Torres, R, & Nyaga, D. (2019). Re-Thinking Marx: Narratives of Women Healers in the Philippines. Wane, N.., Torres, R. & Nyaga, D. (Eds.) (2019). Transversing and Translocating Spiritualities: An Epistemological, Theoretical, and Pedagogical Conversations. 123-146.Nsemia Publishers.
• Torres, R. A., & Nyaga, D. (2023). Shifting the Working/Teaching Environment: A Transdisciplinary Perspectives. International Journal of Integrated Care, 23(S1), 99. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.ICIC23354Nyaga, D & Torres, R. A. (2017). Gendered Citizenship: A Case Study of Paid Filipino Male Live-In Caregivers in Toronto. International Journal of Asia-Pacific Studies, 13(1), 51–71. https://doi.org/10.21315/ijaps2017.13.1.3
• Al-Krenawi, A., Nyaga, D., & Torres, R. A. (2024). Exploring Islamic social work – between community and the common good: edited by Hansjörg Schmid and Amir Sheikhzadegan, Muslims in Global Societies Series by Springer, 2022, 284 pp., £35 (soft cover), https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95880-0. Social Work Education, 43(3), 837–840. https://doi.org/10.1080/02615479.2023.2212528

Director of the School of Social Work and Assistant Professor
[email protected]

Dr. Rose Ann Torres is the Director and Assistant Professor  in the School of Social Work at Algoma University. She held a position as a Visiting Full Professor at the Polytechnic University of the Philippines. Prior to joining Algoma University, she was an Assistant Professor at the University of New Brunswick. Dr. Torres received her Ph.D. in Sociology and Equity Studies in Education and a M.Ed. in Adult Education and Community Development from OISE/University of Toronto and Master of Arts in Women and Development and B.A. in Political Science at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. She had co- edited 9 books such as Critical Research Methodologies, Asian Canada is Burning, Outside and In-between, Reimagining Mental Health and among other co-edited book volumes. As feminist critical race scholar her  upcoming book on “Culturalization of Mental Health: Making Sense of the Unknown” was commissioned  by Springer Nature to be published in 2025. 

She is the principal investigator of the SSHRC Insight Development Grants research project entitled “Examining Access to Mental Health Care Service: The Impact of COVID-19 on Filipino Health Care Workers in Northern Ontario”; “Gender Based Violence” funded by SSHRC Institutional Grants; and co-principal investigator for the  Academic Strategic Initiatives, Algoma University funded  project entitled “Effects of COVID-19 on Teaching and Learning: Stories of  Black and Asian Faculty Members and Students.” She has been instrumental in establishing pathways and partnerships with local and international universities and colleges in the School of Social Work at Algoma University. She pioneered  the creation of Master of Social Work and partnerships with Indigenous Institute, Oshki Wenjack and Payukatayno/Mushkegowuk Councils. She also pioneered the expansion of the School of Social Work in different campuses (Sault Ste. Marie, Timmins, Brampton, and off-site program locations: Thunder Bay and Moosonee/Moose Factory, ON . Dr. Torres also received an “Excellence Award  in Research and Teaching” at Algoma University. In addition, she was also nominated as one of the “100 Most Influential Filipina Women in the World Award”. She served  as a Program Advisory Board of the First Nations Technical Institute for the creation of Indigenous Bachelor of Social Work. Dr. Torres’s work as an educator includes community engagement and organizing, as well as consultancy services in interdisciplinary research that crosses geographic borders with Asia, Canada, Africa, and other countries. Dr. Torres’s commitment to the community seeks to bring about trans substantial  change and critical development in terms of health and social well-being, civic engagement, and ecological sustainability. She  teaches in the graduate and undergraduates programs of the School of Social Work.Her area of research interests are: feminist critical race, culturalization of mental health, critical reflexive research methodologies, racial and gendered violence, Indigenous epistemologies, critical social policy. 

