Meet the Team
Kathleen Sitter (She/Her)
Canada Research Chair, Multisensory Storytelling in Research and Knowledge Translation. Professor, Faculty of Social Work, University of Calgary. Director of the Multisensory Studio. Dorothy Killam Fellow.
Kathleen joined the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary in 2017. Kathleen has worked with a variety of adults and youth in the areas of disability, mental health, human rights, and health care. Kathleen’s multisensory activities include over 200 arts-based works, juried screenings, and exhibitions. Examples include creative forms of knowledge translation such as films, participatory videos, cartoon abstracts, photograph exhibits and digital stories. kcsitter@ucalgary.ca
Anastasiia Stepanchuk
Postdoctoral Associate
Ana is a neuroscientist and CIHR Postdoctoral Fellow joining the Multisensory Studio from the Hotchkiss Brain Institute, where her research focused on spectral imaging and neuropathology. She holds 11 first-author publications and a PhD in Neuroscience. Alongside her research career, Ana runs an olfactory engagement and fragrance education practice, and has been developing community-based sensory programming for older adults and people with neurological conditions. Her work at the Multisensory Studio centers on olfactory engagement as a tool for connection, identity, and wellbeing in vulnerable populations.
Amber Young
Research Assistant
Amber Young is a PhD candidate with the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary. Her research approach involves foregrounding multisensory and embodied ways of knowing and is oriented toward mobilizing knowledge in pursuit of more just futures. This work is interwoven with values of community and collective care, which make possible the imagining of these futures. Amber's doctoral work has focused on community Hip Hop beat making workshops with autistic young adults, exploring and understanding the experience through deep engagement with sound, movement, and togetherness. Amber is a proud mom and (transplanted) Nova Scotian!
Mahdi Farrokhimaleki
Graduate Research Assistant
I'm a Computer Science master's student. My research focuses on AI applications in games. I enjoy working on anything that interests me and love trying new things.
Jasmine Boucher
Research Assistant
Jasmine Boucher is in her final year of the Bachelor of Urban Studies program at the University of Calgary, specializing in Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Her interest in geospatial data and sustainable urban development began during a geography field school in Southeast Asia. At the Multisensory Studio, Jasmine is focusing on human-centred mapping, exploring accessible and inclusive GIS web design and how digital mapping can share spatial stories in ways that engage and empower people of all abilities and backgrounds.
Aiman Chowdhury
Research Assistant
I’m Aiman Nawar Chowdhury, a Natural Sciences student at the University of Calgary with concentrations in Physics and Computer Science.
Danial Khan
Practicum Student
Danial Khan is a fourth-year undergraduate student in Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies with the Cumming School of Medicine. He is currently completing a practicum through the Multisensory Studio, with an interest in social media outreach and disability advocacy.
Eden Martens
Research Assistant
Eden Martens is a Calgary-based artist and sociology student at the University of Calgary. Their creative practice spans drawing, painting, and digital illustration. Alongside their studies, they contribute to the arts community through writing and visual work, focusing on inclusive and accessible creative spaces.
Heath Birkholz (He/Him)
Artistic Collaborator
Heath is an artist and activist where his experiences are woven together in community, social justice and complexities of identity. Over the last 15 years, Heath has worked with inclusive, integrated and disability arts communities that include theatre, dance, film and projects where he has served as community liaison, choreographer, and research collaborator.
Kevin Currie (He/Him)
Artist and Advisor
Kevin is a visually impaired stage manager who worked in Calgary's community and professional theatre scene for 20 years. He also spent 15 years as a videographer with his own company, One Eyed Productions.
Asil El Galad (She/Her)
Facilitator
Asil is in her final year of the Medical Sciences program at the University of Western. She is graduating with a Bachelor of Medical Sciences (Honours) in Physiology from the University of Western. Outside of research and school, Asil works to advocate for disabled youth. She is passionate about using creative methods to work with the disabled community and shed light on their individual stories.
Sarah Empey (She/Her)
Accessibility Advisor
Sarah Empey consults on projects in regards to accessible, barrier-free and inclusive design. Sarah is legally blind and currently living in Brisbane Australia.
Ashlynn Weisberg (She/Her)
Facilitator
Ashlynn Weisberg is a second-year graduate student in the Master of Arts: Gender and Social Justice Studies program at the University of Alberta. She has a Bachelor of Arts Honours from the University of Saskatchewan in Women's and Gender Studies with a minor in English. Ashlynn is passionate about combining her affective experience as an autistic woman with her academic pursuits, and her focus centres around transformative theory, disability justice, psychoanalysis, affective philosophy, collective care and mutual aid, the self, and the inner child as political agent. For Ashlynn, world-building through a blend of critical thought mixed with softness, tenderness, and love paves the road to collectively dreaming bigger and mobilizing in solidarity. Ashlynn is grateful to join the Multisensory team.