Events

AI Love…The Feeling Isn’t Mutual: The Psychology of AI Interaction and Its Threat to Human Wellbeing

• Thursday, January 22, 2026 - 4pm
• Register now through EventBrite

This presentation examines three interconnected psychological risks of widespread AI adoption: the exploitation of innate cognitive vulnerabilities, the developmental harms of AI companionship, and the emergence of AI-induced psychosis. AI systems exploit fundamental human cognitive tendencies, including anthropomorphization, susceptibility to affirmation, and our evolved association between language and conscious thought. These exploited vulnerabilities facilitate addictive engagement patterns and disproportionately harm socially isolated individuals. The rise of romantic and emotional attachments to AI chatbots undermines users' capacity for authentic human relationships by distorting expectations around affirmation, reciprocity, and mutual compromise. AI psychosis represents an emerging public health crisis, with particular risks for individuals with dissociative tendencies or pre-existing mental health vulnerabilities, though extended AI use can induce reality detachment even in previously healthy individuals. AI companies lack incentives to address these harms within current business models, necessitating urgent public health intervention and regulatory frameworks to protect vulnerable populations.

About the Speaker
Pasha Dashtgard is Director of Interventions at the Polarization and Extremism Research and Innovation Lab (PERIL). He holds a PhD in Social Psychology from UC Irvine and has broad experience in mental health, online radicalization, and resilience-building interventions. His work includes projects on misinformation, conspiracy thinking, masculinity studies, PTSD, and the psychological impacts of AI.

Beyond Pedagogy of the Oppressed: The Evolution of Freire's Thinking

A conversation series moderated by Vitor Yano

In this series we will discuss the work of Paulo Freire and the changes in his thoughts throughout his life, considering also the historical and political contexts he lived in, his influences and legacy. Each session will be based on one or more of his main books. Other readings by authors who influenced or were influenced by Freire may be added to discuss the formation of his ideas and his legacy.

Join us the last Friday of every month, September 2025 - May 29, 2026. Register for the series now.

Unveiling Equity Workshop Series

The Unveiling Equity series invites participants to unpack, unsettle, and critically reposition themselves from a decolonized perspective in order to engage more actively with social justice issues. Through thought-provoking discussions and reflective activities, the series challenges conventional views, encourages deeper self-awareness, and promotes meaningful action toward equity and justice. This series is designed to inspire participants to critically examine their roles and responsibilities in fostering inclusive and transformative change within their communities and professional spaces.

Safety and the ethics of vulnerability

Date : November 11, 2025

How do we share stories of pain or resistance without retraumatizing ourselves or feeding voyeuristic narratives? This session invites us to reflect on the power and politics of recounting personal histories — where healing meets the risk of exposure, and how we reclaim agency in telling our truths.

“Between the Lines”: Unmasking Intersectional Violence in Everyday Life

Date: January 13, 2026

From microaggressions to structural exclusions, this dialogue centers voices at the intersections of race, gender, class, migration, and sexuality. Participants will reflect on how violence is normalized in institutions, policies, and interpersonal relationships — and how to name, disrupt, and resist it.

“The Stage as a Site of Refusal”: Art, Aesthetics, and Acts of Resistance

Date: March 2, 2026

From murals and spoken word to performance and film, this conversation explores how creative expression becomes a tool for resisting erasure, reclaiming narratives, and building collective memory. Participants will reflect on how art-based spaces offer room for healing, truth-telling, and unsettling dominant narratives — and how they can be protected from co-optation or commodification. What does it mean to practice resistance through the arts — and who gets to call it arts.

Foundational Workshops for Emerging Researchers : Methods, Voice, and Ethics

The series, Foundational Workshops for Emerging Researchers: Methods, Voice, and Ethics, is designed for both students and experienced researchers, who can bring valuable insights to the five upcoming events through their diverse perspectives. The events will explore a wide range of topics, from broad questions about research to discussions on positionality, ethnography, and the personal research journeys of both students and established academics.

The ABCs of Research and KM: What Every New Researcher Should Know – An introduction to key research concepts and how to make knowledge move

Date and Time: October 29, 2025, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

The first event, moderated by Neslihan Sriram-Uzundal, will feature a roundtable discussion on key research concepts and strategies for sharing knowledge in an evolving academic landscape, one that increasingly values podcasts, social media, and open access as tools to reach broader audiences.

The conversation will range from foundational questions about research, such as “What counts as research?” and “How do we move beyond the qualitative vs. quantitative divide?” to practical discussions about knowledge mobilization. Panelists will explore how researchers can effectively disseminate their work, engage non-academic audiences, and navigate the responsibilities and opportunities that come with public scholarship.

There’s No View from Nowhere: Embracing Positionality in Research – Reflecting on identity, privilege, and standpoint in your research journey

Date and Time: November 26, 2025, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

The second event in the series, mediated by Neslihan Sriram-Uzundal and Aya Halliday, will feature a roundtable discussion on the role of positionality in research. As the academic landscape becomes increasingly inclusive of marginalized voices that have long been excluded from knowledge production, positionality statements have taken on growing importance. Too often, these perspectives have been filtered through dominant narratives, obscuring lived experiences and reinforcing power imbalances. In this context, positionality can serve as a form of scholarly accountability, enabling researchers to acknowledge how their identity, privilege, and standpoint shape the questions they ask and the knowledge they produce. The discussion will examine positionality not only as a methodological tool but also as a reflective practice that legitimizes why a researcher is engaging in a particular study.

Guiding questions will include:

• What is a positionality statement?
• Are positionality statements necessary in all research contexts?
• How can we craft them thoughtfully and ethically?
• Can they deepen our understanding of identity and privilege in the research process?

This event invites participants to critically engage with their own research identities and consider the transformative potential of embracing positionality in academic work.

Rethinking Ethnography as a Way of Knowing – Learning to use ethnography as a critical, respectful methodology

Date and Time: January 28, 2026, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

The third event in the series, organized by Neslihan Sriram-Uzundal, Aya Halliday, and Britney Vu, aims to explore both theoretical and practical dimensions of ethnographic research. Rooted in anthropology, ethnography has long been critiqued for its colonial legacy, epitomized by the image of the white researcher entering a faraway field and representing it back to the West. Contemporary ethnography, however, is increasingly attentive to these critiques. It seeks to disrupt extractive narratives by embracing more reflexive, collaborative, and decolonial approaches. This event brings together a series of students’ paper presentations that reflect on the evolving nature of ethnography today. Discussions will range from fundamental questions, such as “What is ethnography?” and “How do we conduct fieldwork?” to more in-depth considerations of research ethics, power dynamics, and decolonial methodologies. The session invites participants to critically rethink ethnography not just as a method, but as a way of knowing shaped by identity, history, and context.

Interrogating Our Own Work: The Art of Debating Your Research Project – Engaging with critique and building confidence in defending your ideas

Date and Time: February 11, 2026, 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM

The series will conclude with the event Interrogating Our Own Work: The Art of Debating Your Research Project, organized by Britney Vu. It is designed to foster open, supportive, and critical engagement with ongoing research. Too often, students work in isolation, and while conferences and symposiums offer spaces to present ideas, meaningful feedback is frequently limited by time constraints. This event aims to fill that gap by creating a safe and constructive environment for students to share their work-in-progress, receive thoughtful critique, and practice articulating and defending their research decisions. Participants will be encouraged to reflect on their methodologies, assumptions, and findings as they learn from the perspectives of others. Whether presenting an outline or a literature review, refining a dissertation chapter, preparing for a defense, or testing a new idea, this session offers a unique opportunity to interrogate one’s work in dialogue with a supportive scholarly community.

Listening Differently: Creative Methods for Meaningful Interviews

Date and Time: Wednesday, November 5th, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Location: CSLP, GA-2.221, 1211 Saint-Mathieu St., Montreal, QC  H3H 2S2/ Online

Interviewing is a central feature in qualitative research methodologies relating to a number of fields in the humanities and social sciences. Sarah Pink (2015) explains how the interview is a relational process interweaving the interviewer and the interviewee’s respective connections to place, people, memories, and events as well as new connections emerging from the interaction. The interview “event” can be undertaken using several different methods that draw from a variety of fields allowing for a trialogue between the interviewer, the interviewee, and the site where the interview takes place. During this workshop, participants will become familiar with various interview methodologies including mobile interviews, mediated interviews, participant-led interviews, and more. Participants will discuss considerations, methods and ethics relating to different approaches, and put their skills to the test by engaging in a mock interview with a colleague. While we may never be able to completely remove colonial structures from academic research, as researchers we can employ more participant-centred approaches that disrupt power dynamics, encourage reciprocity, and allow participants to express themselves in ways that move beyond the constraints of verbal language.

This workshop is open to graduate students engaged in qualitative research or wanting to know more about creative interview methodologies.

A Guided Tour of CSLP’s Creative Equipment

Date and Time: Monday, November 19th, 1:00 PM – 2:30 PM
Location: CSLP, GA-2.221, 1211 Saint-Mathieu St., Montreal, QC  H3H 2S2

Did you know the CSLP has lots of interesting audio-visual equipment to make your research-creation projects come to life? The equipment is available on loan to members of the centre. Some of the larger items, like the lathes, can also be used in-house. Is field recording, sampling, podcasting, or performance part of your methodology? Then this workshop is for you! Come discover and try out some of the equipment available to CSLP members and walk away with a clear understanding of what you can borrow and how to go about it.

Open to all graduate students engaged in research-creation projects or wanting to know more about the CSLP’s equipment lending library.

Storytelling That Travels: Creating Impact Through Podcasting

Date and Time: Tuesday, November 20th, 10:00 AM – 12:00 PM
Location: CSLP, GA-1.210, 1211 Saint-Mathieu St., Montreal, QC  H3H 2S2/ Online

As part of the Empowered Grad Workshop series, Storytelling That Travels: Creating Impact Through Podcasting features guest speaker Sivan Black-Rotchin, host and producer of Talking TESL, a podcast from Concordia University's TESL Resource Centre. This interactive workshop offers practical guidance for anyone interested in launching a podcast and seeking a starting point.  It covers key questions to ask before launching a podcast, such as how to define its purpose, identify the target audience, and choose a format that fits the content. The session also outlines the main stages of planning and development and highlights resources available at Concordia University to help get started. Participants will have the chance to brainstorm ideas, collaborate with others, and refine their podcast concepts in a supportive environment.

Download the full CSLP 2025/26 Events Calendar

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