Research Projects:

• Investigating Gendered Based Violence in Ontario. Principal Investigator. 2024- present. Funded by SSHRC Institutional Grants.
• Exploring the Classroom Experiences of Black and Asian Faculty Members and Students in Northern Ontario Universities During the COVID-19 Pandemic. Co-Investigator 2024-present, funded by the Academic Strategic Initiatives, Algoma University 
• Racial and Gendered Violence in the Midst of Invoking EDI in the Academy. Funded by AURF, 2023-2024
• Effects of Covid-19 on Teaching, and Learning: Stories of Indigenous and Racialized Faculty Members and Students at Algoma University. Sault Ste. Marie: Algoma University. May 2022-present. Funded by SSHRC Institutional Grants.
• Examining Access to Mental Health Care Service: The Impact of Covid-19 on Filipino Health Care Workers in Northern Ontario. Principal Investigator. Funded by SSHRC Insight Development Grants, June 2022-May 2024.
• Building Filipino-Canadian Youth Resilience During COVID-19 Project. Funded by the Canadian Red Cross, The Employment and Social Development Canada, and the Philippine Centre Canada.
• Marginalized Homeless Youth: A critical and grounded framework for understanding the impact and efficacy of policies and programs designed to support marginal youth experiencing homelessness in a time of Covid-19. Funded by Faculty of Community Services, Ryerson University.

Selected Publications:
Books:

1. Torres, R. (Forthcoming). Culturalization of Mental Health: Making Sense of the Unknow. Switzerland: Springer Nature.
2. Nyaga, D., Torres, R. (Eds.)  (2024). Reimagining Mental Health and Addiction Under the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mental Health, and Ethnicity. New York, New York, US: Springer Nature. Volume 1.
3. Nyaga, D., Torres, R. (Eds.) (2024).Reimagining Mental Health and Addiction Under the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mental Health, and Black/Afro Identity. New York, New York, US: Springer Nature. Volume 2.
4. Nyaga, D., Torres, R. (Eds.) (2024). Reimagining Mental Health and Addiction Under the Covid-19 Pandemic: The Covid-19 Pandemic, Mental Health, and Colonialism. New York, New York, US: Springer Nature. Volume 3.
5. Onishenko, D., Doran, C., Torres, R., Nyaga, D. (Eds.) (2023). Critical Reflexive Research Methodologies: Interdisciplinary Approaches. Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
6. Torres, R., Tian, I., Chau, C. (Eds.). (Forthcoming-2024). Asian Canada is Burning: Theories, Methods, Pedagogies, and Praxes. Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing. Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
7. Torres, R., Leung, K., Soepriatna, V. (Eds.). (2021). Outside and In-Between: Theorizing Asian Canadian Exclusion and the Challenges of Identity Formation. Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands https://brill.com/view/title/60048
8. Torres, R., Nyaga, D. (Eds.). (2021). Critical Research Methodologies: Ethics and Responsibilities. Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004445567
9. Wane, N.., Torres, R. & Nyaga, D. (Eds.) (2019). Transversing and Translocating Spiritualities: An Epistemological, Theoretical, and Pedagogical Conversations. Ontario: Nsemia Publishing.
10. Pavlos, C., Torres, R. (Eds.) (2013). “Engaging Aboriginal Perspective in Education”. Germany: Lambert Academic Publishing.

Peer-Reviewed Journals:

