Cohort 2

Alexe Bernier is a PhD Candidate in the School of Social Work at McMaster University, as well as a Research Coordinator at McMaster Children’s Hospital/Hamilton Health Sciences. Her pursuit of doctoral studies was inspired by her many years of social work practice experience, where she worked with women and girls in Calgary, Alberta in a community setting. Her doctoral research explores the experiences of young girls who are engaged in activism, ultimately aiming to better understand how they assert themselves as citizens. She is curious about how adults can better listen to children and take them seriously when they tell us what they want for their lives and their worlds.

Alexe is particularly interested in community-engaged, arts-based, and actionable ways of doing research, centering knowledge that is typically excluded from traditional research practices to influence meaningful changes in practice and policy. She is passionate about doing equity-focused research with young people, recognizing that childhood is a deeply political experience affected by gender, race, class, Indigeneity, ability, nationhood status, and structural forms of violence, including violence experienced in service systems like child welfare.