Research Council Executive Members

Dr. Lauren Sulz is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Secondary Education at the University of Alberta. Her primary research commitments focus on school- and community-based strategies to promote active healthy lifestyles among children and youth. In particular, she works collaboratively with teachers, researchers, and community stakeholders to enhance students’ physical activity behaviours and overall well-being through changes to school curricula, school policy, and school environments.  Through this research, Dr. Sulz aims to create a whole-school environment where student health is an essential foundation for schools’ core mission of learning.

Dr. Nathan Hall is a cross appointed Associate Professor between the Faculty of Education and the Gupta Faculty of Kinesiology and Applied Health at the University of Winnipeg. Recently, many of his research endeavours have concentrated on physical literacy, as well as mental imagery use by physical educators.  Additionally, he is extremely interested in examining physical education in alternative environments and was a recipient of the AIESEP 2016 Young Scholar Award for his work on this topic and other academic contributions.  Dr. Hall is also currently chairing a sub-committee for the National Association for Kinesiology in Higher Education (NAKHE) that is focused on improving recognition for quality physical and health education teacher education programs in North America.

Dan Robinson, PhD is Chair of Teacher Education and an Associate Professor at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. An experienced P-12 physical educator, Dan has been teaching pre-service and in-service physical education teachers since 2006. His current scholarship focuses upon physical literacy, physical education teacher education (PETE), experiential and service learning, and culturally relevant physical education pedagogy. He has published research and conceptual articles in a number of texts and journals, including the Journal of Teaching Physical Education, Measurement in Physical Education and Exercise Science, and European Physical Education Review. He has served Physical and Health Education Canada and the Research Council in a number of capacities in the past decade and he is currently serving the Research Council as the Member-at-Large, Eastern Canada.

Steve McGinley is a full time Lecturer and the Physical and Health Undergraduate Coordinator in the Department of Curriculum and Pedagogy, Faculty of Education at The University of British Columbia (UBC), Vancouver, Canada.  He holds a Master’s degree from the University of British Columbia and his research focuses on Enacting Curricular and Pedagogical changes in Physical and Health Education.  Steve’s passions lie in the promotion and advocate for Quality Physical and Health Education and the Physical Literacy movement.   He currently teaches in the Teacher Education Program and engages all learners and creates and sustains conditions for professional collaboration across education, sport, recreation and health.  He is a firm believer that when we open ourselves up to listen, share and collaborate, best practices emerge.  He enjoys coaching a plethora of youth sports and is an advocate for sport development and the promotion of physical literacy.  He has taken on a number of projects including a national focus group with teachers on the 60 Minute Kids Club Challenge, Building Physical Literacy Capacity within Schools, Sport, Recreation and Health sectors and Peer Leadership and Physical Literacy Promotion in Elementary School Children.

Dr. Serene Kerpan is an Assistant Professor in Kinesiology at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on the health and educational success of children and youth through the promotion of physical activity. Through community-engaged scholarship Serene works to cultivate strong relationships with community organizations, schools, and Indigenous communities to investigate the effect of physical activity on the well-being of children and youth.

Serene completed her PhD in Kinesiology and Post-doctoral fellowship in Community Health and Epidemiology at the University of Saskatchewan. Serene’s current research includes a partnership with Durham Catholic District School Board in which she and her school partners are examining the effect of embedded professional development on teachers use of movement integration. She is also the Principal Investigator on an SSHRC funded study examining sport and successful aging in Indigenous older adults. Dr. Kerpan’s research also crosses into social epidemiology. She is currently a Co-Principal Investigator on a CIHR funded study examining prenatal opioid exposure in First Nation communities. Serene is passionate about teaching and mentoring students. She teaches multiple courses on physical activity promotion and Indigenous health. She currently has three excellent graduate students who she enjoys working with.

Bill Walters, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor at Saint Francis Xavier University. Bill came to StFX following a 33-year career teaching physical education in public schools. In 2012-2013 he received from Physical and Health Education Canada the National Teaching Excellence Award for secondary physical education. His desire to continually improve his practice brought him to StFX in 2014 to earn a Ph.D. The research leading to his doctorate and now continued in preceding years focus on the physical educator. Mentoring, instructional strategies, and the isolation and marginalization of physical educators are the focus of his research. Currently, Bill teaches pedagogy, physical education curriculum and instruction courses, as well as in physical education Masters cohorts.

Shannon has been teaching Health and Physical Education since 2005 when she began her career as a High School teacher in Regina, Saskatchewan. After completing her M.Ed., Ph.D., and years of graduate work, she began teaching at Mount Royal University in Calgary where she currently teaches in both the Education and the Health and Physical Education Departments. Working alongside school-aged and post-secondary students is one of her favourite aspects of being in the field. Shannon has served on numerous conference planning committees, has led the development of provincial curricula, and written a few textbook chapters, but remembers most the people and relationships along the way. You may have come across Shannon at PHE Canada, SPEA, or HPEC conferences over the years.

Dr. Lee Schaefer is an Assistant Professor at McGill University in the Department of Kinesiology and Physical Education. His research program, situated within two broad areas, directly impacts the health disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals in Canada. The first area is focused on the health and wellness of Indigenous youth in both urban and reserve settings. Specifically, this research looks at the impact that schools and physical education play in promoting the physical and social benefits of quality developmental programming. Alongside a number of Indigenous community partners (Saskatchewan, Alberta, Quebec), this research has become focused around diabetes prevention, with an interdisciplinary emphasis that includes, physiology, epidemiology, and psychology. The second area of research is focused on how kinesiology and physical education programs can engage future practitioners in advocating for social justice and culturally responsive pedagogies. Culturally responsive, and inclusive, gymnasium and program spaces offer opportunities to engage marginalized and at-risk individuals in physical activity and wellness opportunities they are often excluded from. Both of the research areas of research are responsive to the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action, which offers a unique opportunity to study the role that physical activity and health research can play in reconciliation.

Jeff Zahavich is a PhD Health candidate at Dalhousie University, where his research is focused on examining middle school students’ lived experiences of the Nova Scotia 7-9 physical education curriculum. He holds the Certified Exercise Physiologist (CEP) and Chartered Professional Coach (ChPC) designations. Jeff currently sits on several provincial and national executive boards including Triathlon Nova Scotia, Kinesiology Association of Nova Scotia, and the Canadian Society for Exercise Physiology (CSEP). He is currently serving the Research Council as the Forum Organizing Committee Graduate Student Liaison.

Katie Burns is a PhD Candidate in the School of Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo. Katie works with the COMPASS System at the University of Waterloo which is a prospective cohort study following 75,000+ Canadian Secondary School Students over time. Specifically, her work with COMPASS focuses on how the evaluation of changes to school-level intramural programming are associated with youth physical activity and intramural participation over time. Katie enjoys sharing her knowledge of health behaviours and statistical methods with her students, as she teaches college-level introductory health and statistics courses.

Ryan is passionate about all things wellness and Physical Education focused. Originally from Oxford Nova Scotia, he attended St. Francis Xavier University while completing his Bachelor of Arts in Human Kinetics Degree. He then completed his Bachelor of Education Degree with a concentration in K-12 Physical Education at St. FX as well. Ryan has worked provincially, nationally and internationally in various non-profit education delivery based roles. Ryan has also taught Physical Education in the Middle East where he also authored his first of three books on leadership development and wellness. When time allows, you can find Ryan running, working out, reading or listening to various podcasts with his wife.