1. Al-Krenawi, A., Nyaga, D., & Torres, R. A. (2024). Exploring Islamic social work – between community and the common good: edited by Hansjörg Schmid and Amir Sheikhzadegan, Muslims in Global Societies Series by Springer, 2022, 284 pp., £35 (soft cover), https:/.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-95880-0.Social Work Education, 43(3), 837-840. https://doi.org/.10.1080/02615479.2023.2212528
2. Torres, R. A., Nyaga, D.(2023). Shifting the Working/ Teaching Environment: Transdisciplinary Perspectives.International Journal of Integrated Care, 23(S1), 99. https://doi.org/10.5334/ijic.ICIC23354
3. Torres, R., Nyaga, D. (2023). Re-conceptualizing Victimhood and Resiliency: Transnational Narratives of Filipinas in Canada. Review of Women’s Studies Journal. Vol. 32, No. 2.
4. Torres, R. & Nyaga, D. (2017). Gendered Citizenship: A Case Study of paid Filipino Male Live-in Caregivers in Toronto. International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies, Vol.13., No.1
5. Torres, R. (2016). Aeta Women Indigenous Healers in the Philippines: Lessons and Implications. Journal of Global Citizenship and Equity Education. Vol.5, No. 1.
6. Torres, R. and Nyaga, D. (2016). Discussion of power through the eyes of the margins: Praxis of post-colonial Aeta indigenous women healers in the Philippines. International Journal of Asia Pacific Studies 12 (2): 31–56, DOI:
   10.21315/ijaps2016.12.2.2
7. Torres, R. & Nyaga, D. (2015). The Politics of Cultural Representation. Sociology Study Journal, vol. 5, no.9. doi: 10.17265/2159-5526/2015.09.
8. Torres, R. (2012). “Exploring Indigenous Spirituality, Activism and Feminism in the Life of my Mother”. Canadian Women Studies Journal, vol. 29, nos. 1 & 2, 135-140. 

Refereed Book Chapters:

