2025
The PHE Canada Research Council is pleased to announce that Julia Kontak is the 2025 recipient of the PHE Canada Research Council IDEA Award.
Julia Kontak (she/her) is a 4th year PhD in Health Candidate, Faculty of Health, Dalhousie University and an Emerging Leader at the Healthy Populations Institute, Dalhousie University. Julia's research interests are broadly focused on how to create supportive environments for health and well-being, particularly as it relates to children and youth. Specifically, her doctoral research focuses on the school setting to understand the process of student engagement in Health Promoting Schools (HPS). She uses transformative and participatory methods to engage participants as partners including children and youth across the research process. Throughout her PhD, she also was a Research Associate at UpLift, a school-community-partnership that aimed to catalyze and support HPS efforts across Nova Scotia (2019 – 2025). Prior to pursuing her PhD, Julia completed her MA in Health Promotion at Dalhousie University and worked at two leading health research organizations in Nova Scotia including being the Knowledge Translation Coordinator at the Maritime Strategy for Patient-Orient Research (SPOR) SUPPORT Unit (MSSU) for four years. In her spare time, Julia loves staying active by teaching fitness and yoga classes, running throughout the city and walking her dog, Norman in the park.
When asked "Why is it important to be connected to the PHE Canada Research Council?", Julia shared that the PHE Canada Research Council has served as a hub for connecting researchers, educators, and professionals from across the country who share a common goal of using research as a tool to promote and enact change in the field of physical and health education and promotion. She is looking forward to becoming more involved in the Research Council and is eager for the next forum!
2023
- Brittany Giles - Brock University
- Research Focus: Physical Education learning experiences within Indigenous communities.