Winners of the 2026 NCCPH Knowledge Translation Student Awards

The National Collaborating Centres for Public Health (NCCPH) are pleased to announce the winners of the 2026 NCCPH Knowledge Translation Student Award. This award recognizes the efforts of graduate students at Canadian universities studying public health and using knowledge translation in their research.

Congratulations to Mercedes Sobers, Chelsey Perry, and Riana Sihota!

Their applications were reviewed and scored based on the following criteria:

Relevance to knowledge translation in public health;
Creativity/innovation shown in the project;
Scholarliness of the project;
Potential impact of the project; and
Quality and degree of support of academic supervisor.

	Mercedes Sobers PhD, University of Toronto Project: The Black Joy Art Initiative Mercedes Sobers (she/her) is a public health researcher trained in epidemiology and a recent PhD graduate from the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto. Her research examines mental health disparities among Black communities in Canada, with a focus on access to care, service use, and culturally responsive approaches to mental wellness. She leads the Black Joy Art Initiative, a community-engaged, arts-informed research project that centres Black joy, resilience, and collective care as integral to mental well-being. Her work bridges quantitative population health research with strengths-based, community-driven knowledge translation to advance more equitable mental health policy, practice, and intervention design. The Black Joy Art Initiative is a strengths-based, arts-informed research and knowledge translation project presented as a public art exhibit. The initiative centres Black voices, creativity, and lived experiences through photography, video conversations, and interactive installations to explore how mental wellness is understood, practiced, and sustained within Black communities. Developed as a community-engaged counterbalance to deficit-focused mental health research, the exhibit celebrates Black joy, collective care, and culturally grounded pathways to wellness and thriving beyond formal systems of care.
	Chelsey Perry PhD Candidate, University of British Columbia Project: Amplify Project Chelsey Perry, MSc (she/they) is a citizen of the Nisg̱a’a First Nation registered through the village of Gingolx in the Northern BC. She currently lives, works, and learns on the traditional unceded homelands of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh, and Səl̓ílwətaɬ Nations. Chelsey is an Indigiqueer PhD (c) in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia. At the Indigenous Equity Lab, Chelsey’s research focuses on Indigenous health, gender equity, 2SLGBTQQIA+ health, sexual and reproductive health, rematriation, climate justice, and health policy. Chelsey is on the National Steering Committee for Indigenous Climate Action, an executive committee member for the Nisg̱a’a Ts’amiks Dancers, a Nisg̱a’a dancer, and an artist.
	Riana Sihota PhD Candidate, Simon Fraser University Project: Co-Designing Mental Health Care with South Asian Migrant Women: A Knowledge Translation Partnership Riana Sihota (she/her) is a PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University whose research focuses on mental health equity among South Asian migrant women in Canada. Her work examines how cultural orientation (collectivism and individualism), migration experiences, and gendered social expectations shape mental health outcomes, help-seeking behaviours, and engagement with mental health services. Using mixed methods and community-engaged approaches, Riana's research integrates population-level survey data with in-depth qualitative work to center the lived experiences of South Asian women—an understudied and underserved population in Canadian mental health research. Her scholarship is grounded in intersectional, feminist, and anti-racist frameworks and critically interrogates the limitations of Western individualist models of mental health care for collectivist communities. As a South Asian woman and researcher, Riana brings relational and place-based knowledge to her research practice. She is deeply committed to knowledge translation that bridges research, policy, clinical practice, and community expertise, with the goal of informing more culturally responsive, accessible, and equitable mental health systems.
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Previous Award Winners: 2025 Vayshali Patel, PhD Candidate, University of Guelph - Evaluating Public Understanding of Public Communication Products During Multi-Jurisdictional Enteric Illness Outbreak Investigations Angel Kennedy, PhD Candidate, Simon Fraser University - Bridging Global Communities Through Knowledge Translation: The Global Ecohealth Summit Fatima Zulfiqar, MPH Student, University of Toronto - Translating HIV Prevention Guidelines into Practice: A Knowledge Translation Approach to Enhancing PrEP Uptake Among Family Physicians 2024 Hannah Bayne, MSc Epidemiology Student, University of Alberta - Supporting Tomorrow’s Stewards: A Knowledge Mobilization Project for Climate-Health Literacy in Alberta Elementary Schools Miranda Field, PhD, University of Regina - Decolonized Theory of Place Jordan Chin, MPH student, McMaster University - The Art of Creation: an Arts-Based Knowledge Translation Method to Promote and Advocate for a Healthy Start to Life 2023 Jorden Hendry, PhD student, University of British Columbia - Instructions have been provided: Understanding and implementing Foundational Commitments to Indigenous Peoples in the BC Office of the Provincial Health Officer Karen Wong, PhD student, University of British Columbia - Working Together to Bring Policy Changes on Digital Ageism and Divide: Older Adults’ Access to Technology is a Human Right Leah Taylor, PhD student, Western University - Everyone Can Play: A Knowledge Translation Resource to Promote Physical Activity Participation of Children with Disabilities in London, Ontario 2022 Melissa MacKay, PhD Candidate, University of Guelph - Maintaining trust through effective crisis communication during emerging infectious disease Alexa Ferdinands, PhD, University of Alberta - Collaborating with youth to address weight stigma in healthcare, education, and the home Shannon Bird, MPH, Brock University - Art as a Tool for Promoting Public and Environmental Health: A Lesson Plan for Ecojustice Educators 2021 Sujane Kandasamy, PhD, McMaster University - Culture Eats Strategy for Breakfast: An Academic Journey toward Theory-informed, Empirically-rooted, and Co-developed Knowledge Translation Interventions for Priority Populations Leigh McClarty, PhD, University of Manitoba - A critical exploration into Manitoba's HIV care cascade: Novel Applications of equity focused data visualization to support knowledge translation Erica Phipps, PhD, Queen's University - Investing in relational knowledge practices and 'reversing the gaze' for equity-focused intersectoral action on housing and health equity: The RentSafe EquIP research in Owen Sound, Ontario 2020 Courtney Primeau, PhD, University of Guelph - Knowledge Translation Preferences in Communicating about Antimicrobial Resistance Henry Lai, MSc, University of British Columbia - Co-creation of knowledge translation resources to integrate health and wellness messaging in an Indigenous community in British Columbia Maureen Gustafson, MPH, University of Toronto - Mayi Kuwayu: The National Study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing 2019 Paige Colley, PhD, Western University - Growing Healthy Food Behaviours: Evaluating an Innovative Food Literacy Resource Julia Santana Parrilla, MSc, University of British Columbia - Addressing anxiety & depression during pregnancy: a plan for iKT Sydney Rudko, PhD, University of Alberta - Citizen scientists monitoring saprozoonotic pathogens using quantitative polymerase chain reaction in recreational water