1. Torres, R., Damasco, V., Fernando, Y., Traveson, V. (2024). Kalusugan at Mamayan: Exploring Filipino Mental Health Challenges. In Nyaga, D. et.al. (Eds.). New York: Springer Publishing. 
2. Meghan Boston- McKraken, Dionisio Nyaga, Rose Ann Torres, Yashoda Fernando. (2024). Mental Health and Field Education Praxis During COVID-19 Pandemic. In Nyaga, D. et.al. (Eds.). New York: Springer Publishing. Volume 1
3. Torres, R. (2023). Ethics of Doing Research in the Indigenous Community. In Reflexive Critical Qualitative Research Methodology, Onishenko, D., Doran, C., Torres, R., Nyaga, D. (Eds.). Calgary: University of Calgary. Press.
4. Torres, R. (2023). Remembering in Research: Doing Research in Asian Communities. In Reflexive Critical Qualitative Research Methodology, Onishenko, D., Doran, C., Torres, R., Nyaga, D. (Eds.). Calgary: University of Calgary. Press.
5. Torres, R. (2021). Theorizing Asian Canada. In Torres, R., Leung, K., Soepriatna, V. (Eds.), Outside and In-Between: Theorizing Asian Canadian Exclusion and the Challenges of Identity Formation. Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
6. Torres, R. (2021). Filipina Activism from a Transnational Theoretical Framework. In Torres, R., Leung, K., Soepriatna, V. (Eds.), Outside and In-Between: Theorizing Asian Canadian Exclusion and the Challenges of Identity Formation. Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
7. Torres, R. (2021). Feminization of Pandemics: Experiences of Filipino Women in the Health Care System. In Torres, R., Leung, K., Soepriatna, V. (Eds.), Outside and In-Between: Theorizing Asian Canadian Exclusion and the Challenges of Identity Formation. Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
8. Torres, R., Nyaga, D. (2021). Critical Reflexivity Framework on Theorizing Asian Canada. In Torres, R., Leung, K., Soepriatna, V. (Eds.), Outside and In-Between: Theorizing Asian Canadian Exclusion and the Challenges of Identity Formation. Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
9. Torres, R. Nyaga, D. (2021). Un-mapping Diasporic Filipina Geographies. In Torres, R., Leung, K., Soepriatna, V. (Eds.), Outside and In-Between: Theorizing Asian Canadian Exclusion and the Challenges of Identity Formation. Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
10. Torres, R. et. al. (2021). Introduction. In Outside and In-Between: Theorizing Asian Canadian Exclusion and the Challenges of Identity Formation. Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
11. Damasco, V., Torres, R. (2021). Framework for Developing Resilience Among Filipino-Canadian Youth During Covid-19 Pandemic. In Torres, R., Leung, K., Soepriatna, V. (Eds.), Outside and InBetween: Theorizing Asian Canadian Exclusion and the Challenges of Identity Formation. Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
12. Torres, R. (2021). Critical Ethnography: Discussion of Principles and Ethics. In Torres, R., Nyaga, D. (Eds.). Critical Research Methodologies. Sense Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
13. Torres, R. (2021). Storytelling: A Critical Narrative Approach. In Torres, R., Nyaga, D. (Eds.). Critical Research Methodologies. Sense Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
14. Torres, R. (2021). Research Methodologies: History, Issues, Tensions. In Torres, R., Nyaga, D. (Eds.). Critical Research Methodologies. Sense Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
15. Torres, R. , Nyaga, D.( 2021). Critical Research as Inconsolable Mourning. In Torres, R., Nyaga, D. (Eds.). Critical Research Methodologies. Sense Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
16. Torres, R., Nyaga, D. (2021). Using Critical Research Methodologies: The significance of Reflexivity, Resistance, and Response. In Torres, R., Nyaga, D. (Eds.). Critical Research Methodologies. Sense Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
17. Torres, R., Nyaga, D. (2021). Introduction. In Torres, R., Nyaga, D. (Eds.). Critical Research Methodologies. Sense Brill Publisher, Studies in Critical Social Sciences series. PA Leiden, The Netherlands.
18. Torres, R. (2019). Healing and wWell-Being as Tools of Decolonization and Social Justice: Anti-colonial Praxis of Indigenous Women. In Wane, N., Todorova, M. & Todd, K. (Eds.) Decolonizing the Spirit: Resistance and Solidarity. New York: Palgrave Publishing.
19. Wane, N., Torres, R. & Nyaga, D. (2019). Community Care as Praxis. In Wane, Torres, & Nyaga (Eds.) Transversing and Translocating Spiritualities: An Epistemological, Theoretical, and Pedagogical Conversations. Ontario: Nsemia Publishers.
20. Wane, N., Torres, R. & Nyaga, D. (2019). Introduction. In Wane, Torres, & Nyaga (Eds.) Transversing and Translocating Spiritualities: An Epistemological, Theoretical, and Pedagogical Conversations. Ontario: Nsemia Publishers.
21. Torres, R. & Nyaga, D. (2019). Re-Thinking Marx: Narrative of Indigenous Women Healers in the Philippines Healing as Love. In Wane, Torres, & Nyaga (Eds.) Transversing and Translocating Spiritualities: An Epistemological, Theoretical, and Pedagogical Conversations. Ontario: Nsemia Publishers.
22. Nyaga, D., Torres, R. (2019). Education, Neoliberalism, and Decolonizing Curriculum. In Decolonization/Decolonial/Anti-Colonial Theory: Shared lineages and contestations, Zainub, A. (Ed.) Netherlands: Sense Publisher. 

CONFERENCES

1. Torres, R. (2024). Keynote Speaker. Living in a Pandemic World. An Intersectional Perspective. In the International Mental Health and Addiction Conference. Mississauga: Algoma University. April 25-26.
2. Torres, R. (2024). Exposing Gendered and Racial  Violence: Stories of Racialized Academic Women Leaders in the Academy. In the International Mental Health and Addiction Conference. Mississauga: Algoma University. April 25-26.
3. Torres, R. et.al. (2024). The Effect of the Intersections of Inequality in the Health Care System: Experiences of Filipino Women Health Care workers. In the International Mental Health and Addiction Conference. Mississauga: Algoma University. April 25-26.
4. Torres, et.al. (2024). Effects of COVID-19 on Teaching and Learning: Stories of Black and Asian Faculty Members and Students in Northern Ontario. CANADIAN ASSOCIATION FOR SOCIAL WORK EDUCATION Conference. In the Social Science and Humanities Congress, June 21-27.
5. Torres, R. (Panel Chair) (2024). Social justice in the age of pandemics. In the International Mental Health and Addiction Conference. Mississauga: Algoma University. April 25-26.
6. Torres, T. (2024) Exploring the Trajectories and Mobility of Healthcare Workers in Canada. Montreal: Canadian Sociological Education Conference. IN Social Science Congress and Humanities.
7. Torres, R. (2023). Engaging Research Methods for Social Education: Filipino Health Care Workers’s Accessibility of Mental Health Services. In Speaking Out and Speaking Up in Fugitive.November 
8. Torres, R. (2023). Genealogy of Teaching and Learning as a Neoliberal Care Technology. In Speaking Out and Speaking Up in Fugitive Spaces. 

