Hi everyone!
My name is Owen Juan and I am currently a first year Master’s student at Queen’s University under the supervision of CapaCITY/É Co-PI, Dr. Jenn Tomasone. I have been a part of the CapaCITY/É Objective 1 team for the past 2.5 years; starting out as a research intern and most recently as a research assistant.
In early October, I had the opportunity to present some of our preliminary Objective 1 findings at the Canadian Society for Psychomotor Learning and Sport Psychology (SCAPPS) Conference in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Specifically, I presented on how equity was considered by cities throughout the implementation process of AAA cycling infrastructure in 16 cases across 9 Canadian municipalities.
With this conference being my first conference outside of my home province of Ontario, it was also my first time flying in 20 years… Airplanes unfortunately scare me a bit… so I was nervous heading to the east coast on my own.
My lab mates (Dr. Jenson Price and Marley Mullan) and me at the conference.
Picture of me delivering my presentation.
After getting to Charlottetown and settling into my Airbnb, I definitely also had some jitters about presenting. With this conference being heavily focused sport and exercise psychology, our work at CapaCITY/É was unique compared to the other presentation topics covered. Equity already might be a new area for a lot of people in the physical activity and sport research space. Combining this with bike lanes? Implementation science? I wasn’t sure what people would think…
Going into the first day of the conference, I wasn’t sure what my expectations were, if any at all. Very quickly I recognized that I was in the midst of a lovely, welcoming group of academics; all with varying topics of research and passions. I had nothing to fear! From the presentations that I was able to sit in on, I learned about some very interesting projects. Some projects that were particularly interesting to me was one where they analyzed TikTok to understand narratives about ballet (Regan Thompson from the University of British Columbia) and one where they strapped a GoPro camera to children to see how children experiencing disability play outdoors (Alessia Capone from the University of Toronto). Shout out to these amazing researchers!
It was then time for my presentation. I stood up from my seat and headed up to the podium. What was supposed to be a 12-minute presentation went by in no-time. The claps for the audience members, signifying that my presentation was finished, made me feel proud of all of my time and effort dedicated to the CapaCITY/É project and the presentation.
After everything was said and done, I flew back to Ontario and reflected on my experience. As a novice researcher and Master’s student, I was very curious about the types of projects and topics that would be presented at SCAPPS. While there weren’t many presentations or projects that covered equity, many of those that took an equity angle focused on just accessibility. While accessibility is important, we must also begin to shift from the idea that equity only consists of accessibility. As we found in our preliminary findings about how cities considered equity, there is an evident need to understand equity as what is done during engagement processes, who is at the decision-making table, and how we navigate oppression within our societal structures; ultimately centering historical inequities and justice in our discussions.
All in all, going to SCAPPS and Charlottetown was an amazing experience. I got to meet a bunch of amazing academics and students, eat delicious fresh seafood (absolutely love oysters!), and even go on a morning run by the ocean with fellow conference attendees. Most importantly of all, I got to share some of the amazing work being done by our CapaCITY/É team.
Lastly, I want to express my gratitude and appreciation to the CapaCITY/É team for supporting me at this conference, and throughout my research journey. Specifically, I would like to thank all of the research assistants that helped collect data and conduct interviews with city partners, Sofia Georgopoulos for laying the groundwork for this project, and Kaitlyn Kauffeldt for all of her continued support, mentorship, and help on both this presentation and my overall journey in CapaCITY/É .
None of this would have been possible without everyone’s continued work, dedication, and passion.
