Meet the 2025 Student Research Days winners
By Maryam Labani, Current Student Communications
Earlier this month, Douglas College held its 17th annual Student Research Days event. Participants from across all six faculties presented their individual or group research projects in three categories: proposal, poster and paper.
Congratulations to all the winners, and every student who put their hard work and research forward this year.
Proposal category
Neda Samarbaf-Zadeh, Social Work – First place
Are B.C.’s Settlement Service Agencies Meeting the Needs of Middle Eastern Refugees?
Neda’s research investigated the effectiveness of the settlement service programs offered by the Immigrant Services Society of British Columbia (ISSofBC) for Middle Eastern asylum seekers. Approximately 17,000 refugees settled in British Columbia between April 2023 to April 2024, many from the Middle East/North Africa region. Neda’s project explored the impact of available settlement services on this specific demographic of refugees within a Canadian context.
Khanh Nguyen and Sophie Hoang, Health Information Management – Second place
Awareness and Understanding of Indigenous Peoples: A Study of Douglas College International Students
Khanh and Sophie’s project assessed international students’ awareness, knowledge and perceptions of Indigenous peoples in Canada. Students who are new to Canada may have limited knowledge of the role that First Nations, Métis and Inuit communities played in shaping the country’s history, culture and identity. Understanding the level of knowledge that international students have regarding Indigenous peoples is essential for fostering cultural awareness and reconciliation.
Simran Vanjara, Sociology – Third Place
From Farm to Fork: Sustainable Plant-Based Eating
Simran focused on understanding the barriers to introducing a plant-based diet and explored strategies to promote plant-based eating within the Douglas College community. Implementing targeted sustainability initiatives and educational campaigns could increase awareness of the environmental benefits of plant-based eating and reduce resistance to adopting plant-based diets.
Poster category
Sophia Wong, Psychology – First place
Sophia’s research examined the effectiveness of delivering cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) through AI voice-generated exercises. Participants engaged with an AI-based CBT intervention and compared before and after self-assessments of their anxiety reduction and cognitive restructuring. This study explored whether AI-driven interventions could offer a scalable solution to increasing demand for accessible mental health care.
Namesh Mathara Arachchi Vidanalage, Computing Studies & Information Systems – Second place
Ecomatch AI: An Automated Product Inquiry Response System for Light Recycling
Namesh aimed to develop an AI-powered Product Inquiry Response System to enhance efficiency in the process of diverting post-consumer lighting products from landfills by leveraging machine learning. Namesh found that the current product inquiry process for determining whether a product qualifies for recycling is largely manual, leading to inefficiencies, inconsistent decision-making and operational delays.
Berntina Hambly, Interdisciplinary Science – Third place
Bertina’s research explored how soil bacterial diversity was affected by invasive Himalayan Blackberry, the most common invasive plant in southwest B.C. Understanding the effects of invasive plant species on microbes is crucial, as microbes play significant roles within ecosystems. The interactions between invasive plants and soil microbiology can have cascading effects on the heath of coastal ecosystems.
Paper presentation category
Eve Green, Child and Youth Care – First place
Addressing Anti-Black Racism in Child and Youth Care Education
Eve explored the lack of intentional and specific discourse on anti-Black racism within Child and Youth Care (CYC) classrooms and the unique needs of Black children, youth and families. There are gaps in curriculum pertaining to Black youth and anti-Black racism (ABR) within CYC; this research explored the impact of those gaps on CYC practitioners and subsequently, the Black children, youth and families they seek to serve.
Elton Henrique de Oliveira Evangelista, Computing Studies & Information Systems – Second place
Elton examined the impact of video-capturing AI technology within the trucking industry, focusing on its efficacy in improving road safety. Enhancing road safety within the trucking industry has become imperative due to the critical role trucks play in economic activities and the inherent risks associated with their operation. This research aims to provide insights into the current utilization, performance and efficiency of video-capturing AI in the trucking industry, and its impact on road safety.
Alanna Stockford, History – Third place
Alanna’s research investigated the fate of people with disabilities in the Holocaust. The identity of the first victim of Aktion T4 – arguably the first victim of the entire holocaust – had not been definitively known until 2007, indicating that there needs to be more careful research done on Aktion T4 overall. Alanna’s primary research focused on updating a master’s thesis written in 2000 about a particular asylum in Eichberg Germany to see if there was more to add in the 23 years since the paper had been written, with a particular focus on names of the victims and memorializing them.
Douglas College Student Research Days is an annual event where students showcase their hard work and discoveries from individual or group research projects. Learn more about student research at Douglas. This year’s entries are available to view on DOOR.
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