Dr. Suleyman Demi, Ph. D.
Assistant Professor
School of Social Work
Email: [email protected]

Suleyman M. Demi is an educator, researcher and environmental activist who has dedicated his work to addressing issues affecting society’s marginalized population. Prior to his appointment, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Medicine at the Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His research interest is multidisciplinary, stemming from
Indigenous health and food systems, sustainable food and environmental practices, health equity, social determinants of health, environmental justice, and rural development. Dr. Demi currently focuses on issues around social justice, food sovereignty, housing and income inequalities that disproportionately affect the marginalized population. He was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Health and Society at the University of Toronto Scarborough and a Senior Doctoral Fellow at the Department of Africa Studies of the New College of the University of Toronto, where he contributed to the department’s work. He has authored and co-authored articles on health equity, food security, chronic illnesses etc. and co-edited books on African proverbs and retheorizing anti-colonial. Dr. Demi has won several awards, including most recently the African Scholars Emerging Academic Award, The Lisa Robinson Award for Excellence in Research, and the 2019 Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award, from the University of Toronto. His current research critically explores the health equity challenges of Black healthcare providers and users in the Greater Toronto Area.

PUBLICATIONS

EDITED BOOKS

• • Dei, G. J. S. & Demi, S. M. (eds) (2021). Theorizing the ‘anti-colonial. New York, NY: Dio Press Inc.
  • Dei, J. G. S., Darko, I. N., MacDonell, J., Demi, S. M. & Akanmori, H. (eds) (2018). African proverbs as epistemologies of decolonization. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

SELECTED PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL ARTICLES

• • Asirvatham, R. Demi, S. M, Ezezika, O. (2022). Are Sub-Saharan African national food and agriculture policies nutrition-sensitive? A case study of Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, and South Africa. Outlook on Agriculture (Accepted – in press).
  • Demi, M, S. & Sicchia, S. R. (2021). Agrochemicals use practices and health challenges of Smallholder farmers in Ghana. Environmental Health Insights. 15: 1-11. DOI: 10.1177/11786302211043033
  • Demi, M, S (2016). Traditional ecological knowledge: Implications for natural resource management. Journal of Management and Applied Sciences, Vol. 2(3), 103-109.
  • Kuwornu. J.K.M & Demi, S. M (2013). Assessing the degree of food insecurity among farming households: Evidence from the Central Region of Ghana. Research on Humanities and Social Sciences. Vol. 3(3), 51-61.
  • Kuwornu, J.K.M., Demi. S. M & Amagashie, D.P.K (2013). Comparative analysis of food security status of farming households in the coastal and the forest communities of the Central Region of Ghana. Asian Journal of Empirical Research 3(1), 39-61.
  • Kuwornu, J.K.M., Demi, S. M & Amagashie, D.P.K. (2013). Analysis of food security status of farming households in the forest belt of the Central Region of Ghana. Russian Journal of Agricultural and Socio-Economic Sciences, 1(13), 26-42.

