SMU to host Research Expo 2026 March 6
From the Springboard Content Lab and Saint Mary’s Office of Innovation and Community Engagement
Dr. Adam Sarty, Associate Vice President of Research, Saint Mary’s University, extends a warm invitation to this year’s Research Expo on March 6, 1-4 pm.
This is an exceptional event to highlight and promote the innovative research of faculty and graduate students at Springboard member Saint Mary’s University.
Research Expo brings together researchers from Science, the Sobey School of Business, and Arts at Saint Mary’s to share their research in the form of pitch presentations, posters, and exhibits. The 3-minute pitch presentation series will cover a wide variety of presentations from faculty.
Why Attend?
This event is an excellent opportunity to network internally with researchers, graduate students, and staff across departments to learn about the research work happening at Saint Mary’s University. Some funding providers will also be available to answer questions about supporting research between the university and external partners (company’s, not-for-profits, government and hospitals)
2026 Agenda
1:00 p.m. – Event opening, networking and visiting booths
3:00 p.m. – Welcoming remarks by Dr. Adam Sarty, Associate Vice-President of Research and Kevin Buchan, Director, Office of Innovation and Community Engagement
3:10 p.m. – Three-minute pitch presentations, hosted by Springboard Industry Engagement Professional Kevin Buchan
4:00 p.m. – Announcement of the Staff Research Recognition Award and Wrap-Up Remarks, Dr. Adam Sarty
2026 Presenters
Dr. Nicole Conrad
Department of Psychology
Identifying Barriers and Challenges to Equitable Access to Supports for Children who Struggle Learning to Read
Struggling to learn to read is associated with many mental health concerns, including anxiety, depression, low self-esteem, and lower well-being (e.g., Wilmot et al., 2023; Zuppardo et al., 2023). Research on developmental resilience is beginning to reveal the promotive and protective factors that can explain individual variation in these mental health outcomes, including supportive teachers, family support, and literacy tutoring. We are in the planning stages of a study to evaluate how access to these supports may differ among children from different backgrounds. Using focus groups and qualitative methods, we aim to identify the barriers and challenges to equitable access to the supports that lead to positive outcomes for all children who struggle to learn to read. We are seeking community partners to help guide the process and content of our focus groups.
Dr. Tony Charles
Sobey School of Business and Department of Environmental Science
Nova Scotia’s Coastal Communities
Nova Scotia is obviously a coastal province, but do our coastal communities see themselves as “being coastal”? What issues are most of concern to those communities – whether coastal or non-coastal – and how are they handled? Research on these questions was carried out through a survey of a random sample of coastal communities. The results show the importance to the province of considering what is “on the mind” of coastal communities and addressing both their coastal and non-coastal concerns in an integrated way. Implications and future directions will be discussed.
Dr. Tatjana Takseva
Department of English Language and Literature
Where Peace Takes Root: Survivor Narratives as Living Ecologies of Healing
My research and this talk reframe peace not as a formal agreement or political outcome, but as a living ecology cultivated through relationships, care, memory, and survivor narratives. Drawing on my recent book, I argue that trauma is ecological—spreading across families, communities, and social systems—while survivor stories reveal both the far-reaching impacts of violence and the everyday practices that sustain healing and belonging. I present survivor narratives as acts of agency, allowing individuals to reclaim authorship, resist victimhood, and inhabit complex identities that hold both suffering and strength. Through the example of women who survived war related violence, and those who have been raising children born of war rape, my work highlights care and love as forms of resistance, and grassroots peacebuilding. Ultimately, I call for survivor-centered approaches to peace, recognizing their stories as sources of political power and ethical insight: my work urges us to cultivate the fragile ecosystems in which survivors can heal, speak, and remake the future.
Dr. Elizabeth Blundon
Department of Marketing
How We Choose Where to Die: The Role of End-of-Life Experiences and Values in Shaping Care Preferences
Dr. Blundon and her team are studying how people decide where they would prefer to die—at home, in hospital, hospice, or long-term care—and what drives those preferences. We look at the values and tradeoffs people weigh (e.g., comfort, control, family burden, medical support, dignity) and how different value profiles influence the choice they make. The goal is to help clinicians and policymakers have better end-of-life conversations and design care options that more closely match what matters most to patients and families.
2026 Exhibitors
ACEnet
Chemistry
Engineering
Earth Science
Gorsebrook Research Institute
Environmental Science
Languages and Culture
Community Conservation Research Network
Mathematics and Computing Science
English Language and Literature
TransCoastal Adaptations: Centre for Nature-Based Solutions
Career & Experiential Learning, Student Affairs and Services
Centre for Environmental Analysis and Remediation
Maritime Provinces Spatial Analysis Research Centre
Social Justice & Community Services
Intertidal Coastal Sediment Transport Unit
Wicked Problems Lab
Springboard Atlantic
Invest Nova Scotia
Education
Mitacs
Saint Mary’s University is a member of the Springboard Network of 19 post-secondary institutions in Atlantic Canada. Our mission is the grow the economy with research commercialization and industry collaborations with academia. We are powered by the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency