Young Researchers, Big Questions: SFU Centre for Dialogue Honors Student Work at the Intersection of Democracy and Dialogue

The SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue recognized two undergraduate researchers at Simon Fraser University's 2026 Undergraduate Research Symposium for work that advances dialogue methods and democratic participation in concrete, community-oriented ways. Caitlin Chow received the Award for Research that Utilizes Dialogue Methods for her contributions to the Healthy Children, Healthy Communities project, which centers children's own voices and drawings to understand how the climate crisis affects their mental health and how that understanding can shape more responsive programming. Guneet Kaur received the Award for Research that Advances Democracy for her study of inclusivity in Vancouver public spaces, connecting equitable urban design to the democratic right of all residents to shape and inhabit their shared cities. Both projects model a research orientation that NCDD's network champions — grounded in lived experience, committed to equity, and oriented toward transformative community impact.

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At Simon Fraser University's 2026 Undergraduate Research Symposium, two students were recognized for research that does exactly what the dialogue and deliberation field has long championed: centering marginalized voices, connecting lived experience to public decision-making, and reimagining what democratic participation can look like. The SFU Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue awarded prizes to Caitlin Chow and Guneet Kaur — two undergraduate researchers whose projects, though distinct in topic and method, share a commitment to building more inclusive, equitable, and dialogically grounded approaches to the world's most pressing challenges.

​Caitlin Chow, a graduating Health Sciences student, received the Centre's Award for Research that Utilizes Dialogue Methods for her work on the Healthy Children, Healthy Communities project, initiated by Dr. Maya Gislason of SFU's Reset Lab. The project asks children to draw their visions of the world in 2050 as a way of understanding how the climate crisis shapes their mental health and wellbeing — and how their perspectives can inform more responsive climate programming. The approach is grounded in a conviction that children are not passive recipients of adult-designed solutions but active participants in shaping collective responses to the crises they will inherit. As Chow noted, "instead of going to the adults in their lives, we should be asking the kids themselves — how it affects them, and what they want to see." Her research also surfaces a practical gap: parents and practitioners often lack strategies for talking about climate change in ways that reduce rather than heighten eco-anxiety, and building those strategies requires taking children's own articulations seriously.

Guneet Kaur, a third-year Human Geography student, received the Award for Research that Advances Democracy for her project "Public City and Private Rules," which examined the inclusivity of three Vancouver public spaces — Olympic Village, Gastown, and Hogan's Alley. Through field observations, surveys, and case studies, Kaur investigated the gap between spaces that appear open to everyone and spaces where "the experiences of inclusion are not even." Her framework centers the concept of the right to the city — the idea that residents have the right to shape their urban environments according to their own needs, not only as determined by those in power — and connects that right directly to democratic participation. Her core finding is both simple and consequential: belonging cannot be designed for someone, but environments can be made inclusive enough for people to build belonging themselves. For dialogue practitioners, this reframes the question of civic space from one of logistics to one of relational design.

Together, these two projects model what it looks like when research is oriented not just toward understanding but toward transformation. They demonstrate that the next generation of practitioners is already asking the right questions — about whose voices get included, what structures enable genuine participation, and how dialogue and democratic values can be embedded in everything from climate programming to urban planning. For NCDD members working at the intersection of civic engagement, youth participation, equity, and community-centered research, this recognition from the SFU Centre for Dialogue is worth celebrating. Read the full post at https://www.sfu.ca/dialogue/news/2026/celebrating-undergraduate-research-at-sfu--advancing-democracy-a.html.