PEER REVIEWED BOOK CHAPTERS

• • Demi, S. M. (2021). Local Ghanaians’ Resistance Against GM Crops. G. J. S. Dei, & Demi, S. M. (eds), Theorizing the ‘anti-colonial (pp.126-139). New York, NY: Dio Press Inc.
  • Dei, G. J. S. & Demi, S. M. (eds) (2021). Reframing the “Anti-Colonial” for New Futures: An Introduction. In G. J. S. Dei, & Demi, S. M. (eds), Theorizing the ‘anti- colonial (pp.1-13). New York, NY: Dio Press Inc.
  • Demi, S. M. (2019). Reclaiming cultural identity through decolonization of food habits. In Wane, N, Todorova, M. & Todd, K. L. (Eds), Decolonizing the spirit in education and beyond: Resistance Solidarity Indigenous pedagogies and cultural resistance in education (Pp.117-136). Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Demi, S. M. (2017). Using African Indigenous Food Crops as local remedy against chronic diseases: Implications for healthcare systems in Ghana. In Kapalanga, J. & Fymat, A. L. (eds), Science research and education in Africa: Proceedings of a conference on science advancement (pp 198-226). Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
  • Kuwornu, J. K. M., Demi, S. M & Amagashie, D. P. K (2014). Food security status and coping strategies of farming households: Evidence from the Central Region of Ghana. In Seini, A. W., Egyir, I. S. & Kuwornu, J. K. M. (Eds), Developments in agricultural economics and contemporary issues in Ghana (p.101-115). University of Ghana Readers, Agricultural Science Series, Volume 2. Tema, Ghana: Digi Books.

SCHOLARSHIP, HONOURS, AND AWARDS

• • 2022 – Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dalla Lana School of Public Heal University of Toronto ($70,000) (declined)
  • 2022 – Black Health Collaborate Postdoctoral Fellowship, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, ($62,000).
  • 2021- “Increasing Participation of Black Communities in Toronto in COVID-19 Vaccine Uptake”, Public Health Agency of Canada, [with Dr. Jacobet Wambayi, Professor David Zakus, Debbie Spicer, Mercy Iyamu] ($5,000).
  • 2020-2022: UTSC Inclusive Excellence Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Toronto Scarborough, Toronto, ON. ($135, 964).
  • 2019 – African Scholars Emerging Academic Award, African Alumni Association of University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
  • 2019 – The Lisa Robinson Award for Excellence in Research, Black Graduation, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON. ($500).
  • 2019: -2019 Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award, School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.
  • 2018 – Senior Doctoral Fellow, Department of African Studies, New College of the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON. ($1,500).
  • 2018 – Doctoral Completion of Award, Department of Social Justice Education, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON. ($6,000).
  • 2018- Travel Research Grant, School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON. ($2,779).
  • 2014-2018- Doctoral Funded Student Scholarship, School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON. ($156,297).
  • 2017- Travel Research Grant, School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON. ($3,100).
  • 2013-2014: Masters Funded Student Scholarship, School of Graduate Scholarship, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON. ($38,356).
  • 2016 – George Burwash Langford Award for the 2015-2016 academic year. Award in recognition of Excellence in Environmental Research and Leadership, School of the Environment of the University of Toronto, Toronto, ON. ($500).
  • 2015 – The Green Saver Alastair Fairweather Memorial Award in the Environment for 2014/2015 Academic year, School of the Environment, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON. ($1,100).

Ongoing Projects

• • Critical Exploration of the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Food Security Status and Wellbeing of the Black Communities in Scarborough. Working with Professor George J. S. Dei and Professor Suzanne R. Sicchia.
  • Co-Investigator (SSHRC Insight Grant): Building Back Better from Below (B4): Harnessing Innovations in Community Response and Intersectoral Collaboration for Health and Food Justice Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic. [with Dr. Alex Shankland and team, IDS, University of Sussex, UK; Vera Schattan P. Coelho and Team, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Dr. Suzanne Sicchia, Dr. Erica Di Ruggiero, Dr. Bettina von Lieres, Dr. David Roberts, Mr. Liben Gebremikael, University of Toronto.