Hyeyung Park, Master of TESOL, EdD (Doctoral Student)
Cara Violini, MAIS, MFA, EdD (Candidate)
Welcome to the Journal of Integrated Studies’ inaugural publication of the 2025 Athabasca University Graduate Students Research Conference (GSRC) proceedings. We are excited to collaborate with the GSRC committee and presenters to highlight graduate scholarly research at AU. This issue provides the GSRC presenters with a record of their scholarly activities and contributions, including abstracts, posters, and presentations.
This year’s conference focused on the theme of “Research for a Changing World,” which explores the social, economic, technological, and environmental post-pandemic landscape. Notably, the graduate research addressed contemporary issues arising from this context, such as the ubiquity of artificial intelligence and the troubling concerns of systemic inequalities, while calling for inclusive, forward-thinking recommendations to better guide and shape our society as a whole.
This issue features student work on a diversity of topics addressing topical issues in their disciplines. In the health disciplines, Paige Gibbings’s literature review on expectations of nursing students in their final practicum, Julia Greaves’ literature review on the experiences of senior nurse mentors, Kethra Stewart’s positional statement on cultural safety training for healthcare practitioners, and Kristi McManus’ literature review on how leadership can support mental health resilience in healthcare workers.
In education, this issue highlights Oladunni Tola-Adewumi’s investigation into reframing core skills for inclusive classrooms and workplaces, Hyeyung Park’s exploration of online AI literacy course design and measurement, Teagan Gahler’s call for Canadian polytechnics to rethink industry collaborations, and Emily Grady’s examination of Open Educational Resources (OER) for environmental education in Grades 5 to 7 in British Columbia (BC).
In considering cultural landscapes, Jessica Pierson examines the role of consumption in shaping identity. Racheal Brooker shares insights into the nuanced world of Lethbridge gaming communities and proposes ways to remove barriers to inclusion. Additionally, Evelyn Ullyott-Hayes’s poster presents women’s history in HSMBC designations.
Shifting toward business, data, and technology, this issue shares Marie Davis’s work on the effectiveness of artificial intelligence and Robert Ingram’s article on undermining Linux ASLR through memory disclosure. Jennifer Fletcher, Cheryl Trask, Dr. Khara Ross, and Bonnie van Kessel evaluate the impact of common nonprofit data management. Finally, Diana Sarkis’s doctoral research focuses on knowledge behaviours under abusive supervision.
The GSRC also announced the three Abstract Award winners, also published in this issue: Eryn Leigh’s More Than You Know: Lived Expertise and Future-Building at the Margins (1st Place), Molly Salter’s Indigenous-Specific Spaces in Post-Secondary Education: Student Experiences and Visions for Change (2nd Place and winner of the People’s Choice Award), and Anna Wold’s Online Post-Secondary Learners’ Stories of Emotional Regulation through Mindful Self-Compassion (3rd Place).
The issue highlights engaging and innovative graduate research at AU that raises marginalized voices, identifies research gaps, calls for action, and continues urgent and critical conversations on the social and technological complexities of our time.
In the age of AI, academic integrity and transparency cannot be overstated. Research for a changing world should be conducted with careful attention to safeguarding knowledge. Most importantly, we should continue to play an essential role in advancing knowledge of human-in-the-loop AI systems.
We congratulate the authors on their research and look forward to celebrating GSRC’s 15th anniversary next year with an issue dedicated to the 2026 proceedings.