The University of Toronto’s Kinesiology and Physical Education Graduate Society (KPEGS) hosted the annual Bodies of Knowledge (BOK) 2022 conference on May 17. Run by graduate students, BOK is an opportunity for early career researchers to share research and engage in conversations relevant to the field of kinesiology, sport and physical education.
The theme of the 2022 conference was equity, diversity and inclusion in research practice and design, and featured Nicole Kaniki, U of T’s first director of equity, diversity and inclusion in research and innovation, and Janelle Joseph, an assistant professor at the Faculty of Kinesiology and Physical Education (KPE) and founder of the Indigeneity, Diaspora, Equity and Anti-Racism in Sport (IDEAS) lab, as keynote speakers.
Kinesiology students from U of T, University of British Columbia, Queen’s University, Concordia University, York University, Western University and Brunel University presented on topics ranging from physical-cultural to biophysical and behavioural studies.
We caught up with KPE students Zeana Hamdonah, Sabrina Malouka and Alexandra Dojutrek to find out more about their research and experience with the BOK conference.
Zeana Hamdonah is a PhD student at the Faculty, studying under Joseph’s supervision. Her presentation focused on the experiences of young Muslim women with mosque-based women’s-only physical activity programs. Hamdonah was interested in understanding the role of space and community in influencing positive or negative sporting experiences among young Muslim women.
“Western sporting environments often assume that being religious and physically active are two incompatible things, which often results in Muslim women having to choose between their faith or participating in sports,” says Hamdonah. “But, religious institutions like mosques link Muslims to their communities, so they’re a valuable point of reference when designing safe sporting spaces.”
Her research highlights the relevance of studying the role of faith, specifically gendered Islamophobia, in sport science. It also resonates with the theme of this year’s conference, which “affirms the Faculty’s commitment to equity, diversity and inclusivity (EDI) across all research fields within kinesiology,” says Hamdonah, who is a member of Joseph’s IDEAS lab.
She says presenting her research at the conference was useful for her professional development, but she also enjoyed inspiring prospective researchers with the richness of research areas that fall under kinesiology.
“I especially enjoyed the graduate student panel that I was invited to speak on, because it is always nice to connect with colleagues across labs, and learn more about how they apply EDI in their respective work,” says Hamdonah.
Sabrina Malouka is going into her final year of a bachelor of kinesiology, with plans to pursue graduate studies. Working under the supervision of Professor Catherine Sabiston at KPE’s Mental Health and Physical Activity Research Centre (MPARC), she looked at social media and exercise during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“During these past two years, the use of YouTube or TikTok videos for exercise has significantly increased,” says Malouka. “We wanted to understand the links between who we follow and why we choose to exercise, since different types of exercise motives have different implications for mental health and body image - for example, exercising to lose weight is linked with negative body image and higher anxiety and depression symptoms.”
Her research discovered that following fitness influencers on social media was motivated by appearance and fitness goals, but also stress.
“That was an unexpected finding that would be interesting to explore further in future studies,” says Malouka, adding the theme of the conference was of special interest to her because of her research into body image and body inclusivity. When learning about online fitness content for her research project, she noticed that the majority of fitness influencers were Caucasian, slim and able-bodied. The same trend often applied to research participants.
“Getting very specific, practical tips from the keynote speakers on how to increase diversity and inclusion throughout the research process is something I'm very appreciative of and hope to implement in my future work,” she says. “Increasing diversity and inclusion in our field of research is imperative if we want to use online fitness content to promote physical activity without fear of harming individuals' body image and mental health.”
Malouka says she is grateful for the opportunity to share her research at the conference and enjoyed hearing about other presenters’ research.
“Getting exposed to the breadth of research taking place across the country was so eye opening, and makes you feel like a part of something bigger,” she says.
Alexandra Dojutrek’s research explored the relationship between physical activity and cardiovascular disease in breast cancer survivors. The fourth year BKin student explains that while women diagnosed with cancer have a 90% survival rate, chemotherapy treatments, which damage the heart, individual risk factors such as age, obesity, high blood pressure, smoking, and reduced physical activity put breast cancer survivors at an elevated risk for cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular-related events causing death.
“We know that physical activity can reduce cardiovascular disease risk, but I wanted to determine the impact of cardiorespiratory fitness, moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity and sedentary time on cardiovascular risk in breast cancer survivors,” says Dojutrek, who worked on her project under the supervision of Assistant Professor Amy Kirkham.
Dojutrek discovered that cardiorespiratory fitness, measured as VO2peak, which is the most oxygen a person can consume during exercise, had the strongest relationship with cardiovascular disease risk in breast cancer survivors. This means that performing exercise that increases VO2peak in breast cancer survivors has the potential to greatly reduce their cardiovascular disease risk compared to increasing minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity or decreasing hours of sedentary time.
Dojutrek says presenting her research at the conference gave her the opportunity to think critically about her own research. The theme of the conference in particular resonated with her.
“The study I presented did not include ethnicity and other social factors within the results, however research in the lab going forward aims to include at least 20% of participants from diverse backgrounds,” she says. “This is important to consider as these factors may affect how applicable the results are for people of diverse groups.”
Additionally, Dojutrek says she really enjoyed listening to the projects from different topic areas.
“Since my research is focused in the biophysical area, I appreciated the different perspectives and research methods in other areas like physical culture and the keynote presentations,” she says. “It is always helpful to get new perspectives to better your own research.”